Location of Air Compressor

[HPRifleman]

Most garages are big rectangles. If you have your "shop" area on one side or one corner of the rectangle, where is your preference for air compressor placement? Do you prefer to have it in/near your shop area for easy access or as far away as possible to keep things quiet?

 

[matt_i]

I'll vote for faraway due to the noise and time for the "cold metal" piping to act on entrained moisture.

However, if a person had a blast cabinet, I would place those two physically close to avoid the losses in long piping with maximum airflow.

I placed my compressor in the attic.

 

[Chevy-SS]

Ditto as above - mine is in the attic.... sitting on thick rubber pads

 

[nadogail]

Ideally so far away that I can't hear it.

I could just get the compressed air out of the pipe like water.

 

[csp]

Not in a corner, where the noise is most likely to be the highest.

 

[Bruce Amacker]

Attic is good, if not, on pallet racking on the second level with an enclosure to minimize noise. No sense wasting good shop floor on a compressor if you don't have to.

It doesn't need to be near the blast cabinet if you have 1/2" or larger airline.

 

[ronr80]

Mine sits in a corner and I built a table for it. sits on a rubber mat , hardly ever comes on, I put up with a bit of noise.

 

[MattRMagnum]

I abandoned plans to add a compressor to my garage for now, but I was planning to put it outside on a concrete pad. It'd fit under the overhangs of my garage, and then I wouldn't have to listen to the noise. ***** for the neighbors, but that's life.

 

[ScaldedDog]

I'm putting my new Eaton Quiet Air compressor in the front corner of my metal-lined building. I'm still running lines, but have had the compressor on, and it is dramatically quieter than the 12yo Eaton I had in my last place. I don't see it being a problem.

Mark

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[NUTTSGT]

Mine is in the back room of the garage so I don't have to listen to it right in the area I'm working.


In the corner, if I had just a big box rectangular shop. I'd consider framing walls around it with a door to service it.

Maybe runs the walls all the way to the ceiling and possible open to the attic space. Let it draw it's air from the vented attic. I'd have to try it and see how it works.

 

[ratdoggy]

Mines in my basement shop and piped to my attached garage. So I also have air in the basement shop
Pipe slopes up so the water drains back to the compressor there's enough pipe for the moisture to condense before it gets to the garage. Also I can't hear it in the garage. Just have to remember to turn it off so it doesn't start up at 3 in the morning

 

[astroracer]

If it is "in" the shop, "quiet" is a mis-conception. "Not-quite-as-loud" is the proper term.
Putting it as far away from the normal work area is a good idea though. Run hard lines around the shop to handy drop points for access to the air.
Really think about building an air cooler to go between the compressor head and the tank input. I am in the process of doing that right now to eliminate the hot air and condensation that gets pumped into the tank every time the compressor cycles.
I will start a build thread shortly but this is fairly simple to do and it will alleviate a ton of the water buildup these things see in the tank.
Mark

 

[volleyball]

I see hard metal surfaces behind the examples shown. Duh, that's the last thing that you want to do. Uneven soft surfaces are the way to go. Even if you do 1/2 or 3/4 the way around it with convoluted foam or maybe old heavy weight house curtains you will cut noise dramatically. Having a flexible coupling out of the compressor so that it doesn't telegraph noise goes a long way.
I have sheetrock and odd old lumber behind mine. It sits on a pallert and has hose connections and it it is way quieter than any Borla exhaust system.

 

[sberry]

Curtains are the best. I need to fix mine one of these days. I had a blanky scheme back in the day when I ran its lots more, even that cardboard makes a difference. Its all hooked together but the breaker is off to the big blue. Its a backup and demand if I wanna sandblast. With all the tanks the 3 hp thats undercover keeps up well.

 

[Ilikeike]

I had mine in the back corner of my home tandem garage for 15 years. it sucked when I was running a grinder or an air hungry tool, that thing was loud when you had to stand right there.

I finally built a lean-too type shed on the side of the house for it. I'm much happier now.

 

[Jagmandave]

Mine will go outside the shop - when it gets built - in it's own little building.... till then it's in the garage along with everything else.

 

[coljar]

Mine is in the back room along with the restroom, and furnace/ac. I can't stand to listen to them run. My old garage next door to the new one has the same setup.

 

[Radio Flyer]

I still go back and forth with this.

I have a 10X10 shed 8 feet from my garage. I was going to trench, and run a line into the garage. From there I would use a hose reel. Noise would stay in the shed and I could switch it on/off from the garage.

Then I would have to deal with the condensation issue.

If I leave it in the garage, there is the noise, but I'm reminded to drain it every so often.

 

[ScaldedDog]

I still go back and forth with this.



I have a 10X10 shed 8 feet from my garage. I was going to trench, and run a line into the garage. From there I would use a hose reel. Noise would stay in the shed and I could switch it on/off from the garage.



Then I would have to deal with the condensation issue.



If I leave it in the garage, there is the noise, but I'm reminded to drain it every so often.

Just get an auto drain, and set it up on a timer to go off once a day, or week, or whatever. Get a wifi wall switch for it, and you can drain the compressor from your phone.

Mark

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[coljar]

Just get an auto drain, and set it up on a timer to go off once a day, or week, or whatever. Get a wifi wall switch for it, and you can drain the compressor from your phone.

Mark

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

I have that same auto drain on mine, but I have to make sure the dogs aren't out in the back yard if I have it switched on. Scares the **** out of them.

 

[On-Wheel]

WiFi timer who’d a thought.I’ve never seem one till now.

 

[johnnyradiant]

My auto drain works off of pressure differential so it is air powered not wifi or electrical.

 

[brownbagg]

do yall leave your compressors powered up, while nobody in the shop. nothing worst than hearing a compressor crank up at 2 am

 

[bad_idea]

I'm in the market for a large compressor for my garage. I currently have a 20 gallon horizontal unit under my work bench. Really going back and forth on sticking it in a corner, building a mechanical room, or a lean to on the back of the garage. Obviously cost and effort goes up with each choice. Not sure which way to go.

 

[On-Wheel]

Mine is between 2 garage doors.Right where a man door should have been.lol

 

[Jagmandave]

I miss having a man door out of the garage/shop too.....

One thing I've learned after getting my big 60 gallon - the only time you really need it is if you're doing something really air intensive, like sand blasting or using air powered sanders and other such air tools - most of the time my little 30 year old 20 gal does everything I need, including powering my impact wrench.

Of course, it's nice to have all the air you need when you need it!

But for the everyday occasional blow gun use and impact wrench, the little one does just fine.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Mine hangs out in the basement I have multiple hoses connected together since my house doesn’t have a garage it can reach all the way out to all the cars and everything at my work shop though we have a room with compressors and the hoses are run through and come out from the ceiling


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[NUTTSGT]

I'm in the market for a large compressor for my garage. I currently have a 20 gallon horizontal unit under my work bench. Really going back and forth on sticking it in a corner, building a mechanical room, or a lean to on the back of the garage. Obviously cost and effort goes up with each choice. Not sure which way to go.

I'd keeping saving money and see what happens this year for Black Friday sales.

 

[like2wheel]

do yall leave your compressors powered up, while nobody in the shop. nothing worst than hearing a compressor crank up at 2 am

Especially when it's in the basement directly under your bed.

Doesn't make wifey happy

 

[Nicks garage]

My compressor is not on the scale of many of yours but I had complaints of noise from my neighbors about mine so built an enclosure for mine and it makes a massive difference, from the video it now has the inlet outside the box with a baffling system and it’s sat on car moving dolly’s so it around 10-15m from the garage

 

[gerryw]

My 60 gallon is in basement, auto drain to floor drain.i just couldn’t take the noise and scare when in garage.That wifi timer is a great idea!

Gerry

 

[csp]

Since nobody has mentioned it, the compressor itself can be all the difference in the world. I can have a conversation with someone in a slightly louder than normal voice two feet away from any of my three Quincy compressors.

I had to yell over any of the oil free compressors I had before and one oiled, but direct drive machine.

There's about 25 dB difference between my home garage Quincy and the Craftsman oilless that it replaced.

 

[bad_idea]

I'd love to find a good used quincy 325 for sale locally at a fair price.

 

[exranger06]

I have a small attached garage, 20x22 ft. Since space is at a premium, and because I didn't want to hear it run, I put my 60 gallon compressor in the boiler room in my basement, which is on the completely opposite side of the house from the garage. I ran 3/4" copper pipe right through my finished basement, parallel to the 3/4" conduit I ran to power the compressor. The pipe branches out when it gets to the garage and I have a service drop on the back wall, and another to a hose reel right next to the door.

Wherever you decide to install it, i suggest you do NOT shove it into a corner, or build a tiny shed for it. Be sure to leave enough space around it so you can actually service it if you need to. That's the most common mistake I see people make with their installations.

 

[txvwnut]

My neighbors are fortunate that my compressor is really quiet as its outside my shop in stand alone closet.




In full disclosure my shop is about a 100 feet from any of my neighbors.