Compressor Air line routing

[nate379]

I want to keep my compressor out of the garage for noise and spare reasons. I'm going to put up a shed this summer on the back corner of the lot.

Shed will be 80-100ft from the garage.

Let's say I put the compressor in the shed and run 1" air line in the ground into the garage. Anyone see issues with doing this? I do have concern the line may collect moisture and freeze up, but I have never had a moisture problem before.

 

[kbs2244]

You are in Alaska?
Do you plan to use the compressor in the winter?
I would worry about the oil in the compressor getting pretty stiff in an unheated shed.
Maybe some heat tape around the sump?

100 feet is a long run.
I would go to 2 inch pipe for that due to flow friction.
Also slope away from the shed toward the shop and end it in an accessible hole with a 4 or even 6 inch cross coupling. The coupling will give you a sump for any moisture to collect in. Bring the air in one side an out the other, plug the bottom permanently with epoxy on the threads and use an easy to open cap on the top cap. You can vacum out any collected water with a shop vac.

But if I was doing it, I would put it in a little lean-to type shed on the outside of the garage wall. Insulate it well for sound and heat. The piping will be much easier.

 

[Matti]

It's Arkansas not Alaska right? I haven't tried anything like this but I might in Arkansas but sure wouldn't in Alaska.

 

[nadogail]

Because I have not recently lived in Alaska, but graduated from Anchorage High School, I feel I can speak with knowledge.

You are going to have moisture in the underground line, moisture freezes. I know that there is no permafrost in the Matinuska Valley. But it still gets cold in Palmer. If I had to live there I would have the line sloping to drain the condensate to one end, preferably away from the compressor. At the low end of the line I would put on a tee with one outlet up and the other down. The up outlet would feed the garage, the down outlet would connect to a ****** about 6' long and reduced down to about 1/4". This 1/4" line will come uo into the garage with a valve in it. The plan is that the condensate, if not frozen, will be blown out the 1/4" line when the valve is opened.

You might consider adding a thaw wire to the line. They used to be standard equipment for water lines when I lived in Anchorage. I recall that welding shops thawed frozen pipes.

Call on someone local and run this idea past them, you may change your mind about moving the compressor to a shed away from the heated garage.

 

[Torque1st]

State abbreviations:
------------------------------
ALABAMA = AL
ALASKA = AK
AMERICAN SAMOA = AS
ARIZONA = AZ
ARKANSAS = AR
------------------------------
I would not put a compressor is a shed that far away in Alaska. Build a lean-to shed on the garage if necessary.

 

[burleymike]

To keep the sump warm you could use a refrigeration/AC compressor crank case heater, they are for keeping the compressor warm. To keep moisture out of the lines you could use a refrigerated dryer in the compressor shed. Just some thoughts

 

[krooser]

If running lines in concrete were a good idea there would be more run like that... never heard of it so there must be a reason no one does it...

 

[e-tek]

I'm in SK, Canada and it gets as cold (if not COLDER!) here. I've always wanted to put my compressor outside, but still worry about the compressor in MINUS 40C. Can anyone - with expereince having a compressor in these temps - say this is OK? I guess one could use a magetic block heater/heat tape/etc to warm the case, but what about the belt, the oil-filled pressure gauge (I think it's oil...), or just compressing air that cold??I'd hate to see you wreck a perfectly good compressor over one winter in ArKansalaska!

 

[BrushWhackin]

I work outside (construction) in neg. temps with portable compressors and the oil free are the only way to go. Even then they act up occasionally and generally don't last very long. I wouldn't put a larger or more expensive compressor outside. I support the lean to idea. Or do like many around here do and put it up in the attic.

 

[nate379]

Last shop I worked at had a bunch of connections that were in "cans" in the slab. Just pop the lid off and hookup.

Compressor was a 100cfm screw drive with an 80 gal tank. We had lines all over the shop (about 150x150)

If running lines in concrete were a good idea there would be more run like that... never heard of it so there must be a reason no one does it...

 

[nate379]

Yes AK is Alaska.


I spec'd it out and 3/4" line would support the CFM of the compressor on 100ft run, but I'm figuring 1" so if I upgrade the pump I'd still be ok.


I'm not too worried about the compressor itself. I'll swap out to synthetic oil in the pump and it'll out to be fine. It's been sitting just outside for the past couple weeks and I haven't had problems. Only been down to about -10* though.

Talked to my Dad (lives in Maine) and he seemed to think that it was doable... and at least worth the shot. Worse case scenario I'm out maybe $100 for air hose.

 

[35mastr]

Use some Chromolox heat tracer on the pump with a controller.

Then you should be just fine.

You can actually set the temp on the controller to what ever you want to.

I use this stuff at the plant daily and it does work.If we did not.We would have product dry up and harden in all the shipping lines to the Swecos and conges.

http://www.chromalox.com/?gclid=CL7JwuGoy5kCFRk_awodaksSug

 

[kbs2244]

Let us know next summer how it worked through the winter.

 

[akdiesel]

Nathan, let me start by asking is your current compressor that noisy?
Do you use that much air that the compressor is constantly recharging itself?
I could see running air out to a shed or a seperate garage, but a nice compressor, piping, and time setting it up can get expensive to attempt this with the possibility of water in the lines and the tank.
If it freezes then you have a summer only set up, and if you use the heat trace lines it can add alot of cost to your electrical bill.

 

[nate379]

Cost will be around $80 for the rubber hose, Poly tube for a conduit and upping the wire size.
Compressor is just a $400 Husky Pro, 2 cylinder 60 gal. Nothing special.

Not so much a noise issue, more taking up room. It is fairly noisy as it's not an expensive high end unit though.

I do use a fair amount of air with the d/a sander or the die grinder. Do quite a bit of metal fab work and some body work.

My shop is only 24x26 and 1 corner is already used by the boiler, water heater and water softener. The less stuff I have to keep in teh shop, the better.

Yeah I could build a compressor shed off the garage, but all said and done I'd be over $80 in materials to make it match the house/garage.

Since I'm already building a shed out back it's not much work to put the compressor in there. I was planning on running juice out to it. The cost between a 12 or 14 gauge wire to a 10 gauge wire is around .20/ft, so maybe $20 cost there.

If it freezes up, I can pull the air line out and run it above ground worse case.