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Hey everyone,
I have a 26 gallon air compressor and a bunch of air tools. I use a 3/8 inch diameter air hose with 1/4 inch quick connect fittings. I’ve read that using a larger diameter hose allows the air to flow better and increases the power delivery to the tool.
Is this true, and if so, how much of a power increase are we talking about? Also, would I have to buy new fittings for all of my tools?
Thanks!
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You get more flow but, less velocity. It can make a huge difference in the way tools preform. Most shops use 3/8 air lines and 1/4in fittings. Most 3/4in and 1in impacts use 1/2in line and 3/8 fittings. Good quality brands will list what you should use on the specific tools ie Ingersol Rand or Snap-On Impacts have it listed in the manual.
I would suggest getting type D possibly type C fittings. Those are the ones used in most shops. Type D is industrial and type C is automotive.
Also have the main line be a heavy duty with a short 8′ line being a flexzilla type hose. You can get a 8′ whip and put the adapters on the whip like an extension hose. I have a 15′ goodyear one it is slightly stronger then a flexzilla but, a lot more costly (I made mine out of a discarded 50′ piece :p). The reason you want a super flexible one is it will let you get into tight places. You also want it just rigged up like an extension hose is the really flexible are also somewhat less resistant to punctures etc. So if it breaks or you are going to have the hose rubbing against something you can use the thicker one and prevent an issue.
Another thing is if those plastic collars come off or you need to replace the fittings. Use heatshrink tubing over the crimp connector and shrink it to the crimp and the hose. It will help prevent the crimp from cutting the softer more flexible hose. Plus it ever gets torn up or broken you just get a new piece of heat shrink its fairly cheap.
When I was building my air setup, I found that the single best thing was to upgrade the couplers/fittings to these high flow type that Snap-On sells. They are 1/4″ fittings but if you look thru them from the threaded side, you see no inside diameter reduction where it transitions from the 1/4″ NPT to the nipple (Unlike All the other styles). You need a female coupler ($15) for each air line and a nipple ($4) for each one of your tools, a minor investment given the performance gain.
I started with the usual 3/8″ hoses using 1/4″ NPT fittings and pipes/regulator/drier. I switched to these Snap-On air fittings first (under $100). After that I went to 1/2″ hoses with 3/8″ NPT plumbing/regulator/drier and used reducer bushings at the tool end to have a 1/4″ NPT for the high flow fittings ($350). Of the massive performance gain I got on every on of my air tools doing this, the high-flow fittings alone were 70% of that gain.
The whole reason I got into those upgrades was the occasional lug nuts that were too tight for my 1/2″ impact and I’d have to drop the car back down and break them loose by hand. This was unacceptable to me to be doing as a professional, and I’ve never had the problem again since doing these upgrades about 6 years ago.
If you’re interested, I’ll get the part numbers for the fittings next time I’m at work for you. You can mail order them from the Snap-On website if you don’t have access to a dealer, and I cannot stress enough how worthwhile it is to do so. The more inept dealers actually don’t even know they sell these things.
Thanks for all the advice.
MDK22: You mentioned Type C and D fittings… Are they different shapes or something?
Fopeano: I would be interested to take a look at the high-flow fittings. They sound pretty useful.
Not sure why but over here we use 1/4 inch bsp fitting on all air tools into either an 8mm or 10mm hose. with quick release connectors, not sure it’s the best set up really but it’s standard practise for every garage I’ve been to.
Type C fittings are generally considered automotive fittings. Though everywhere I have ever worked, been to, gone to school at use type D which is industrial. It normally lasts longer and gives you a better seal.
http://www.legacymfg.com/Selection_Guide_to_Couplers_Plugs.pdf
I took a few pics for you showing the high-flow vs. 4 other random nipples I had in my toolbox, one of which is the standard for our shop. This should show how obvious the flow difference is thru these. I really don’t understand why nobody seems to even know these things exist.
The part Numbers:
Nipple w/ male thread AHCCP97C
Nipple w/ female thread AHCCP90B
Coupler w/female thread AHCC98B
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