Air Compresser Condensate Plumbing

[Darryl2]

Finally, Finally....FINALLY have been doing a deep (2 week) CLEAN and organizing of the GARAGE, for real this time.

Have thrown out tons of scrounge, scrap stuff even though it has saved my bacon a million times on this project or that. Kept only the most essentials and organized into parts bins.

New Garage Doors, New TENNSCO storage cabinets, New Rolling Mobile workbench (toolbox), Removed existing heater, Installed Blinds, Painted walls and getting ready to install a new 2-stage HVAC system in the garage!

Then I thought.......WAIT! We wanted to epoxy the floor so that really needs to be done before the furnace goes in.......then......what about my old 60 gallon air compressor, it's looking a bit tired and I really need to remove it and patch the anchor holes before the floor epoxy..........etc. (Buying the HF 5hp, 60 gal 2-stage)

Which finally leads to the topic of this post.

I have rust stains on my concrete from condensate draining splatter. I really want to avoid this with the brand new Air Compressor on a Brand New Full Broadcast Polyspartic Floor that is soon to be done.

Does anyone pipe it out the wall with an automatic Condensate drain?

I am hoping if I start draining it regularly while its new it will minimize the rust and if I get the water out of my garage it will save my floor.

I am bad about draining it manually. Suggestions?

 

[rlitman]

Compressors drains have rust, no matter how regularly you drain them.

 

[bochnak]

I drain it into a bucket, dump outside. No rusty floor.

 

[sberry]

Is the garage heated continuously? I like manual drain. Remove petcock, put in elbow, short pipe, valve and hose or copper tube and plumb thru the wall. When you read a thread about auto drain or drain malfunction walk over and kick the valve open a crack.
3 vessels plumbed to a common drain. Used scrap water line I removed from a trailer and had all but one flare I had to make.

 

[alcorelli]

The auto drains I've seen blast every minute or so. Way too often for my home shop (60 gallon 5hp) .
I am planning on setting mine up with a Tork clock to blast through a half inch copper drain through the wall once a week.
I use my setup infrequently, but it stays under pressure.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[pbon]

I have not bought an auto drain because I don’t run mine very often. I do have the drain plumbed into copper and. out through the wall of the house and pointed towards the ground with a ball valve in the copper pipe as a manual drain.

 

[58Yeoman]

I installed a ball valve going to a flex hose connected to a piece of pvc going through the rear wall to outside. I drain mine just about every time I use it.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Where do you live? Plumbing it outside may be an issue if you live where it gets very cold in the winter and water turns to ice. If you have a floor drain, you could extend a piece of plastic tubing to the drain so it doesn't go on the floor. Otherwise, the simplest thing is to have it drain in a bucket.

 

[exranger06]

*Threadjack* Does the condensate line have to be sloped downward? Or will the air pressure push the water uphill? I was thinking about plumbing my condensate line outside, but my compressor is in my basement, so the line would have to go uphill to get outside.

 

[SGKent]

Is the garage heated continuously? I like manual drain. Remove petcock, put in elbow, short pipe, valve and hose or copper tube and plumb thru the wall. When you read a thread about auto drain or drain malfunction walk over and kick the valve open a crack.
3 vessels plumbed to a common drain. Used scrap water line I removed from a trailer and had all but one flare I had to make.

^^^^^^ is the best solution. I also removed the petcock, put in the appropriate elbow and a short pipe then a lever ball valve I can easily reach. From there a small hose goes outside. Works perfect to drain after each use. Came up with it after reading threads here. Greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

[Darryl2]

Garage will be heated enough to stay above freezing point. I think I like the idea of a ball valve attached to a line penetrating the wall.

Now how to deal with rusty water staining the wife's decorative gravel in the flower bed outside? Possibly plumb into the buried pvc gutter drains which ultimately empty into the yard. They are right there and shallow enough. Or just a gravel-filled hole and let it soak into the dirt, no more water than it will be putting out at a time.

I will just get myself into the habit of cracking the valve for a few seconds every time I use it or think about it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[QuickRick]

There are tons of possibilities here because the discharge out of the tank is pressurized. You could drain it into a container, use an auto drain to blow it outside and either probably wouldn't freeze as the small amount of water and long discharge period will clear the line.
My auto drain blows for 15 seconds each 45 minutes as an example.
As to the rust this is really not even an issue and besides......its good for the plants!

QR

 

[sberry]

It will blow it uphill just fine. Use a small line, 3/8 copper or air brake line. Even piece of 3/8 air hose. It really doesn't need to be blasted all the time, I had mine on since 74. Have seen them with 5 gallons of water in them and lots of them had a sump tube that simply laid in the bottom of the tank.
It was all to work in frozen weather,, when it thawed you could drain it.
I drain when I think of it, I have seen them done per shift but they run steady all day and it was a habit.

 

[ford33]

You will not get much water collection the winter season. There isn't much humidity in the compressed air.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Mine is piped to a plastic one gallon washer fluid bottle. I drilled holes in the lid, stuffed a little piece of Scotch-Brite between the lid and the bottle to allow airflow without water spraying out.

Tommy

 

[nafterclifen]

Have you considered the Tsunami Mositure Minder?

https://www.gosuburban.com/our-bran...oducts/drains/moisture-minder-pneumatic-drain

 

[clubairth]

I use the Harbor Freight auto air drain. It blasts out the water using the un-loader valve signal so no electrical needed. Every time the compressor turns on or off it shoots what water is in the tank out using compressed air.

Only problem is it's Harbor Freight and the plastic air line to the un-loader valve melted from the heat on the first use! Used truck air line push lock connections and just replaced the entire plastic line.

That was 2+ years ago and it's still working fine and if the pump does not cycle then the air drain does not operate so it works out well.
.
.
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[rlitman]

I use the Harbor Freight auto air drain...

I had one on my last compressor. Like you (and MANY others who've used it), I had the plastic tube fail. I re-made the ends, but many people replace with copper.

Mine eventually stopped working because it clogged with rust. The piston jammed open, and it leaked until I disconnected it.

My new compressor is 2-stage with a tank reaching past 175 PSI, and the HF auto drain isn't rated for that much pressure.