Compressor Auto drian .......

[Roospike]

I decided to get an IR electric auto drain for the compressor and loose the ball valve set up. I read talk about them but how are otheres actually installing and running them , any pictures ?

The compressor sits next to the heated restroom/winter storage and thought the need to run it through the restroom/storage room wall , throught the room and then out the back wall. Running it through the heated room should stop any line freeze in the winter.

What input / pics does anyone have for such a set up.

{Heated Restroom/storage room behind compressor.}

 

[SteveU]

What I plan on doing by next winter is wrapping the pipe below the compressor with a heat tape like on a plumbing pipe which should keep it from ever freezing. Are you sure you want the pipe going thru the bathroom area? Maybe if it didn't vent into there it wouldn't be so bad but they tend to startle someone who doesn't know what to expect.

 

[Junkman]

Re: Compressor Auto drain .......

With the compressed air pushing any moisture through the hose, I doubt that it will freeze, unless if is below 0 degrees for a long time, and the tube itself is so cold, that it is like frozen...

 

[Roospike]

What I plan on doing by next winter is wrapping the pipe below the compressor with a heat tape like on a plumbing pipe which should keep it from ever freezing. Are you sure you want the pipe going thru the bathroom area? Maybe if it didn't vent into there it wouldn't be so bad but they tend to startle someone who doesn't know what to expect.

Well I guess if it scares the chit out of someone then there in the right place when it happens. J/K

Good information guys ........ all going into the book of thoughts .

Something else i was wondering........... (brainfart)
The auto drain is what .. 5 minutes - 45 minutes set time for it to auto drain and tho picking a time with in that is fine but didnt know if i really needed it to auto drain 27/7 , 365 . so i thought i would run a line off of my shop lights to power an outlet to the auto drain so when i turn off my shop lights at the switch it turns off the power to the auto drain ...............auto drain works when I'm in there but off when I'm not.

 

[G M]

I put mine on a switch that I also use to control an electric solenoid to turn on the air shutoff to the tank. So when I want to use the compressor I hit the switch, it open the drain and opens the air line from the tank. I just have my drain just going to the floor, the amount of water that comes out is minimal. I thought about routing it outside but it would eventually freeze shut in the winter

 

[bmwpower]

The problem with not running it when you're not there is that condensation will build up inside. Maybe not as much when you're using it heavily, but there will still be a significant amount of water.

I've been pondering what do do with mine, but have only come up with leaving it on 24/7.

I would let it exit outside and that's what I plan on doing once I determine a final location for my compressor setup. The amount of pressure pushing out the water should be substantial enough to clear the line of any remaining water. The reason why I say drain it outside is because the sound of it is friggin scary loud. It still scares me when it goes off...always at the worst moment, too.

 

[Junkman]

When did you get a compressor and what did you buy???????/

 

[Roospike]

When did you get a compressor and what did you buy???????/

..........Who ?.........

 

[Roospike]

Well there is the option to mount the auto drain close to the compressor as so it blows out the whole line ......... or one can mount the auto drain right before it goes outside at the end of the line as so the whole line fills with water and not in the tank ...........

Up sides and down sides to both installs i would guess .

Anybody have pictures of how there auto drain install is run ?

 

[SteveU]

I just plug mine in when I'm out there running the compressor. Mine has a 'test' button that I usually hit a couple of times after I'm done & the compressor is turned off to get out residual water.

 

[G M]

Another thing that I did with my drain is when I took the petcock off the tank, I mounted it to the pipe coming out of my auto drain. This allows me to limit the amount of air the comes out, it really cuts down on noise and allows it to slowly leak down instead of a blast of air at full pressure.

 

[Roospike]

Another thing that I did with my drain is when I took the petcock off the tank, I mounted it to the pipe coming out of my auto drain. This allows me to limit the amount of air the comes out, it really cuts down on noise and allows it to slowly leak down instead of a blast of air at full pressure.

Good post and good idea , never thought of that.

Your alright G M , I dont care what they say about you . (J/K)

 

[Vicegrip]

I use one that is a motorized ball valve. A blow down cycle is the ball making a 180 deg rotation. Ball valves are less likely to stick open from crud building up and are not sensitive to blow-down pressure. I take care of nine 25 HP 4 cyl Champions at work and they use power disk pop off type blow downs that cycle with each compressor shut down. They need to be serviced at lease once a year or they get to sticking open. A lot of 175 psi air can fit through a 1/4 tube! To have a blow down stick open on a compressor that is not tended ***** as it will run until you note it and take action. This is why I opted for the ball valve type. They too have issues like anything mechanical but contamination is not one. Mine is also wired to shut down when I remotely shut the compressor down. I shut my compressor off when not in the shop in case an oil filter globe, moisture trap case or other inline device fails and springs an air leak. When I turn the compressor back on I get a single blow-down right away that clears the tank well as the air in the tank is cool and all the water has condensed. After that every 6 hours the power is on. Hearing a blow-down late at night on a cool summer evening also helps me to remember to go back out in the shop and shut the stupid compressor off (An 11pm blow down startled the **** out of the lady next door one night right when she was sipping a drink in her back yard. I rerouted the exhaust plumbing to muffle the noise, she puts up with enough odd stuff coming from my yard as it is)

I removed the stock 3/8 pet **** and replaced with a 3/8 MPT to 3/8 tubing 1/4 turn valve. This is not a disk type valve. They have seal disks that get eaten up by the oil after time and get rock hard and crumble when you cut them off or the disk can flutter as the air rushes past and fail. The good 1/4 turn type use a plastic drum as a seal and are also good at regulating the air flow if you want.
You can add a coil of 3/8 copper tubbing under the tank to act as a catch tank for water. I found the amount of condensation in my tank after a long summer days use to be small enough that a straight run from the tank port to the up turn bend in the piping to the auto drain was enough to hold it all outside of the tank.

it is a good idea to regulate the blow-down flow rate as full flow is too much unless you have a cycle duration adjustment as well as a time between cycles adjustment. Use the highest flow you can. One thing I have found is some solenoid valves need good air pressure to cycle right. They will work fine at first but as the rubber disks and seals get older and or the wet grease goo that comes out of compressor tanks builds up they can fail to fully shut at low pressure/flow rates. If you set the petcock valve too tight you might lower the cycle pressure too low for the valve to shut at some point and Mr. Murphy will make that point Friday night just after you left for a long weekend. The pressure starts out at full tank value but as soon as the valve opens the petcock acts as a metering device and drops the pressure down at the auto drain valve. A good full flow blast from time to time helps clear the oil/water goo out of the drain lines as well.

It is good to plumb the auto valve above the condensation collection point if you can so it will not sit full of water on the pressure side before each cycle.

Keep an easy to close ball type or 1/4 turn valve near the tank port and before any devices. If a device fails or a tube work hardens and splits you can shut the valve and keep going until you have the time/parts to fix it.

Sorry for the ramble,

 

[bmwpower]

Another thing that I did with my drain is when I took the petcock off the tank, I mounted it to the pipe coming out of my auto drain. This allows me to limit the amount of air the comes out, it really cuts down on noise and allows it to slowly leak down instead of a blast of air at full pressure.

Why the heck didn't I think of that! And here I've been jumping everytime the thing goes off....

 

[G M]

Yah and you can even put a cup underneath the drain pipe to catch the juice without having it blasted 50 miles away every time the drain opens.

 

[Roospike]

great information guys .............

vicegrip , we need a good ramble of information , if ya got let it go , we'll take it.

 

[bmwpower]

Yah and you can even put a cup underneath the drain pipe to catch the juice without having it blasted 50 miles away every time the drain opens.

Just set this up tonight with my previous 1/4" ball valve on the end of my IR auto drain. Works great! Quiet now....

 

[Roospike]

********* UPDATE ************

Got pictures of the auto drain set up..................
( sense nobody else would post pic's )

The pic's are stright foward of what it is , but what you dont see is the outlet that the auto drain is hooked to was always hot so i unhooked the power from the attic to the outlet and run the outlet to the lights power supply ..... now the auto drain only come on when you turn on the light and runs as to how you set the timmer . No 24/7/365 shots of air comming from the garage now.

Auto drain is quiet , dont need ear muffs / plugs to drain the tank , dont have to remember to drain the tank , dont have a blast of water shot all the way across the shop floor everyday.

I have it set for 3 seconds every 45 minutes.

love-n it.

BTW : The pipe coming out of the garage wall is going to be cut off and a small 90° elbow is going to be installed and painted grey so it will be about 1/4 the size it is now , hardware store closed before i was finished.

 

[PAToyota]

Hmmm... Does 3 seconds actually give enough time to blow the water out since it has to travel uphill so far? I'd give it a couple days of use and then disconnect the pipe from the bottom of the compressor to see if/how much water is still being held in the tank.

Every auto drain I've seen (including my own) is pretty much sloped downwards the whole way so that there is no chance of trapping water.

 

[Roospike]

update 2 :

I cut off the copper line coming out of the wall and put a 3/8" - 1/2" elbow on the end , it gives it a cleaner look and also defuses the air so its not shooting out in a stright line.

 

[Roospike]

Hmmm... Does 3 seconds actually give enough time to blow the water out since it has to travel uphill so far? I'd give it a couple days of use and then disconnect the pipe from the bottom of the compressor to see if/how much water is still being held in the tank.

Every auto drain I've seen (including my own) is pretty much sloped downwards the whole way so that there is no chance of trapping water.

Its hard to tell on the 3 seconds to be honest , i just installed the auto drain and were just coming out of fall and winter and into summer so I"m sure things can change.

When i drained the tank per the new ball valve before the auto drain 3 seconds was all it took.

The soild pipe coming out of the bottom of the tank and then to the softer flex copper is all going down hill so it will collect by the wall , when i run it to go off at 3 seconds every 1 minute i dont see any water coming out of the line when it goes off the second time , but there again i'm not using the compressor hard right now and again on the season it is.

The key on auto drains ( or ball valve drains ) is to keep the line smaller as so it does push out the water , now if one was to run a 1/2" drain line or larger the air would have room to pass buy the water without actually pushing it all out , with the smaller line it all goes out.

 

[Vicegrip]

May I suggest that you aim the air straight out to ever so slightly down as the water will contain oil and other contaminates that might stain the clean white wall you got there.

Nice clean install.

 

[PAToyota]

It may very well be enough to blow the water out as you have it set up. I think I'd still undo it at the tank after a week or two just to make sure... But then I tend to be overly cautious about many things!

 

[car99r]

********* UPDATE ************

Got pictures of the auto drain set up..................
( sense nobody else would post pic's )

The pic's are stright foward of what it is , but what you dont see is the outlet that the auto drain is hooked to was always hot so i unhooked the power from the attic to the outlet and run the outlet to the lights power supply ..... now the auto drain only come on when you turn on the light and runs as to how you set the timmer . No 24/7/365 shots of air comming from the garage now.

Auto drain is quiet , dont need ear muffs / plugs to drain the tank , dont have to remember to drain the tank , dont have a blast of water shot all the way across the shop floor everyday.

I have it set for 3 seconds every 45 minutes.

love-n it.

BTW : The pipe coming out of the garage wall is going to be cut off and a small 90° elbow is going to be installed and painted grey so it will be about 1/4 the size it is now , hardware store closed before i was finished.

Roospike,

You have a source for the drain you bought? I am in the market and everything I am finding is outrageously priced?

Thank you

 

[VinnieCap]

********* UPDATE ************

The pic's are stright foward of what it is , but what you dont see is the outlet that the auto drain is hooked to was always hot so i unhooked the power from the attic to the outlet and run the outlet to the lights power supply ..... now the auto drain only come on when you turn on the light and runs as to how you set the timmer . No 24/7/365 shots of air comming from the garage now.

Auto drain is quiet , dont need ear muffs / plugs to drain the tank , dont have to remember to drain the tank , dont have a blast of water shot all the way across the shop floor everyday.
.

Is this a kit you can buy. I have an IR compressor as well and would like to possibly get this setup.

 

[Crusty Nut]

Hmmm... Does 3 seconds actually give enough time to blow the water out since it has to travel uphill so far? I'd give it a couple days of use and then disconnect the pipe from the bottom of the compressor to see if/how much water is still being held in the tank.

Every auto drain I've seen (including my own) is pretty much sloped downwards the whole way so that there is no chance of trapping water.

I bet it will be fine. He has it set to 3 seconds every 45 minutes, that is way more often than I manually drain mine. (Which is like 6-10 seconds everyday)

 

[MLH]

I've seen that no-one has said anything about no-loss drains in here.

No-loss drains can save heaps of $$$ and your compressor doesn't cycle as often, saving more $$$. That means that if you leave your compressor on over night (like some have) you won't loose any air (unless you have leaks) thus saving tons of $$$ because the drain won't operate. <No-loss drains use the unloader to open the drain>

From ecompressedair.com | In most applications no loss drain valves have a short payback by reducing the amount of compressed air used during draining. Additionally no-loss drain valves operate pneumatically saving the cost of electricity.

If you google "no-loss drains" you'll find more infomation on this subject.

-Mike

 

[PAToyota]

When I leave the shop, I shut off power to the compressor and close the valve from the compressor to the air piping and then the auto-drain continues to do its magic. Even if I don't come back until the next weekend, the auto-drain has only dropped pressure maybe 30~40 psi - which is filled back up in two minutes or less when I turn the compressor back on. It would take me centuries to save "tons of $$$" with my system...