air compressor in the attic?

[reinhardt]

i have a 14 x 20 garage, so space is limited. considering putting a 20-30 gallon air compressor in the attic above the garage. am i asking for trouble here? i figure extend the drain out the bottom of the tank through the ceiling to drain it regularly. bolt the compressor down to the rafters to keep it located. possibly relocate the air intake down into the garage to **** cooler air into the compressor. any other considerations? is this going to shake my house into a pile of rubble?

ben

 

[nissan_crawler]

I'm sure you'll get some answers in here, but if you haven't searched, do so. I know this has came up at least 4-5 times with good discussion.

 

[rwhite692]

One thing to consider is that, if this is an attached garage, you may experience more noise transmission throughout the house when it's running, than you would otherwise if it was simply sitting on the floor in the garage. Of course this additional noise may or may not matter, in your particular situation.

 

[reinhardt]

One thing to consider is that, if this is an attached garage, you may experience more noise transmission throughout the house when it's running, than you would otherwise if it was simply sitting on the floor in the garage. Of course this additional noise may or may not matter, in your particular situation.

ehh.... thats the wife's problem it'll more than likely be quieter in the garage right? would shock isolation mounts of some sort solve this problem? i'm willing to put some effort into this. the size of my garage makes it in my best interest to put it up, out of the way.

 

[Oldtymeflyr]

The Vibration is just terrible.

Anything is possible but I tried it, during testing I came to the conclusion this just wasn't worth it.

Good Luck!

 

[kbs2244]

Separate the tank and pump.
Put the tank up and keep the pump down where it won’t vibrate and you can work on it if needed.
Use a large dia (2 or 3 inch) vertical off the pump and up to the tank and with a drip drain at the bottom.
It will slow down the air flow and provide enough cooling surface so that draining the tank will not be a problem.
You can tee off it up high for your around the walls piping.

 

[URTOAST]

I did this about 5 years ago, because I had no other choice when it came to space. I ended up removing the drain from the tank and hooking up two flex lines, one from the supply and one from the drain. I ran the drain down to a ball valve on the wall with about a 4 ft piece of pex pipe via an adapter hooked to the other end. About once a week i have my garage door open and open the valve, and it sprays the water outside via the pex, do it slowly : ) I also hooked a large PVC fresh air tube from my soffit vent to try and draw in some cooler air on the intake side, I live in NC so an attic here gets every bit of 140-150 in the summer time. I do my best to make sure I turn on my unit in the morning or evening after working in the garage so I dont run it that hard in the middle of the day. I ended up making a steel plate that sits on top of two side by side rafters and put rubber bushings on the feet of the unit from sway bar end link kits to try to isolate the vibration, it helped, but its no success story by any means.

 

[thomfr]

Vibrations and noise are the issues:
I put mine on dampers like these:

It makes it quieter but the noise is still rather strong.

Thom

 

[chuggins143]

Another option would be to set it outside behind the shop. I have a small compressor 20-30 gal tank and to get more storage I went and bought two 30 gal propane tanks... decompressed them, removed the valves, filled with water and then pulled a vacuum on them to remove any excess water. I set them out back and ran a air line through the wall. Works quite nicely for me.

As a side note, if you're compressor is a "oil free" type deal then I wouldn't even consider putting it in the shop at all. Way too noisy and cycles too often and too long when it does, but that's a different subject for a different day.

C

Disclaimer - I would never suggest using propane bottles as storage tanks, but I'm just saying that it has been done.

 

[raggtopp72]

I've had my 20 gallon air compressor in my garage attic now for 26 years. I have a separate 24 x24 garage so I was never concerned about noise and vibration, but I can see this is an issue with attached garages. Living in the Northeast it has been subjected to both extreme cold and heat through the years. I make sure I keep it drained and service on regular intervals [out of sight out of mind] and it has served me well.

 

[henrysgarage]

A buddy had his compressor up in the attic and the compressor would not start in our cold winters. I seem to remember he cut an opening in the ceiling and put a filter to have warm air around the compressor to keep it from freezing.