Air compressor question ?

[graham-xrf]

Where I have been, always at the end of the day, they opened the valve, and let out the compressed air.
Maybe dumb question day - but why do it?

One has expended the energy in getting it compressed, It will surely keep until it is needed, or until maybe it has slowly leaked away before a top-up could hap[pen.

 

[DavidR8]

I drain my compressors weekly to get rid of the water that accumulates. The loss of energy is neither here nor there to me.

 

[Wheat.Millington]

I don't know what it's like in a commercial shop, but on my home compressor I've never been able to eliminate enough leaks to prevent it losing a lot of pressure over night, so there's no real loss. The main reason though is to drain the water out of the tanks.

 

[RandyWilson]

High pressure holds moisture. The shop I was in had so many air leaks the compressor self drained in a matter of hours. I used to open the petcock each morning then start the compressor up, using the first bit of air to clear any condensed water in the bottom.

 

[Chewy]

I drain mine every month or so. If I am going to do any spray painting, I drain everything including all the lines first. I have a 60 gallon tank with a high up feed. Little homeowner deals should be drained before every use. You don't want water vapor getting into air tools. Why they are letting all the air out, I don't know.

 

[Winegrower]

I added an automatic drain valve that everytime the compressor turns on, it opens for a few seconds. That handles the water issue. And my pressure stays above the setpoint overnight, so no wasted energy and it's ready to go in the AM.

 

[Chewy]

A water trap on the outlet of the tank is a good idea. But don't think it will stop all the water as it will collect in the lowest spots from temperature difference and then come out with a blast when you don't want it to. I don't use an oiler, preferring to oil my tools before and after use. Some of them are 40 years old.

 

[Wheat.Millington]

I added an automatic drain valve that everytime the compressor turns on, it opens for a few seconds. That handles the water issue. And my pressure stays above the setpoint overnight, so no wasted energy and it's ready to go in the AM.

Damn that's smart.

 

[Wheat.Millington]

I drain mine every month or so. If I am going to do any spray painting, I drain everything including all the lines first. I have a 60 gallon tank with a high up feed. Little homeowner deals should be drained before every use. You don't want water vapor getting into air tools. Why they are letting all the air out, I don't know.

This might be a daft question, but how can I drain my air lines? I have a soft line that goes up to the ceiling and a retractable hose up there, and a couple more soft hoses coiled up around the place.

 

[Boswell]

This might be a daft question, but how can I drain my air lines? I have a soft line that goes up to the ceiling and a retractable hose up there, and a couple more soft hoses coiled up around the place

I think the normal way is to have a drain valve at every low spot. I use rigid pipe for my air delivery and slope it slightly so that any water collects in specific places where I have drain valves. That along with an automatic drain valve on the storage tank similar to Winegrower. I find not very much water collects in the distribution system but not zero and it is easy to periodically open the drain valve at each low spot.