Automatic Aircompressor Drain

[mayday0017]

As many of you have seen I am getting a new air compressor and plan on making some modifications to it. First being the Aftercooler mentioned in another thread I have going on here. Second is an automatic drain. I plan on tieing the aftercooler and the regular tank drain together so I can drain both automatically. So on to the questions...

Has anyone used a harborfrieght drain kit?
What do people think of them?
What mods to it if any are recommended to make it reliable?
Is there another you prefer besides the harborfreight setup?
Where do you commonly have your water drain (ie pie pan or something)?

Lets see some pics of some of your modified drain setups and a short write up of why you did what you did and how you like it or any changes you would make doing it again....

 

[arvidj]

Has anyone used a harborfrieght drain kit?
What do people think of them?
What mods to it if any are recommended to make it reliable?
Is there another you prefer besides the harborfreight setup?
Where do you commonly have your water drain (ie pie pan or something)?

Responses in order you asked them ...

Yes, I have had a couple of them that I tried as replacements for the one that came with the compressor when it stopped working.

I do not think very much of the HF units.

I am not sure "make it reliable" is even an option.

Went back and bought one from the company that I bought my compressor from. It was more expensive and works better but "works well" is not a feature of that one either. At least it works some of the time.

My compressor is in the basement next to the washer, drier and laundry tubs. It is very handy to have a hose connected to the outlet of the drain and then just crack the valve a little and let the air push the water up the tube and into the laundry tub.

You didn't ask but ... as much as I do not want to go with an electric drain ... one that is on a timer ... but the timers do not seem to have settings for anything longer than about an about 60 minutes between cycles so I would have the equivalent of a pneumatic cuckoo clock in the basement hissing every hour on the hour ... I may have to go that way just to get something that is reliable.

Arvid

 

[EdT]

I've had a HF auto drain on my 60 Gallon compressor for about five years and it seems to be working fine. It has never given me any problems.

 

[pop pop]

EdT, that is interesting. Back in the day I managed a plant with over 2500 HP of installed compressor capacity and probably 500 miles of piping. I tried every brand made on the face of the earth and the only ones that ever worked were the timer operated valves. Their failure rate was about 20% a year. Always an electrical failure.

 

[lametec]

1. Yes
2. ****
3. Replace it with a solenoid valve (120V/240V depending on what the compressor runs off).
4. See #3
5. Out back

I mounted a 1/4" solenoid valve with a push button. Push the button to drain.

My push button is also mounted to a timer so it drains for 20 seconds (or any other time I desire) when I push the button. The timer's not really needed, that's just how I roll.

 

[LumpyMusic]

My drain is manual. Beginning and ending of every period of use for my 60 gal, I simply open the valve for a few seconds. Orig valve was an inline **** on dead center bottom of the tank, difficult to reach. I extended the drain with brass ******* and fittings and a shut off **** with a handle. Now to open or close, I simply use my foot. Works sure and simple. Doesn't leak.

It's a little difficult to tell from the angle of the photos. But the shutoff **** and the final elbow do not stick out into the path of traffic around the compressor. It doesn't get bumped by feet, rolling carts compressor hoses or anything else that comes near the base of the thing. I thought about plumbing the drain contents outside the garage with some rubber hose. But decided against it because I'd be drilling into some solid reinforced concrete foundation at the point of the drain. So I just allow the thing to vomit on the concrete garage floor.


Lumpy

You were the "OPERATION" game voice?
Yes. Take out wrenched ankle.

www.LumpyMusic.com

 

[stonesfan68]

If you want to get really fancy then you can get a no-loss drain valve that will only drain when the drain is full.

No-Loss Drain

It will set you back $250, so it might be better to just hook up a manual drain.

 

[mayday0017]

Hm... I have the ball valve setup on current compressor and might just move it over to this new one after the replies here, I would be really disappointed if I installed the harbor freight one which will require spending 3X as much on misc fittings and what not to have what I think would be a reliable setup assuming the damn thing doesn't leak! Maybe I'll take the whole thing apart and see what makes it tick and see if I can engineer it to reliable even if it requires taking it to work and doing a little machining.

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

 

[Brian_B_]

Mine is a ball valve as of last week.