How Much Tubing & How Many Portals Do You Need for Air Compressor Installation?
During an air compressor installation, you have to decide first just how many "portals" you want and need for your air compressor. A portal is the opening in the wall where you can plug in a release valve and a coil of hose. Having more than one portal helps you reach over greater distances to work on things everywhere in the shop space. Depending on the size of the air compressor's tank, you may also be limited to the number of portals you can install. That, in turn, will tell you how much tubing or pipeline to install as well. The following will help you grasp this concept a little easier.
Purchase an Air Compressor Tank with Lots of Pressure
Check your compressor tools, the ones you would use in the shop anyway. All of these tools have a CFM rating. CFM stands for "cubic feet per minute," the measurement of the amount of air compressed into a single cubed foot of space and ejected in a single minute. Shop tools of this nature may use as little as 2.0cfm or as much as 10cfm. Check your tools and buy the compressor with the pressure that exceeds the highest CFM rating on your tools. Then you know that, no matter the setup, you will have enough pressure in the lines that head into the ports in the walls.
The Bigger the Tank, the More Portals You Can Have
So, say you go whole hog on the air compressor and you buy the biggest one you can get without buying the industrial size. If your garage can actually accommodate that, that is great. It means you can put two portals in every wall, anywhere from knee height to chest height. If you do not want portals in every wall, you can double up on portals in a couple of walls and that will still work. The next thing you need to do is worry about hose versus pipe as a delivery system.
Hose Tubing vs. Pipe Delivery
In most shops where air compressors are used daily, pipe delivery is the preferred system for compressed air delivery. It means that you will never have to open your walls and replace the tubing because tubing splits and leaks after a few years. Instead, the metal pipe system never leaks, and lasts a very long time, regardless of the amount of pressure in the system.
To learn more about tubing and portals for you air compressor, contact services such as Compressed Air Systems.
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