How do you connect your compressor to your air tools?

How do i connect the hose from my compressor to the plumbing line?

What type of fitting or connector do i need?

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You know, I’ve had that same question asked many times on the ASK page on my compressed air information website and on this blog, and each time before I’ve answered it for each visitor.

I thought maybe it would be time to put this information up on the website for all folks to find, and so I don’t have to keep repeating myself, so I did.

Here is complete information about connecting your air compressor to air-using applications, for you. I hope you find it useful.

Do you have oil in your compressed air line?

Norgren, a major manufacturer of compressed air treatment products,  reminds us that  “coalescing filters do not remove oil that is in the vapor state in the supply air. Vapors are typically removed using an activated carbon filter. Always protect a vapor removal element by removing oil aerosols with a coalescing filter before the vapor removal filter.”

Sounds like good advice to protect the life of the activated carbon filter.

How do I use a 300 PSI air compressor to inflate my car tires?

Ah…. what I perceive is a simple question isn’t so simple if a person hasn’t ever done it, is it?

Here’s what you need to do.

First off, don’t worry about the fact that your compressor can generate 300 PSI. That’s a good thing.

On the discharge line from the tank to the coupler where you would connect an air line is a regulator. Not sure what this or does? Here’s complete info on air regulators.

All you have to do is “dial down” the pressure reading on this regulator (watch the gauge) to whatever pressure level you want your downstream application to see.

In your case, if you want to inflate tires without bothering to check the resulting tire pressure, set the regulator to the recommended pressure of your tire. That’s usually in the area of 35 PSI for light truck and car tires, but you need to look on your tire or on your car’s door post for the specs for your vehicle.

You connect your air line to the compressor discharge  coupler. Here’s info on those.

At the other end of the air line you need to have a tire filler tool (tire chuck) installed. The photo above is one of those.

One end fits onto the valve in your tire to allow air to flow in, and the other, with a  connector installed,  connects to the coupler on the end of your air hose.

Once you’ve got it all installed and connected, push the tire chuck onto the fill valve of your tire and the air will flow from your compressor into the tire and fill it to the pressure on your regulator gauge setting.

Make sure you set the regulator to the right pressure, or add air to the tire and then use a tire pressure gauge to check the tire. Make sure you don’t overfill the tires.

Good luck.

Why have a compressed air pre-filter?

There are many applications that demand more protection than the typical 30-40 micron compressed air filter can provide. At one time, when air logic was the norm, the compressed air used in the control circuit had to be very clean indeed, as much of the logic had to do with the speed that compressed air passed through small orifices, and air cleaned even at the 40 micron level wasn’t clean enough.

In these types of applications a 5 micron or even finer filter would be installed.

In the event that the compressed air stream to that 5 micron filter was dirty, which is often the case, the element would plug solid in a very short time, as it was stopping small debris, but also the “bricks and 2 x 4′s” that accompany the compressed air from most compressors, necessitating an element change.

The finer sized element may not cost any  more than the 40 micron element used in a general purpose compressed air filter. The real cost to the user is in the interruption of production due to air starvation, as the small holes in the micro filter quickly filled and blocked passage of the compressed air requiring a machine shut down to replace the plugged element.

To extend the life of the finer-element filter, consider adding a 30-40 micron pre-filter just upstream from the finer element filter. This “coarser” filter element will remove all the  “bricks and 2 x 4′s” (yes, this is exaggeration) before they can get to, and quickly plug up, the finer element holes, thus extending the mean-time-between failures of the finer filter element, and improving machine up-time.

There’s lots more info on compressed air filters here.