Plumbing two air compressor tanks together

[93 saturn sl2]

Im purchasing a 20 gal Speedaire compressor today to replace an old 30 gal compressor my friend never returned to me. I have an old Husky 10 or 20 gal compressor with a frozen motor that Id like to plumb in series to the new compressor, for extra reserve. Im wondering what the easiest way to do this would be.

An air line from the Speedaire compressor's output, to the Husky's tank, and then my air line for tools would be plugged into the Husky tank. Im guessing Ill have to make some sort of adapter out of fittings to plug an airline into the Husky tank to supply it with air.

 

[sofa king]

I'd think you would have to just pipe them together.
But keep in mind that the working compressor is going to be working hard when its running, it will have to fill both tanks.

 

[93 saturn sl2]

Ill have to look at the other compressor and see how I can make it work. Its one of those oil-less noisy bastards.

The new one has the specs below. I think it should be up to the task.

Dayton 9TC62A Compressor Motor - 3450 RPM, 240 volt, 60 Hz., 1 Phase, 15 Amp Continuous Duty
SCFM Rating
10.3 @ 90 PSI
9.1 @ 135 PSI

 

[Beigg]

remove the drain valves from each tank at the bottom and using a "T" & associated plumbing lines/fittings rated beyond the Max PSI, interconnect the two tanks. The leg of the "T" is now your drainage point so be sure it is the lowest component of the two tanks.

 

[DRAG-ULA]

One of my friends did this a long time ago when we were kids. I don't remember how he hooked them together, but I do remember the secondary tank emptying before the primary, so the PSI would get too low before the compressor would kick on.

The way Beigg said to do it makes sense. You just need to make sure the tanks drain equally.

 

[sofa king]

remove the drain valves from each tank at the bottom and using a "T" & associated plumbing lines/fittings rated beyond the Max PSI, interconnect the two tanks. The leg of the "T" is now your drainage point so be sure it is the lowest component of the two tanks.

isn't the drain hole usually pretty small? in order to make pressure in both tanks all air will have to go through that tiny hole to fill the whole tank.
I know chicks have babies too, but...

 

[mustangjoe87]

I would think your pressure would maintain more equal if you had it in a loop?

 

[Beigg]

isn't the drain hole usually pretty small? in order to make pressure in both tanks all air will have to go through that tiny hole to fill the whole tank.
I know chicks have babies too, but...

Most have a 1/4 NPT fitting. You're not solely relying on a single tank, & mainly it'll help as a true reserve source while the rattle machine tries catching up.

 

[93 saturn sl2]

A loop would definitely help. But in other news, my MIA friend messaged me out of the blue yesterday and it looks like Im getting my old trusty Montgomery Wards air compressor back.

 

[ultradriver10000]

You can just tie them together, good old ideal gas law pv=nrt. There is some delay of the air getting from one tank to the next, so I would plumb the tool feed line between the two units. The unit without the pump would just be a reserve volume. So the main pump would come on less, but stay on longer if that makes sense. It would have more air to pump, but cycle less times. So rather than filling 10gallons of air x 10 times, it might fill 20 gallons x 5 times.

 

[Birdie2000]

I did this with a spare 80 gal tank on an old industrial 80gal 240v compressor/tank. The 2nd tank is in an outbuilding, and definitely helped run tools more consistently. It's not an ideal setup, but the tubing out to the building wasn't buried deep enough in the ground and my theory is that any moisture in the line would freeze and severely restrict the line in the winter causing issues with running tools due to inadequate CFM.

Got the 80 gal tank cheap enough, plumbed it through the top where the compressor would have fed it, used its normal outlet, and it works great because tool use is intermittent and the pauses between demands give the tank time to refill at a leisurely pace. It hasn't placed any perceivable burden on the compressor and fills pretty quickly, all things considered (especially in warm weather when line restriction isn't an issue). Pressure does drop slightly lower before it starts refilling for whatever reason like DRAGULA said, but not enough to matter.