Show me your compressor room

[Sixfeet4]

Hello GJ,

After 3 years of planning, my shop construction is finally underway! Needing advice on finishing out the compressor room. I've researched as best I could (some of the old posts on here have photos no longer hosted), but haven't fully decided how to finish out the room or what material to use for running piping. There's been so many decisions made to get to this point, I just figured I would include the room and figure out the details when the time is right.

Love the idea of the RapidAir product (Particularly being able to run lines behind the Sheetrock), however, I'm afraid of leaks down the road. I see a lot of new industrial installations using some type of blue pex ran just like you would black pipe and it looks great, just don't know anything about it. pros/cons?

The room Dimension is 5'6"x6'x8'. I'm using 2x6 studs w/R-19 insulation, double Sheetrock on interior and a solid core 36" door. Exterior walls are brick. I live in South Texas and the shop will have HVAC, but this room will not. Going to install a 80GAL 5HP 2 Stage Champion or Quincy.

Looking for ideas on more soundproofing, exhaust for compressor, exhaust fan, tank drain, remote on/off switch, manifold layout, how to run air line out of the room into the shop, tubing selection, etc.....

Any photos you could share or lessons learned advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

 

[rsnip988]

I'm eager to see these replies as well!
I'm at the same point in my garage build as you it looks like, and I'm also trying to decide how to run my air. I've seen a lot of people recommend copper tubing since soldering/brazing isn't too difficult, but others have used the plastic or a German blue aluminum tubing... I'm leaning toward copper for the price and self installation.

 

[Sixfeet4]

I thought about copper, but my compressor guy said no, not sure why. Are you building a room?

 

[Ironhorse74]

I am pondering moving my compressor into it's own shed outdoors. It would be a lean to against one wall of the shop. Probably guages, shut off and drain inside the shop. Mostly because of the noise issue.

Brad

 

[Sixfeet4]

I would have preferred having it outside too, but the HOA wouldn't allow it.

 

[jdub63]

I originally had a closet/room similar to the one pictured. Even though I ran an a/c duct into the room the compressor was still getting extremely hot. That amount of space gets heated quickly. I ended up building an attached lean to that was large enough and well vented.

As far as sound proofing, I used fiberglass insulation in all the walls and attached egg-crate foam to the inside of the door.

 

[finn]

No pictures, but mine is about the same size, or perhaps a little larger, but Wirth 2"x4" studs and the door on a 45 degree angle. I also extended the walls to the 12' ceiling and have a small enclosed storage loft room above for infrequently used items.

Even with an inch ands a half gap under the door for air exchange, the room gets what I consider excessively hot when heavy use, like sand blasting.

Thru room does keep the noise level down, even with the door cracked.

My. Neighbor ran his air intake outside his shop, but I am bothered by the noise when he runs the compressor. It's about 200' from my house, and still rather obnoxious.

 

[KCarGuy]

I'll have to find some pics of mine, but...
Mine is in the corner, like yours Sixfeet4, and Is 2x4's, dry-walled, solid core door also.
But has no insulation.
The floor in the room is 2x4's with 5/8" plywood decking, and the compressor sits on rubber pads. (the pads are bolted to the feet, but not the flooring, They are "Framed" into the floor, so the compressor cannot walk around, but the vibration is isolated)
I also added 1" to 2" adapters in black pipe to the intake, which runs outside, under my eaves to the intake filters.
between the wood floor, rubber feet and outside intake...its runs, without any need to turn the music up.
I also have a metal vent grill at the bottom of the wall (for cooler intake) and run a Bathroom exhaust fan (on a switch, when I really run the compressor alot) through the top. to exhaust the hot air.
(i also have a flat storage area above my Compressor room like yours, which is perfect for adding a fan)
Its been like this for 5-6 years now, love it!
Good Luck.

 

[Hpozzuoli]

I originally had a closet/room similar to the one pictured. Even though I ran an a/c duct into the room the compressor was still getting extremely hot. That amount of space gets heated quickly. I ended up building an attached lean to that was large enough and well vented.

As far as sound proofing, I used fiberglass insulation in all the walls and attached egg-crate foam to the inside of the door.

Heat would be my only concern with a small interior room with no ac duct or venting too

 

[Sixfeet4]

KCarGuy, your set up sounds exactly like what I've been thinking about for mine. Pics would be much appreciated!!

 

[Falcon67]

I would make it smaller, if it was me. Mine's about 3x3, compressor sits on a skid that can be removed from the hole for service.

Skid with isolation feet

Closet - side shown is louder because I haven't gone back and put a real "door" on it. The back side is OSB, 1 1/2" fiberglass and inside 1/2" Quiet Brace. Really kills the noise on that side. I made the walls thin to save floor space. If they were regular 3" with a couple of layers inside of Quiet Brace, any noise would be real soft. For your closet, I'd use the quiet brace inside rather than drywall.

 

[Sixfeet4]

Thanks for the Quiet Brace tip! I made the room a little larger because I'd like to hide a soft water system in there with the compressor.

 

[Falcon67]

Ah, makes sense. The Quiet Brace really seems to help and it's not high buck. I reall should finish that door...

 

[larry_g]

Copper vs Black iron pipe.. Some states dictate Black iron pipe to be used in the primary distribution system. I ran into that in Tenn. Here in Oregon copper is allowed for the primary distribution system so check with your 'compressor guy' and confirm if he is speaking from the law or out of his ***. When in Tenn. we were able to run our machines which are all copper and plastic air lines by saying that it was 'instrument air' which is allowed to be ran in copper there.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[KCarGuy]

I forgot to mention that I also have a Auto Drain 110VAC setup that opens the drain every 45 minutes for 12 seconds. It also is Piped outside.

I'll have to get some pics for you.
Right now, Im remodeling my House and the garage looks like a Wood shop.

 

[Oldbear]

I started the build to keep an oil-less compressor quiet. It didn't survive the build... The "new to me" belt-driven compressor that I built fits nicely in the corner cabinet. I've got vents for air flow, the top is reclaimed mesh and allows the hot air to escape. The top shelf lets me store a few more items and the wall provides a mounting place for my manifold and hides the air line run to the rest of the shop.

You can't hear it run from in the house (attached garage) and I can still hear the BS from my friends on shop night...

 

[DC73]

Looking for ideas on more soundproofing, exhaust for compressor, exhaust fan, tank drain, remote on/off switch, manifold layout, how to run air line out of the room into the shop, tubing selection, etc.....

I ran my copper lines inside the walls. If you use copper, be advised that standard solder isn't good enough. You need something like a 95/5 tin/antimony solder.

For soundproofing, consider mineral wool insulation (Roxul is one brand and Lowe's carries it). Very good insulation, excellent for sound proofing and is fire resistant as well.

There are several threads on the forum regarding compressor lines, etc. Here's one I started about copper lines that has some good info: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291084

DC

 

[Sixfeet4]

Excellent thread DC73, thanks for pointing me to it. Did you pressure test your system before hanging drywall? At what pressure and for how long?

 

[Sixfeet4]

Nice set up Oldbear. I'm excited to get my own "Shop Night" going!!

 

[Sixfeet4]

I forgot to mention that I also have a Auto Drain 110VAC setup that opens the drain every 45 minutes for 12 seconds. It also is Piped outside.

I'll have to get some pics for you.
Right now, Im remodeling my House and the garage looks like a Wood shop.

Exactly what I was thinking and a way to make the exhaust fan kick on when the compressor is running and keep running until the compressor has been off for a few minutes.

 

[DC73]

Excellent thread DC73, thanks for pointing me to it. Did you pressure test your system before hanging drywall? At what pressure and for how long?

Yes, I pressure tested. I soldered caps on the 3 drops I put in and soldered a temporary connector near the compressor location to connect my old Craftsman compressor which maxes out at 125 psi. I left it for 24 hours and had no leaks.

One of the posts in my thread gives a link to a copper handbook. Very good resource. I was able to determine that even the thinnest copper pipe available at the box stores can handle way more pressure than the 5HP compressor I'm leaning towards to replace my Craftsman.

I haven't finished my shop or the air supply system yet. I still need to figure out how I want to terminate each drop, how I'm going to cool the air between the compressor and the inlet to the pipe system, and which compressor I'm going to buy.

Good luck.

DC

 

[NUTTSGT]

Mine's not really a compressor room but a back storage room with a compressor in it.

 

[Sixfeet4]

Nice and clean!!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Nice and clean!!

That was after fresh paint and everything was behind me when I took the picture.

 

[Sixfeet4]

That's more like it! At least you have normal garage items, mine is full of baby gear right now.