Do you Drain your Air Compressor after each use?

nope

 

I only drain what water has collected in bottom of the tank.....another question is how many of you guys ever check the oil in your compressor????or clean the air filter on the intake side??

 

Any corrections or suggestions will be welcomed.

I once read a Martin Senior Guide To Automotive Refinishing and really liked the info on setting up your air lines. The way I remember it; come out of the tank and go to a tee on the wall, below the tee have a drip leg with a drain valve, above the tee go up then ninety and run horizontal but slightly uphill a ways, then ninety down and create another drip leg, partway down this drip leg put a tee and do it again till you go round to where you want to stop. Taps can be made about anywhere except at the bottom of drip legs, and if you tap on a horizontal make your tee point up. All of this is in an effort to let the moisture that condenses fall out of the air and go to a drain rather than travel along and end up in your gun or air tool. Hope this helps.

 

first answer that tells the whole story

 

Man I can't believe you've been going through all that work to drain your tank.
Take the plug out of the bottom, install a 90 degree galvanized fitting with galvanized pipe running out to the side of the tank and install a ballcock valve. Attach a piece of plastic hose with a hose clamp or two to dump the water where you want it. Flip the lever with your foot and bleed it for a few seconds when your done using it. Hope this saves you a bit of time.

Terry

 

my IR has a auto drain and works well

 

bingo!!!!!this is what im trying to say!!!!!!

 

There are a couple style of auto drains out there the most common being a solenoid type with a timer that run off of 120v power,as well as float style wich require no power.Unless your tank is high enough of the ground the float style does not work well,the 120v solenoid works well and is best used when turned on when the compressor is in use only otherwise it will eventually drain out all the air when the unit is off.This is fine if YOU want it that way but again is a waste of electricity constantly filling your unit for each use.
As for piping your system there are also a few ways to do so.It is going to depend on what equipment you have first off,but lets just say most house systems only have the compressor so we will start there.From your unit you can go onto your wall to the tee with a drip leg there.Up from there and loop your system around your garage(THIS IS OVERKILL FOR HOME USE)every place where you decide to drop you should come off the top of the header before you go down to your hose connection.this will help keep any undrained moisture in the header above.If you dont have a dryer in your system you can "tilt" the header to a drip leg as well to give you a drainage point.Also DO NOT USE PVC pipe for your install,although the piping is pressure rated the glues are not suited for this app. and can be destroyed by oil carryover causing an explosion.
I apologize but I need to leave right now but I will check back soon.......

 

In the early 70s I worked at Frank Weaver Pontiac in Waco, Tx At 5:00 pm every day one of the service writers shut the compressor of and blew the tank. My CP 727 that I used daily there for three years and still have never needed work and still doesn't. There was never any water in the air lines there.

Eight years ago I worked on a dairy as the mechanic. I blew the water out of the tanks every time I thought about it but still would get several gallons of water out of them on a regular basis plus the valves and air cylinders that ran the equipment plus the milking equipment crapped out on an all too regular basis. I couldn't convince the farmer that he needed to have the milkers shut the compressor off and blow the tank during cleanup after at least one shift a day.

It's cheap and simple insurance to save your tank and save your equipment so why not do it on a regular basis. If you get in the habit of shutting off the compressor and draining it every night when you quit working in the shop and kick it on first thing when you go in the shop to work you will always have clean dry air and won't have to worry about burning up a compressor because an air line broke in the middle of the night or when you were gone.

 

We do the one at work once a week. At home I do not have a lot of shop time during the week but I do drain it everytime I use it.

 

Drain the water once a day,(unless humidity is real high), keep the oil and filters changed, no need to completely drain the tank ,just putting excess wear on the compressor refilling the tank every day!

 

This is a stupid question but how do you drain the water? I have the same IR 5hp. I can't figure out how to do it. I can hardly get my hand underneath the thing. I see the drain but im not sure how to do it. Ive had this thing for about a month so I know I need to do it ASAP.

 

This is what I've done with mine, it's easy and only takes a few seconds to get rid of the condensation, it will prolong the life of all your air tools as well.

 

Probably overkill but I blow down the whole system at the end of the day. A lot of Texas is humid, so you can pick up a lot of water out of the air. I don't have a big unit, so it doesn't take much to bring it up to pressure, and I don't want to have to worry about rust.

 

Terry - what about something like this? -- http://www.paragoncode.com/shop/compressor/

Or this is simple - I like this approach - http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/compressor/drain/ball_valve.htm


.

 

i drain mine every night to keep the moisture out,keeps the air tools working

 

Auto-Drains are the way to go! Cheap, when you consider the cost of a new tank and other items after the rust monster eats on them........

 

I've installed the 90° elbow, pipe and ball valve like Terry described. I typically drain the moisture after every extended use and if I don't think I'll be using the compressor for a while I also pull the pop-off valve and release most of the pressure. Maybe it doesn't help that much but it makes me feel like I've done something to extend the life of the tank.

 

I drain mine fairly frequently in the summer due the pretty humid weather. In the winter not so much. I do worry about the inside rusting away and the tank exploding as a result. The compressor is fairly new. I just want to have it as long as posible and not get me or the kids hurt in the process..

 

I installed brass tubing and extended the drain so I don't have to get under the compressor to drain it. I also installed a very small 1/4 turn valve. I think that some folks mis-interpret the directions. Drain daily means drain the water, not the air!!!

 

You could kill the power to the unit and close the main discharge valve to the shop.At least this way any leaks in the shop are bled down and the reciever is still full,so went you start in the morning your already halfway up on storage and pressure.Even if the line blew out in the system your unit would not turn on.

 

Funny how everyone that says they are draining theirs to keep if from rusting think the tank won't rust. Do you think that draining it also dries it out inside? Granted draining will slow the rust, but you are not getting all the moisture out when draining. The part that the water was in contact with will still be wet. Plus as others have said there will be condensation on the walls. By all means drain the tanks, but they will still rust some. I rarely release all the air from mine when not in use, and right now it may get used once a month.

 

The water thins the metal along the bottom just like in oil tanks and could and will blow out the bottom of the tank. I saw a viedo of one exploding it was caught on security camera it blew streight up with enough force that it knocked a car off the lift next to it.And the compressor wound up, up side down on the floor.Not cool...if you live in a high humidity area you need to drain your compressor.also if it is above a certin size it needs to be inspected or the insurance will not cover damages.

 

For what it's worth, we drain the compressor at the shop I work at everyday when we're closing. The compressor we have is absolutely ancient and as far as I know we never have any trouble with it, and have never had any troubles with the tools that we use off the air from it.

 

I dont on mine but its a small one. a friend of ours told us that one of the big ons at his work blew up because all the air left in the tank created to much pressure when it was turned on again that it blew up.

 

I drain mine every now and a gain. In Tucson its so dry I rarely get any water out of it. It sits at the back of an over-size garage.
Got me paranoid now though so I'll do it when I get home.
Paranoid = that little voice that says" theyres a saber toothed tiger behind that rock." that nobody ever listens too any more.

 

You are suppose to drain everyday .I don't ....I ve been found guilty of such that crime .My sentence is 10 to 15 years in the garage .Its a work release program......

 

I drain the tank about once a week. Made the process much easier by replacing the petcock with a ball valve that has a short piece of hose attached to it.

 

Great quote - I did the overkill !! and I used black pipe
In my garage is a 60 gal 2 stage
I crack the drains at the tank and at the end of the supply drops each time it gets used
My piping runs horizontally near the ceiling at a 1" per 10' pitch
At the end of the run is a drop for draining
But for the hose drops - it draws off the top of the pipe
Then a regulator for pressure adjustment

Where I work there are 3 - 400 hp screw compressors running near 24 hrs a day at full load and with a 2 chamber dryer - the electric costs are about 10k a month

 

I have a 7.5 HP IR on a 80 gal tank. I set up a time delay on energise relay that pulls in when the motor starter does. This opens a solonoid valve in the drain. After 7 seconds the delay relay contacts open shutting off power to the valve and it closes. What happens is the water drains every time the comp starts. Also about once a week I open the manual valve for 20 seconds or so.
This setup has worked for the last 25 years.