Air compressor location

xtm10's compressor is much smaller and lighter than billd's compressor, I dont think he has to worry about it crashing through the floor, unless his floor is made from balsa wood.

thats the kind of thing i'm talking about to absorb any vibration, some sort of plastic/rubber/fiberglass/composit pad that will keep it from making a lot of noise,and vibrating, my buddy and his father do central A/C installations, so i'm gonna hit thm up for some ideas, and product that might work for my application.

dont forget that compressors need regular maintenance.  oil changes, belt tightening and such.  so whatever you do make it so that you can get at it easily to service it. as you are in NY i suggest that the room you place it in be heated as well.  water in the system will freeze and you dont even wanna know what happens to a compressor when that arises...

In my old garage I put my air compressor in the upstairs. I chocked the wheels and ran a wire from a wall switch to a plug-in for the compressor to turn it on/off when needed. 2 things I discovered after the 1st year-- even though I placed it near the soffit and the garage had roof vents the area got to hot in the summer and it would overheat and trip the motor out.  2nd, during the winter, being in an unheated area the air compressor would just slowly turn over because of the oil getting thick. Any thing below zero outside, forget using it.

Mine is outside in a corner, with a roof and alternating boards inclosure so you can't see it , but it gets plenty of air flow. It is an 1987 (yes not a typo) Sears 5hp with a 20 gallon tank. I can turn it on any time at any temp and it never gives me a moments problem, none and it has been there for about 20 years now! I have a 3/8" brass pipe in the drain that is about 18"s long and most of the moisture flows into it, then I drain it with a ball valve. Hardline is 3/8" pipe to 12" long pipe with a drain drop at one end of the Compressor.  Inside the building it switches up to 1.5" pipe goes straight up to the ceiling with another ball valve drop for moisture collection It travels at about 8' high 28 ' through the parking garage, then goes into a crawl space and yet another pipe drop with ball valve! Then it goes 18' into my shop and, yes you guessed it ANOTHER drop and ball valve.

With the large pipe radiating off any heat traveling with the compressed air, I get water at the 1st 3 drops. Two drop came out in the shop one time.

The 1.5" pipe is way overkill, but it was FREE and never used to carry liquids or even air. I did the math and it was the same cost to buy a threading kit as to buy all 3/4 pipe, so I bought the threading kit and went to town.

The key is to get the pipe to go high with as many drops and ball valves as you think is necessary.
If you have two stores you can go clear to the top of the second story in a U and bring it back down. Leaving 1-2' "drops at the bottom of both legs. By the time the air goes that high and drops most of the moisture will condense and fall out of the air stream dropping into the trap lengths of pipe.

My neighbor built a 5'X5' shed freestanding for his upright no heat and never had an issue. It is about 10' from his garage.

You can do something as simple as a flood or reflected regular bulb aimed at the compressor to keep it just a touch warmer if you are worried about freezups. Can be on a timer or I think you can get temp switches to turn it on when it is below freezing.

Noisy compressor in the shop is not my cup of tea at all.
I just had a hearing test and My hearing is still really good for a 50 year old, I'd like to keep it that way. I wear ear protection when doing most anything with power tools, mowing, weed eating etc;


Edited by Wrambler - Oct/13/2011 at 8:54am