Water Load
When air is compressed vaporous atmospheric water is concentrated. As air leaves the compressor it cools and water vapor condenses to liquid form. Use this online tool to calcuate how much water flows through a compressed air system under various conditions. The tool estimates how much water vapor the compressor takes in, how much water an aftercooler condenses to liquid, and how much water three different dryer-types can remove. Finally, the tool calculates how much water (in vapor form) remains in the system downstream of the different dryer-types.
| Compressor Inlet | Aftercooler Outlet | Dryer Outlet | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flow | scfm | |||
| Pressure | psig | |||
| Temperature | °F | |||
| Pressure Dewpoint Temp. | °F | |||
| Hours/Year | hours | |||
| Relative Humidity | % | |||
| Water vapor weight | lbs/yr. | |||
| Water vapor volume | gal/yr. | |||
| Dryer Type | ||||
| The aftercooler removed | gallons of H2O per year | |||
| The dryer removed | gallons of H2O per year | |||
The required inputs to the calculator are in un-shaded fields:
- Flow
- Enter the rated capacity of the air compressor in SCFM. If not available, multiply the rated horse power of the compressor by 4.5 and enter this figure.
- Temperature (Compressor Inlet)
- Enter the average temperature in fahrenheit of the atmospheric air being taken by the compressor.
- Pressure Dew Point
- Enter the dew point in Fahrenheit of the atmospheric air at the compressor in-take. Real time dew point data for most North American locations can be found at weather.com.
- Hours / Year
- Enter the number of hours per year that the air compressor will be operating.
- Pressure (Aftercooler Outlet)
- Enter the pressure of the compressed air in PSIG at the outlet of the aftercooler.
- Temperature (Aftercooler Outlet)
- Enter the temperature in Farenheit of the compressed air when it leaves the aftercooler. If you're not sure, enter the ambient temperature plus 15°F where an air-cooled aftercooler is being used. Or add 10°F to the temperature of the cooling water where a water-cooled aftercooler is being used.
- Dryer Type
- Select the type of compressed air dryer that will be applied.
This calculation is based on the following assumptions:
- There are no pressure or flow losses due to system piping and components.
- The aftercooler outlet pressure equals the compressor outlet pressure.
- Temperatures must be below 110 F.
- The dryer inlet and outlet temperature is equal to the Aftercooler outlet temperature.
- There is no compressor intercooler.
- The results are close approximations due to rounding.
- All water removal devices and drains are 100% effective.
