Drain your compressors

[Janderso]

I don't know why but compressor manufacturer's put the drains at the bottom of the tank and don't make it easy to drain.
I don't know about you, but crawling on my hands and knees to drain the tank is not convenient. Therefore it wasn't being drained as often as it should have.
I wouldn't call it a project but it's a heck of a lot easier to drain now.
If I wanted to get industrious, I could add a piece of tubing and run it outside.
Drain your tanks to avoid corrosion.
That's Sammy, aka, Samantha, our new pup.

 

[Gaffer]

I did the same with mine. Crawling under the compressor to drain it is no bueno.

 

[Flyinfool]

I went with an electric drain valve, It opens for 10 seconds after every 20 minutes of run time.

With an extended drain like yours I would but a block of wood or something under it so that it can not accidentally get moved, it is a long way from the bung and has a lot of leverage if something hits it.

 

[Janderso]

I went with an electric drain valve, It opens for 10 seconds after every 20 minutes of run time.

With an extended drain like yours I would but a block of wood or something under it so that it can not accidentally get moved, it is a long way from the bung and has a lot of leverage if something hits it.

Hmm, good point.
Maybe I'll weld a brace from one leg to the other for vertical support.
The compressor is tucked away but you never know what may fall on it.

 

[Papa Charlie]

I have done this same mod to two of my past compressors. The last one, I added an hose extension to to vent it outside. Got tired of the mess of water, oil and rust on the shop floor. Besides, I always drained my tank at the end of the day and didn't want the excess noise in the shop.

 

[matthewsx]

I did that with my compressor but used some flexible hose I had and attached the valve to the side of a workbench. Don’t even have to bend over now.

 

[Boswell]

a few months ago I found THIS auto drain that does not use electricity. It will cycle as the pressure in the tank drops. Seems to be working great so far. I did plumb the output through an outside wall and a manual valve like Janderso shows. I did not like the ones that cycle on a time as they seem very wasteful and drive of the static cycle time on the compressor. At least for my climate controlled shop this is keeping up.

 

[kvt]

I have a flex braded hose then a Valve and a flex hose to the outside. Boswell what pressure does it open.

 

[Flyinfool]

@Boswell, I guess i do not understand how your mechanical valve works??
To open and let the water out it is also letting air out, how is that less wasteful. I often pull the tank pressure way down during heavy use. does that mean it will keep purging with every pressure cycle?

I can set the electrical 1 to 99 hours runtime, that is close to a year for me. I can set the drain time from 1 to 99 seconds. that is not adding much static run time at all.

 

[darkzero]

Here's how I did mine. Elbow, pipe, ball valve, & poly tubing. I originally used a brass elbow & a steel pipe, the steel pipe eventually started to rust internally. Probably would've last a while but for peace of mind I changed it out to a brass pipe & SS304 elbow. I didn't support mine, instead I positioned it close to one of the tank's feet with no excessive extra hang out to minimize risk of hitting it with something by accident. And it's pretty low to the ground also.

Going on 10+ yrs & still no signs of rusty water coming out of my tank. I purge mine everytime I open the garage. My compressor doesn't run a whole lot so I don't need to purge daily. I'm anal when it comes to leaks & I find/fix a leak if one ever comes up. I know there are those who will disagree but I leave my system always pressurized. I have ball valves in a few areas too.