How would you fix this? GRM air compressor improvement nonsense

So about five years ago I inherited an air compressor after my grandfather passed away. It's a curious setup with the regulator and output coupling and such all supported by copper (or what looks like copper) pipe. This probably doesn't make a lot of sense so I took some pictures;

So this stuff is not well flared and looks like it was hand bent and it's kind of a mess. It leaks and shakes around and I don't think it was ever meant to support an air hose. I've made no changes to it, just added a hose when I got the thing.

So how would GRM fix this? I've thought about getting some high pressure air hose and the right couplings to take care of the one big pipe running to the top of the compressor from the tank. A second small hose would work for the reference pressure to that Square-D shut-off switch.

But how do I hang all this stuff? What about the outlet? The hose isn't too happy as it's cracked sometime in the last six months right at the nipple on the compressor side. So some kind of strain relief might be nice. Oh, and I don't have a welder, so burning some heavy metal box together sized for that platform isn't going to be so easy.

What would GRM do?

Replace the vertical piece of tubing with thick wall type L copper pipe, preferably a bit shorter. Get rid of that weird hose hookup arrangement and screw a coupler directly to the regulator with a close nipple.

In reply to BrokenYugo:

Thank-you for the input. Is this thick wall type L copper pipe something plumbing shops would carry? I agree on getting that pipe sized to something as short as possible; thinking I may try to get some kind of mount setup so the weight isn't totally carried by the pipe itself.

I should get on der googlez and look around for a local hydraulic hose jobber and see if I can find something to replace those other two pipes. The small diameter job looks like something that braided stainless brake flex hose would replace well.

Your home improvement stores carry it too!

I would use a steel electrical box to mount it all to securely at the top of the compressor. You should have enough knock-outs for anything you need to run in and out, and it'll be easy to mount. That'll be a lot easier than trying to weld something together with your non-existent welder..

In reply to trucke:

Yeah, but then what, I assume I have to flare it myself and dig up matching female ends. My hope was I could just hand it to someone that could make up the pipe with ends installed, flared, ready to install.

To wonko: I'm thinking that if I can replace that riser pipe with something much stronger and shorter I won't really need to mount the regulator more securely.

The line coming up from the tank to the regulator is small and probably restricting air flow, as likely is the regulator.

The line going from the pressure switch is usefull and helps with restarting by bleeding off air pressure in front of the valve. Otherwise, the electric motor has to start against tank pressure, and is far more likely to stall and trip the breaker. Especially if running on 110v.

What you have works and isn't inherently unsafe or unsecure. Just unsightly.

Ya don't need copper. Check what the tank and regulator pipe thread size is, eliminate the copper and the fittings, replace w/ black pipe nipple but the shorter the better for vibration. Could be 1/4"-3/8" or even 1/2" pipe thread fitting size by looking at that pic. Lowes or HD should have whatever thread size nipple up to 4" long in schedule 40, anything longer can be cut and threaded in store. Better if heavy wall, schedule 80 for vibration. Plumbing supply prolly got that. Replumb rest as necessary.

Is there pipe nipple that comes off the shelf internally threaded? If not, do I get it cut that way, or am I missing something with yanking that vertical pipe to the regulator? This is mostly inre: fasted58's suggestion that I can ditch the pipe and the fittings.

Kind of wishing I had a picture of this because I'm not envisioning how what he's suggesting would work. Truth be told, black iron seems like a smarter material than copper for this. I'd really like something that has the outlet of the regulator about an inch above the deck on the tank so I have an easier time fashioning a rest/u-bolt setup to hold the outlet coupling steady. Looking again at the pictures, I figure a 2 inch nipple would be plenty long, instead of the 10 or 12 that the existing piece is.

I'm not worried about the flow restriction posed by that pipe size or the regulator itself. Should I be?

To foxtrapper: I don't think the setup doesn't work, it's been pretty functional for probably four decades. My issue is how many leaks the setup has at this point and how the nature of the pipework I'm trying to replace seems kind of un-repairable at this point, making replacement of piping seem smart.

You can get anything you'll need from any big box home store, all standard plumbing parts. Also, the copper from the compressor to tank is great, will likely outlive the rest of the machine, leave it be or fix it if leaking, sometimes the nuts just need to be cranked down again. Same for the little dump line from the compressor to switch, though ugly. If you want to redo that I'd still use copper there, you can get the tubing (soft and bendable, pipe is harder and not meant to bend) from a good hardware store by the foot. fasted58 makes a good point on using black steel pipe. The hole in the tank will be NPT, probably 1/2 NPT.

Agree with fasted58 and BrokenYugo. Leave the copper compressor to tank line alone. Replace the tank to regulator line with black iron. Make it shorter and you could use some fittings to relocate slightly. Replace the compressor to switch line with new copper tubing bent to fit the new location of the switch.

Okay, lots of good stuff, thanks! I think the plan is to get the pipe off of the compressor entirely and take the whole piece with me to HD and see what I can find to match and replace. The other copper pipe from the compressor to the tank is okay I think and not leaking. The little guy is leaking at the regulator and will probably need to be replaced with something longer that I can maybe work out at a plumbing shop that can flare ends for me after transferring the ends I have to a new piece of tube.

Awesome!

In reply to pres589:

from the pics I don't see any flared fittings at all but compression fittings.

In reply to fasted58:

I'll come back to this when I get some stuff apart. Maybe this weekend.