air compressor for idd squire plus 2

[jconnor.forbes]

I'm looking for some information and suggestions on air compressor setups for our keg filler. Currently the keg filler is the only thing we own that would run off of compressed air. idd recommends a 5 hp compressor with a 60 gallon tank, air dryer and desiccant and coalescent filters. Does anyone have any manufacturers they could point me towards for the compressor and filters? Also the best place to purchase these items.


Thank you, Connor

[enickohasan]

http://www.aircompressorsdirect.com has everything you need. I went with all Ingersoll rand for a great price.

On a side note, don't skimp on your air system. Get higher quality equipment or you'll pay a lot more down the road in stuck actuators, off taste in kegs, etc.

[Bainbridge]

And get an 80 gallon. You don't necessarily need a dryer, depending on where you are I guess. If it was, say Florida, I'd probably get one. We just put in a 5hp 80gal Quincy with an aftercooler and coalescing/desiccant/adsorption filters. Pretty darn clean and dry air coming out of it. So far we've got our keg cycle time down 33% over our old 3hp 60gal Crapsman. Keg washers like high CFM rates, so run at least 1/2" lines, ideally bigger. There's been discussion elsewhere on using surge tanks, might put one in eventually.

[TGTimm]

We're in the process of buying a Squire II, so I've done my homework regarding the air and CO2 requirements.

We run an Ingersol Rand 5 hp, 160 gal (I hooked the new compressor up so it uses the reservoir of our old 80 gal comp to add volume--the old recip comp also works as back-up) rotary vane comp. This thing is great--low maintenance, very quiet, and it produces extremely clean, dry air. We'll see if we need to add an air drier. All our air is micron-filtered. Unfortunately, it does not stand up to the CFM requirements of the Squire, and our air mains are undersized for the requirements (1/2"). Our CO2 mainlines are also undersized (1/2") to deliver the amount of gas needed.

I called the folks at IDD to see what we could do. The fortunate thing is that the very high-flow gas and air requirements are also very brief, and at low pressure (30 psi, IIRC). There seems to be a simple solution: buffer tanks at the keg washer/filler. I have two used thirty-gallon compressor reservoirs that are fed with the high-pressure (125 psi), low-flow air and gas from our mainlines. These lead into high-flow regulators, then to the washer/filler via 3/4" lines. The buffer tanks have enough time to fill between the high loads and so the machine should be able to run at full speed, hopefully without short-cycling the compressor.

Basically the idea is that 30 gal @125 psi = 125 gal @30 psi.

This is, of course, all theoretical as the Squire will be coming next month, but the good folks at IDD are confident this solution will work. I'll let you know when it's up and running.

[lhall]

In general, with any equipment that uses a large volume of compressed gas in short bursts, you will be better off putting a surge tank inline right before the equipment. We've done it with our Mini-King, one for CO2 when we were using a Meheen, a small 5 gallon tank for the rake on our drop-packer, etc. It's a relatively cheap way to speed up most air-operated equipment.

[Indie]

We just purchased a 5 hp 60 gal ingersoll rand for our squire 2 plus and are trying to figure out what we need to get it up and running. Would something like this: http://www.aircompressorsdirect.com/...57/p11641.html work just to get us started until we could get our permanent compressed air system setup?

Thanks James

[TGTimm]

That looks like a combination of overkill and under kill. A simple air filter/oil separator combined with a micron air filter (we use Hankinson fiter bodies, one with the standard filter for general air use, one before the surge tank of the keg washer/filler with the optional micron filter, which also feeds our bottler).

The IR rotary vane comps produce amazingly dry air even without the refrigerated air dryer option. We're running the Squire without an additional air dryer for now; if we get condensate in the surge tank, we'll add the membrane-style dryer that IDD recommends in their manual (good luck with the manual by the way--it SUCKS).

I've been switching from rigid copper to RapidAire Maxline (3/4") for our air/gas mains. Much cheaper, faster, and easier to run, but doesn't look quite as tidy as copper.

Since the IR tops out at 125 psi, add as much storage to your system as you possibly can. We have an additional 80 gal tank near our comp and 30-40 gal surge tanks at each high-volume point-of-use. These are all surplus compressor reservoirs. Expect to pay $50-$150 each, and get them from a reliable air compressor business--they'll be sure the tanks are in usable condition.

[Indie]

Is there any reason why you can't use thick walled braided tubing for the gas mains? I was planning on getting a large amount of it to use for water,co2,and air lines to the idd.

Thanks, James

[TGTimm]

No reason whatsoever, James. Just be sure the pressure rating is high enough for your purposes.

I've been switching over to the Rapidaire Maxline for our higher-pressure lines--it's rated at 175 psi @ 80C. For lower-pressure lines, I'm using oxygen-barrier PEX, rated 150 psi @ 80C. The O2 barrier part is because I got a good deal on a 300' roll, and I also use it for our CO2 drops, where I don't want to risk O2 infiltration.