Compressor outside questions

[Whitworth]

I've decided the compressor will live outside. Here's the situation; my small 2 horse compressor will be set up outside until money to buy a bigger compressor. The location is on the north facing wall of the garage. I intent to pour a 4 by 4 concrete slab for it to sit on. I do not at this time plan to anchor the compressor down, if/when I get a vertical compressor I would likely anchor it.
Questions: I do not worry too much about noise, as it's a rural area and the compressor won't run off hours. But what kind of enclosure is best for protecting against sun, weather? I envision something made with foam board insulation and some 2by4s
How "tight" should any enclosure be,? Considering air intake and access versus noise-wind-rain-water-wasps issues?
What special considerations to making an electrical hookup in an outdoors location? I am planning on aluminum flexy conduit thru the wall to the compressor.
Anything I'm missing ?

Thank you,

Gary

 

[kenfain]

Sounds like you're thinking about what it'll take to get the smaller compressor going. When you really need to work on getting the spot set up for the large unit.You can always retro engineer the smaller unit to fit.
What I'm suggesting is this. A small unit, will likely use air hose, coming from the compressor. But a bigger compressor, will give better service, being piped for air. It's easier to do this first, as you're building the enclosure.
Another consideration, is the automatic drain. How will it be powered, where will it drain to?
If you live somewhere that the compressor will need some extra heat in the winter, or a fan in the summer(some people do) then you'll need power for these. Personally, I'd put in a light, for maintenance.
If you want an air drier, it'll probably need power also
As far as the enclosure goes, I'm thinking that it's depending on the climate. For example, here in Texas, a roof is all you need. And if it is, enclosed, a 4 ft. square enclosure, doesn't leave a lot of room to get behind a big five horsepower unit. These things will sometimes need work, like valves and such. So if you're going with full enclosure, and small is what you want. At least think about something that has removable sides, or something you won't have to fight with, during a service, or maintenance event.
Just my thoughts, good luck with what ever you decide.

 

[jallyn]

My first consideration would be freezing. If a section of pipe or a fitting was full of water then it could crack or burst when freezing. So I would try to keep the water in the tank and manually drain it when above freezing.

If you build a complete enclosure ventilation would be required so the compressor doesn't overheat during heavy use. With a small compressor you could get away with two vents: one at the bottom and one at the top of the enclosure. Heat rises and it will escape out of the top vent and cool air would be drawn in through the bottom vent. If you need more ventilation, say for the bigger compressor, install a fan in the place of the top vent. You could manually control it with a switch, have it wired to run along with the compressor, or buy a temperature switch and mount it in the top half of the enclosure for fully automatic temperature control.

And then you asked about electrical. That depends on what you end up building. I would be tempted to go cheap and just install a little roof to keep the rain and snow off the compressor. So I would use outdoor rated stuff to protect against rain, etc. If you go all out and build walls and access doors (I envision a small closet with double doors for full access) then the wiring inside is protected from all weather and would not have to be outdoor rated.