Air Compressor Drain Idea!

guido

Well-known Member
Hello,

It is hard to get down and bleed my air compressor. So I went to the local truck supply and got me this bleeder. Had to go to plan B. Straight in was too long and was hitting the floor on my portable.
With this setup I just pull the cord. I think it will get done more often now..............

Guido.
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If there was a "like" button here, I would hit about a dozen times!! GREAT idea and I worked in the parts dept. of a truck dealership and didn't think of it.
 
I bought one of these for my compressor about a year ago. Initially it worked like a champ. Just pull the cord and the tank burps out the water. The problem was that after 3-4 months of use I burped it one day and it refused to re-seal and kept leaking air. I took it off, cleaned it up and it worked great again for a few months and then refused to seal again. The tolerances are tight and just a tiny piece of debris can cause it to stick open. My compressor is only a bit over a year old so the tank can't be that dirty.

I eventually gave up on it and installed a ball valve. I have to reach down to open the valve but I no longer have any issues with it sticking open.
 
Having a bad back and 2 artificial hips getting to the valve on the bottom of my 60 gallon vertical tank was difficult, so I replaced it with an elbow, and extended it to the outer edge, included a ball valve, and then a tube going through the outer wall of the shed to get the water on the outside.
 
The trouble is tanks are not painted on the inside so they rust quick. I put a pipe and ball valve on mine.
 
I have a valve sticking from end of tank. How about what we called spitter that were in air tanks of semi and every so often they would spit the water and oily crud out of air tanks.
 
I have a 60 gallon vertical tank and have it set on 8x8 wood blocks, giving enough space to add an automatic drain to the bottom pipe connection. It uses a float arrangement that opens up to purge out liquid under pressure. I am sure that they have can be ordered online. I like it because no condensate ever builds up in the steel tank, and I don't have to manually drain the tank. Once every 3 to four years the float bowl gets dirty and needs to be removed and cleaned.
 
Great minds think alike. I put a spitter valve on my 20 gallon a few months after I got it. Unfortunately, the dumb tank still rusted out and I'm trying to find a 20 gallon horizontal tank to replace it. To its credit it did last about 16 years. All I can find is "industrial" and none for these ubiquitous roll around units that all the farm supply's have sold for years. Anyone know where I can get a tank?
 
Find a blown up oil less compressor, they don't last long enough to rot the tank out. Had to cut mounting platform off old tank and weld on new tank.
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Hadn't thought about an oil less tank. I may know a guy that's got a couple. I hate to trash the unit, the motor's good and the pump isn't using oil. Thanks
 
I got a new tank from the semi supply dealer. They sell them reasonable there were at least 2 common sized stocked for on trailers. I forget what size it was but it worked out fine for a small compressor.
 
i simply fasten another fifty foot line to it and use it as another air source usually daily so no need to worry about drain it, have two 80 gal tanks t together.
 
I did the same thing and piped it outside ,works great, when I spray I drain it a couple times while spraying to keep out any moisture even tho I have a water collector on the tank. Jim in N.M.
 
I got a tank from neighbor's scrap load that way. It was an oil less type and had only lasted a couple of years. I made a big portable air tank with it for airing up tractor tires.
 
I piped my drain out the side, and put the ball valve on the end. I can open and close it with my foot to drain the water
 
Thanks for the reminder I need to get out to the shed and drain that thing sometime soon. I was always going to put a ball valve with pipe on the bottom just never got that far but I do like your idea.
 
Hello d beatty,

That unit is an air dryer with a dessicant media. The spitting as you call it, happens every time the air compressor cuts off when it reaches regulated cut off pressure of 120#

Guido.
 
(quoted from post at 19:02:17 04/20/16) Having a bad back and 2 artificial hips getting to the valve on the bottom of my 60 gallon vertical tank was difficult, so I replaced it with an elbow, and extended it to the outer edge, included a ball valve, and then a tube going through the outer wall of the shed to get the water on the outside.

Same thing.. elbow, long pipe to ball valve... works every time I remember to use it.
 
I put an old hydraulic hose on mine, with a valve on the end. The hose holds a fair amount of condensate so there is no water sitting in the bottom of the tank, and the hose is good for 3,000 psi. Sometimes with a pipe plumbed out it will break off after several years of vibration where the hose is very resilient.
 
They make automatic ones that have a timer on them, you can set them to drain every few minutes up to every few hours I think. You can also set the time it stays open for. Haven't used one but I think I'm going to do that when I get a new compressor.
Somewhere I read where a guy had his wired so that it only drains when the compressor comes on so that it's not draining all the time when it's not in use.
 
Hello Inno,

I did not know that you can buy an automatic one. Any one that has an
expensive unit would certainly benefit by installing one in,

Guido.
 

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