Two Moisture Traps?

I believe that you posted some pics of your compressor / tank set-up, but I can't find them.....

From what you describe, it sound as if your trap is still connected directly to the compressor? If this is the case it would be wiser to move the trap from the compressor, run your hose straight from the compressor to the tank & put the trap between the air tank & the Airtank's regulator.

Another alternative would be to replace the Airtank's regulator with a combined regulator / moisture trap - either way you want the moisture trap as far down the chain as possible.

Chris, My compressor feeds a built in 6 gal tank, a water trap is installed at it's outlet. In turn that feeds an additional 8 gal tank, from there it bottom feeds into a three gal vertical ABS tank, air to airbrush out the top. There is a drain at the bottom of the ABS tank. After spraying is done I release the first water trap contents, very little water comes out, but when I open the drain at bottom of the ABS tank I still see a fine bit of mist come out, but nothing like water drops. I always get a small bit of moisture out the bottom drain of the first tank, under the compressor.

I live in wet Oregon, I'd expect to see more moisture here, my guess is what we're seeing is just the mist associated with compressing air. I do see a bit more mist released during winter months, less in summer. My compressor builds to 125 psi, but only needs to run for one minute or less to rebuild full pressure, then all of the tankage I have will supply the airbrush for many minutes before it needs to run again. I'm surprised that I do find some mist in the system, never has seemed to affect anything though.

I can't think of anything more that I can do, and maybe it's just inherent to the nature of compressing air. Some of my spray sessions can last for perhaps an hour or more, that's likely conducive to creating more internal moisture buildup than shorter times.

Patrick

Two moisture traps is just fine as a configuration. Just be sure that if you only use one that it is on the Output line from the tank, that is the one that keeps moisture out of your tools and out of your work. The one on the inlet line is not a bad idea, less moisture going into the tank must surely help tank life. Tanks die (wear out) from the inside out, due to rust caused by moisture.

So, if you get a second trap and put it on your output line, you are just "doing more" for your tools when others try to get by without one trap (one trap is"doing the minimum")

I hope this helps

Rex

ps, concerning pressure drop from multiple moisture traps,,,,,,,,you should be able to run multiple lines, each with their own trap,,,,,,without any drop in air pressure at your gauge,,,,,,if you end up with a pressure drop, you have an air leak somewhere,,,,,air pumps fill the entire volume up to the set air pressure, so extra volume doesn't reduce the pressure (one of the corollaries to Boyle's Law?)

I just ordered a second trap and will place it at the outlet of the air tank.  The tank's air pressure is set to 40 psi and I control the air pressure with a MAC valve.  So far, I haven't experienced any problem associated with moisture, though.  But I guess it's better to take precautions because it gets very humid in the summer here in Maryland.

I might be completely off base here, but I thought a moisture trap was meant to trap the water going into the airline. In my experience a tank is going to condisate no matter what. Very important to drain the tank after every use

Raualduke, you are right,,,,,,for something like a shop compressor and tank setup.

But, for painting, whether with a 1/1 car or a model,,,,,,,,you need a moisture trap that catches that "mist" or the small amount of condensation that accumulates in a tank. The last line of defense is somewhere around 2 or 3 feet from the airbrush.

Water drops ruin paint jobs, even if you are using Water based Acrylic paints,,,,,and they really ruin your day for Organic Enamels and Lacquers.

Rex

Raualduke

I might be completely off base here, but I thought a moisture trap was meant to trap the water going into the airline. In my experience a tank is going to condisate no matter what. Very important to drain the tank after every use

That is my understanding too. I don't believe you could ever reasonably remove all the moisture from the air going into the tank even if you lived in an extremely arid region. What happens is air under higher  pressure is going to trigger condensation inside the tank. Temperature is also going to be a factor. Air coming out of the tank with this moisture condensate is what you want to remove to keep it out of your airbrush and hense mixing with/spraying on your paint.

In my personal setup the compressor tank combo came with an already attached moisture trap/regulator. I also have the Iwata moisture trap that attaches to their air brushes. This maybe be overkill but I don't think it causes any problems having two of them. Maybe affects the back pressure???