Air compressor line questions

[MJB]

Type L is the heavier copper.

 

[Egon]

Gary:

After more thinking on the air commpressor situation and having some free time .

Heat in the compressor area
Gas dectection in the compresor intake area.
Louvers and fans to provide positive air pressure and proper temperatures.
Air dryer
schedule 40 threaded steel pipe with all fittings backwelded installed on a slope with a drip leg at the end with auto water beedoff.
Psv at the end of the line as well as just before air tank.
Auto water drain on air tank
All attachment points for quick fittings comming off the top of the pipe and comming down to working level where there should be a drainable tailpiece to collect garbage and water.
Entire line heat traced and insulated.

And last but not least: A pump and methonal for freeze up situations.

Egon

 

[Jeff396]

<font color="blue"> Auto water drain on air tank </font>

Could you elaborate on what you would use to do this?

Jeff

 

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

Jeff.........Harbor Freight has a auto drain valve(replaces your manual drain petcock) for about $15. Have one on my compressor..........It cycles once every time the compressor starts and stops.........Tom

 

[Jeff396]

That sounds great! I'm on my third radiator petcock as the part you grab on to keeps coming loose eventually. Thanks!!

Jeff

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Maybe my ignorance of all that is needed has led me into an untennable situation here. It's not really practical to heat the compressor area or where the lines will run at this point. I'm in an uninsulated pole barn in northern Indiana. Any thoughts for this situation?

 

[WVBill]

Let me add a question to Gary's:

Once you've set up the compressor and plumbed it to where you need the air, do you leave the compressor powered up all the time? If not, how do you avoid having to walk over to the compressor to turn it on every time you need air?

 

[Bird]

Gary, Egon lives in the really cold country. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I don't know just how cold your weather will get, but I had my compressor in an uninsulated and unheated building. However, in this part of the country a large portion of the garages, service stations, etc. have their compressors outside the shop, sometimes with a little roof over them. I don't think you'll have a problem.

 

[Bird]

Bill, I usually turned mine off, at the compressor, at the end of the day; just didn't want it to run continuously if a hose or line should blow out (sometimes forgot, of course). But it wouldn't be a big problem to run your electrical wiring so you had a switch near where you do most of the work.

 

[Hoeman00]

In the winter DO NOT let the compressor run unattended.
A friend forgot ONE time and just right conditions the line to the pressure cut off froze up also pressure releif was in this small line.
The 60 gal. tank blew up and went THRU the roof of his pole barn.
Took out 2 roof trusses and damaged his boat on the way up.
This is a one in a million problem but BEWARE.