Air Compressor water

I have an automatic vent on mine. It vents for one second every hour of on-time. Even with that, I get an occasional short spritz of water out of it.
 
Good reminder, Steve. I drain mine regularly (daily, unless I'm not using it), but they sure can build up a fair amount of moisture in a short length of time. Especially for you folks living in Humidityville. :)
 
What? are suppose to get rid of that stuff? :eek:

Humidity is simular to a steam bath. What makes you hink there is water in ther? At present time the water I spew is clean and a little oiler (little over a year old) but my ould diehard would produce a loverly Orange water, and in the end, Brown... Do you realize that winter is just as bad.... summer humidity is a given but winter air often sweats on a cold tank as ell as tubes and cylinders...

Thanks for the reminder :thumb:

PS get rid of the Thumb Avatar
 
That's what I thought about mine Don, but then I started using it heavy the other day. 80 gallon tank in desert dryness and 100degree temps. I was surprised at how much water came out of it after running it pretty solid for an hour or two...
 
Hey, Jim, tell us more about your automatic vent.

It's an Ingersoll-Rand device, plumbed into the drain, and wired to the compressor's power line.
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It's adjustable for both interval and duration.
Drain3 [800x600].jpg Drain2 [800x600].jpg

They're pretty pricey at retail, but I got mine for a good (cheap!) price on Ebay about five or six years ago.

(Pardon the cobwebes and debris. I seldom clean back there in the compressor cubbyhole...)
 
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I don't use mine a bunch. I did drain it and change the oil the other day.

I need to look into one of those automatic drains.

Mine has a screw in plug in the bottom not one of the valves that you can open and drain. My compressor has wheels and I was draining it in the driveway. Being sometimes impatient I was letting the pressure off once and unscrewed the plug with what the gauge said was less than 5 psi on it.:eek: Well about 15 min. later I found the plug around 20 feet from the compressor.
 
The drain on my 80 gallon IR was on the bottom (Duh, where's the water going to drain from? :rolleyes:), but it was nearly impossible to get under there and twist the little 'butterfly' valve that was on it.

Replaced it with an some pipe and a 90 and a ball valve.

Put a cap on the end of the ball valve with a little hole in it to make the air blasting out a little more manageable...

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I have on my list to purchase one of these one day when in the USA.

Has anyone used one or know if they actually work. For the price they seem perfect for a small compressor like a pancake type.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automatic-compressor-drain-kit-46960.html

Manual here

http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/46000-46999/46960.pdf


Compressed air machines i know little about so its been something i was hoping would come up here.

Saw Jims unit and made me think of this one. But I dunno with some of Harbor Freight stuff ?
 
Rob, I've got one of those and have had it on my shelf for many years,

Just never got around to installing it... :rolleyes:

Maybe I should see if I can dig it up somewhere and give it a go...
 
Rob, my experience with Harbor Freight air tool stuff has been less than stellar. Ive read of some people having good luck with the HF auto-drain, but I wouldn't buy one unless there was a HF store nearby in case I needed to replace it. For example, I've gone through at least four of their mini regulator/filter units in my attempts to get two that work and don't leak.
 
Rob, for a pancake type compressor, when you run it just keep the petcock valve open a crack. It will mist the air out. Never have to worry about it again. Works great in winter as well. Keeps compressor and airlines from freezing up with moisture.
 
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