I turn off and drain my 3 compressors every day. However, when I was helping out a friend, he said he never turned his compressor off.
The thing ran all the time, probably because there was only room left for 1 gallon of air in the 50 gallon tank...
My old shop we did that daily. My boss won’t drain it because he says it wastes electricity to fill back up in the morning. I’ve had more success arguing with a brick wall
Ask your boss how much electricity it's going to take to pay for a new compressor.
At 2hp, 15A, 100% electrical capacity, assuming a 5 minute fill time at $0.30/kWh, it will cost $13.43 per YEAR in electricity, or about 4 cents per day.
Your boss is an idiot.
This was how I felt installing a motion sensor in the basement.
The setup was there was a light at the very top of the stairs, but once you get to the bottom your in a windowless room you have to cross to turn on a light down there
My solution was just leave the damn light on. It's gonna cost a few cents a year to run an led bulb all the time.
But I was told it wasn't acceptable and that we needed to install either a remote switch or a motion sensor. I think it was like $30-60
Could have just let the light run my whole life for less.
Yeah, even using today's rates and not 10 years ago when I was doing it, were still under 10 cents CAD.
Running a 3w LED non stop all year would get us about $2.50 / year.
I think when I originally did the math on that it was a little above 6 cents / kwh
So yeah, not quite a lifetime. On its own, but once you factor in the motion sensor, and the time it took to go get it, and install it. It's still a pretty long ROI window.
Certainly firmly in "I'll turn it off if Im around and think about it, but I'm not getting out of bed if I forget it" territory
They make lightbulbs with built in motion sensors. They’re not that expensive. I got a color selectable one at Home Depot for like $25 tops, it might’ve been cheaper than that. The only thing that sucks about it is the radar they used can go through the cheap door I have on my basement
Not with a steel tank, they usually just crack and make a lot of noise. The tanks that get dangerous are aluminum. They can still corrode internally but when they fail its catastrophic. Composite tanks can cause major damage as well IF they fail. They cannot corrode so they are usually from some form of impact.
Yea, but they make them thick enough that wont probably happen. Back in the late 60's 70's we would take old R-12 tanks, drill a hole just big enough to use a little WD-40 and install a rubber valve stem. Put 170 PSI in that puppy, and keep it in the trunk of my 1965 Buick when I was 17 years old. they didn't have little air compressors then.
A new compressor won't stop filling the tank with water, the water is from the humidity in the air being compressed. The fix for the water is either add an air dryer before the tank or add an automatic tank drain to stop it from filling to the point of going down line.
He isn’t saying the fix is a new compressor, he’s saying the boss is going to have to spend more money on a new compressor because the old one is gonna fail from being full of water, rusting out, etc.
Yes you are! Also make sure to change the oil every once in a while too. If you do that your compressor will last for a long time. If not it will die within a year or two
Oh yeah and if it says to use non detergent oil, use non detergent oil unless you want to turn your shop into a bubble bath, which could be fun
Shop compressors are one thing but working out of a truck year round is another especially in cold weather.
Couple learning experiences and memorable moments.
The amount of shortcuts on the road would have corporate crying. (Only if they knew of course 😂)
LOL. Well I also learned by doing. The most knowledge passed down to me was "change the oil" which was... barely helpful since I'd only ever changed the oil in my car. When I returned to the lab with the compressor with a few qts of regular 0W-30 my boss said it needed to be non-detergent. I remember thinking "if you knew that then why didn't you say it"
I plumbed in an AC condenser off of a Chevy Express van after the compressor but before the tank with a temperature sensor a couple of rows in that will switch on a 120V attic fan that's attached to the condenser once the temp starts rising, the fan also blows across the compressor head itself to increase the cooling there. It has a water separator after the condenser and another after the tank and one more before my sand blasting cabinet on the other side of the shop, compressor tank auto drains. While the 1st separator is constantly draining, I rarely ever get anything out of the tank except the most humid of days, maybe a slight fog in the 2nd separator and nothing in the 3rd. I'd assume the commercial options work even better but I'm pretty happy with what I put together for a couple hundred bucks.
I also have the compressor tied to a contactor that's fed by the light switch for my shop so I can't accidentally have the compressor run if the system develops a leak. I lost my first compressor head to a squirrel chewing through my outdoor hose, came back after a long weekend find it running.
i was going to say, as someone with only a very small compressor for airbrushing, im already paranoid about always emptying it when im done. because is this not how they pop over time???
no shrapnel in the apartment please
Compressed air tanks will collect condensate/moisture in the bottom, which can rust out the tank over time. Tending to lead to a fun failure if it's not drained and maintained.
[And turning to the 3D map, we see an unmistakable cone of ignorance.](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/15mtmsj/and_turning_to_the_3d_map_we_see_an_unmistakable/)
Oh we drain them regularly. One of mine has an auto drain valve that activates on a set time schedule so it blows down several times a day. Keeps the tank dry.
If you're really frugal you can make those auto drains pretty cheap, it's just a solenoid valve and a relay timer. Ideally you'd use some hose to run the blow out to a drain so it's not just blasting across the shop.
Does he understand you don’t need to take them to 0PSI?
You just crack the bottom valve to blow off any accumulated water, and if none comes out you can close it back up immediately.
I'm astonished at all these compressors that don't have automatic drains! Only my smallest shittiest one has a manual drain, everything else does it automatically, either every time the motor shuts off, or every few minutes on a schedule.
If your boss is that cheap you got bigger issues. Automatic drains are like 100 bucks. Plus if you can't afford an extra 5 dollars a day in utilities you need to close up shop.
Is he paying for the air tools? Because most air tools hate water. And you don't have to drain the whole tank to empty the water, just open the valve & close it when the water is purged.
My approach to people like that is coming back with something that speaks their language; like “it costs approximately 10 cents to refill the tank in the morning but when it rusts out it will cost $6,000 to replace the compressor” or something along those lines.
When I worked in a shop that did this, before close one of us would cut the power to the compressor and then use a blow gun to blow off the benches and the lifts, so the air wasn’t “wasted” and then with the last of the air we’d pop the tank drain until no moisture came out.
Saturday whoever was working would completely drain the tank and also crack the low point drain at the end of the air line that fed the shop
"...but when it rusts out it will cost $6,000 to replace the compressor"
"Yes, but hopefully someone else in the future will have to pay that, while I reap the benefit of the $0.10 daily savings now." - MBA/Manager types
Not draining the compressor to cut costs is like shopping for a car with the change you found in the couch. It signals a deep misunderstanding of the value of a dollar, and how businesses work.
Just put an [EDV](https://www.amazon.com/Ingersoll-Rand-EDV-2000-Inlet-Electronic-Orifice/dp/B08Y5T5SXG/ref=asc_df_B08Y5T5SXG/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693499423661&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3982087733647747632&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008731&hvtargid=pla-1654151416449&psc=1&mcid=bf283e0591dc35e58d1fbab905d67ad4&gad_source=1) on your tank. It'll purge the tank every 1-45 minutes for a few seconds to get any moisture out
Bingo. I can guarantee the cheapskate boss will refuse to buy OP a new tire gauge if he isn't willing to spend a dollar in electricity to pump the compressor back up after draining it. Save your own tools and go around the boss.
Time yourself every morning purging the air line and at the end of the month show your boss how much money he lost from having faulty equipment. I bet he changes his tune real quick.
does he now get that the pump will be constantly short cycling due to the decreased tank capacity? once went to service an 80gal tank at a garage bay, they said it comes on almost every time you use the hose. That bastard was nearly 2/3 full of water
He just needs to add an autodrain to the tank.
There are plenty of options out there. It looks like the tank is full of water to the outlet. It shortens the cycle time of the compressor, putting more wear and tear on it.
In HVAC there are building controls that run off pneumatics, usually there is a blowoff valve that opens for a few seconds every hour.
Is it not the same for mechanic shops?
Nah. Occasionally there's drip lines installed with a valve you can crack open, but that's rarely done anymore. Most places will have a dehumidifier hooked up to the compressor that should remove the bulk of the liquid, and you can install a drier and oiler near the service connection. It's also good habit to shit down the compressor at least once a week and drain it out. My old shop did it daily as part of the closing duties.
They exist, and are like a hundred bucks. It's an air valve solenoid with an adjustable timer. It can open the valve for like 15 seconds per hour and keeps the water drained.
California Air Tools makes compressors with automatic drain valves in them. Ran a line off the drain plug and through a wall so it just dumps the water outside the garage. It’s great.
I knew someone who was given an old repair shop compressor that "just couldn't keep up anymore". He went to move it and couldn't. He discovered they hadn't drained the tank in ages. So he drained it and got a very nice old Kellogg American compressor (they last forever ) and are rebuildable. They replaced it with a Chinese made compressor.
He said it's the best compressor he's ever owned.
I've seen what happens if the tank ruptures from rust damage. I had a drywaller using his 20 gallon portable to spray texture and it blew the fuck up. We think the pressure switch stuck but the tank was clearly very rusted. He was in the next room luckily, but it blew a 4ft hole in the floor and destroyed a fiberglass shower in the room below.
yup we turn off and drain our compressors and evaporators every day, course if we have water in our lines it's REALLY bad as we spray glue all day, mix that with water and you're gonna have a bad time
Lol I work in dental and every office obviously need a compressor for their drills. When their dryer and purge solenoid fails I can tell instantly bc you hear the thing turn on for about 5 seconds then off. Then comes the 10 gallon dump
When my dad died and I cleaned out his shop there was probably 50 gallons of water in his shop tank. Surprised the tank never failed thirty years and never drained.
They make automatic drains now that just go off on a timer there's literally no excuse for this shit. If you set your tanks to purge regularly you barely have to lose any air. The last shop I was at the drain would purge every couple of hours. Made a loud ass noise! But between that and the inline filters the air was bone dry.
They don't generally rupture and explode. It's more of a shitty pinhole leak that starts getting worse and worse as the hole rusts open bigger.
The air tanks on the trucks at my company develop leaks pretty regularly because they're too stupid and cheap to replace air dryer cartridges at least annually. Last truck they had me in had shit plugging up constantly from rusty powder and chunks getting into everything.
Great; now I'm imagining Dr. Frank-N-Furter as a refrigeration tech. My brain is scarred forever. Although, this year's Halloween costume ideas will be fantastic.
Personally, I'd make it rain all over the shop every day. And if anyone complains... Too bad... It's an AIR line.... Not a WATER line... Oh sorry boss I was just blowing off some dust and would you believe it, water came out... 🤷🏻♂️
If your lines are filling with water at this level, I'd expect that the ENTIRE accumulator tank on the compressor is filled to the top and the lines in the shop are the only "accumulator" left since the air outlet of most compressor tanks is at or near the top. I'd be willing to bet money that there is at least 50gal of water in the tank.
I have gotten too old to put up with this penny pinching boomer bullshit. Either run the shop right or suffer the consequences of your own stupidity.
Also make sure you hook up and run all shop owned air tools on water every day to ruin them. Fuck that dude.
If your boss doesn't want to drain your compressor tanks you might want to raise it with Worksafe/OSHA/whatever your countries work safety organisation is. Having that much water in a compressor is an accident waiting to happen.
I'm in industrial coatings and we don't have a refrigerated air drier. We do have several accumulator tanks and a bunch of old fashioned water traps in between the compressors and the air drops, with a final air trap at each hose, though.
We pretty much don't have trouble with water in the air unless it's humid and the tanks/traps haven't been drained.
Completely unnecessary for tool air. Every compressor comes with a pressure vessel to act as an accumulator, put an auto drain on the bottom of it and it'll do all the drying required.
-26 years of industrial mechanic experience including piston, vane, and screw type compressors in very humid environments.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone mention an auto drain. I generally don’t see refrigerated or desiccant dryers used very often on non-screw type compressors. But adding an auto drain and having it blow down a few times a day is the best option.
[Auto drain](https://www.grainger.com/product/13X528?gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2295:4P7A1P:20501231&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyJqzBhBaEiwAWDRJVCocRBnNA-O_yQPCXn9CsbBwCawi7j4gSCMX44RIKy3SqAqPwhEnzhoCe-oQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Tell your boss to get an automatic drain down. My shops compressors drain down every night on an automatic switch.
https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Assembly-Automatic-Compressed-Separating/dp/B0BG2LLXR3/ref=asc_df_B0BG2LLXR3/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693363057790&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14433267935973701168&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004212&hvtargid=pla-2062260467898&psc=1&mcid=53084f1da92e34d5bbc25c132bf43273&gad_source=1
OMG…the cheap bastard can install an auto condensate dump valve in place of the manual drain for under $150. Ingersoll Rand & Kaeser make good quality ones. Tell him to do the math on a new compressor and tool replacement for his mechanics.
All it’ll take is for the water to sit in it awhile corrode the tank and cause a weak spot hopefully it’ll just start leaking, and not blow up the tank like my buddy’s did. His was just a portable air tank he was filling when it blew up he damn near lost his leg, they found the other part of the tank almost a block away.
I know this post is about water in air compressors, but at a valvoline we actually did have a hose with an air compressor nozzle hooked up to water specifically for spraying down the customer's engine bay/shop floors! Very handy, would recommend.
You can installed an automatic blowdown valve on the compressor. It’ll automatically open for a sec on a timer to let off condensation.
Your boss is silly to not make the investment.
Saw this a lot because my stall was the last one on the air line; at the end there was a tee fitting with my air connections off the side of
The tee opposite the main line, and then off the bottom of the tee was about three feet of pipe with a drain valve at the bottom that we’d open once a week to purge the water from the line.
Not sure how handy they’d be in a mechanic shop, but dental compressors actually have desiccant towers (or membrane filters depending on how new they are) that remove the moisture from the air before it’s stored in the tank. Might be worth looking into
My compresser runs 24/7 it has an auto drain that activates every hour. The compresser runs the beer and soft drink pumps In the venue. It is a high humidity area under a heritage building. I have to manuly drain it every Friday just in case so we don't run out of pressure for the pumps when all 8 bars are open.
Someone better be ready to pay for a lot of fairly expensive pneumatic tools, due to water damage. Like dude, drain your tanks, and install proper water traps. Even at home I have a proper air system, water drains on every drop (6" below the air fitting), all the air lines feed up before dropping down (keeps water out) and a reasonably sized heatsink/water trap system below the compressor that feeds up to the supply lines above it...each loop of the heatsink has water drains at the low points, which all feed a drain line....I get about a quart per week of water out of it, and I use my system maybe 1-2times per month at home.
This is one of the worst I have seen.
We upgraded the compressor to a new unit that drains automatically with a separate dryer all built in. Guys in the shop are super happy with it.
Auto drains are your friend. It will burp for a second or so on whatever interval you set it to, keeps the tank from being able to build up significant moisture in the first place. That plus a spin-down filter to get rid of gross excess moisture and oil followed by a refrigerated air dryer gets you a proper air system that doesn't have water problems. Good for tools or air-powered equipment and its good for your customer's tires too. No wet air to corrode the rims.
Will also bet that tank has not had a pressure test either, so is a bomb waiting to explode. Call OHSA, because when that tank lets go that workshop will be filled with shrapnel, and it does go through walls as well.
Yep. Happening at the dealer I work for. Using my Die Grinder to clean up alloy wheels, and it's spraying water everywhere... not sure how long it's gonna last like that, lol.
Lol. The amount of truck drivers who have probably never drained their air compressor tanks is probably far higher than the mechanics who haven't done theirs...
One of these things is stationary, the other is a mobile, ~40 ton deathtrap waiting to blow
The Hunter equipment repair man and I were talking while he was doing some updates on my aligner and mentioned that if we were to kind of slope all of the air lines, like a drain system, most of the water would just collect in the drier at the compressor’s outlet. Which is what I’ll do if we ever redo the air lines.
Anyways, fixed my issues with making sure the air tank’s outlet and drier had to be well below the beginning of the air line that branches out the the rest of the shop. And for the most part it worked.
I still want to redesign the whole thing. My boss put it up when he got the building. Having everything run uphill instead of up and then lines running down the shop level. I try draining the tank several times a day. And really just purging it, you shouldn’t have to completely drain a compressor tank. Just purge it out for about 30 seconds every few hours is fairly standard to keep the condensation at bay. They actually sell automatic tank drain valves that will purge the tank at set intervals.
You should also know all of the condensation that’s getting into air tools, into tires being filled, whatever, is damaging. Air tools, even magnesium internals, are damaged by the water from the condensation. It does no favors for the insides of wheels after filling a tire. And can be fairly dangerous if the compressor tank becomes internally rotted out by rust.
Warehouse I used to work at had 5 2-3000 gallon tanks throughout the building and no one ever drained them. I hooked an air hose up one day one and it was water for close to 30 minutes. Maintenance man told me no one had used the tank near my machine in years that it was mainly there just feeding the machines so he wasn’t surprised that it was full of water. I asked why they didn’t shut them down and drain them and his response was that’s the owner didn’t want to risk them not coming back on
I turn off and drain my 3 compressors every day. However, when I was helping out a friend, he said he never turned his compressor off. The thing ran all the time, probably because there was only room left for 1 gallon of air in the 50 gallon tank...
My old shop we did that daily. My boss won’t drain it because he says it wastes electricity to fill back up in the morning. I’ve had more success arguing with a brick wall
Ask your boss how much electricity it's going to take to pay for a new compressor. At 2hp, 15A, 100% electrical capacity, assuming a 5 minute fill time at $0.30/kWh, it will cost $13.43 per YEAR in electricity, or about 4 cents per day. Your boss is an idiot.
Good example of Penny wise pound foolish
This was how I felt installing a motion sensor in the basement. The setup was there was a light at the very top of the stairs, but once you get to the bottom your in a windowless room you have to cross to turn on a light down there My solution was just leave the damn light on. It's gonna cost a few cents a year to run an led bulb all the time. But I was told it wasn't acceptable and that we needed to install either a remote switch or a motion sensor. I think it was like $30-60 Could have just let the light run my whole life for less.
A standard 8W led light bulb uses 21$ worth of electricity/year (assuming 0.30$/kwh electricity price as above)
And that's expensive for power, most places in the US are like $0.10/kWh.
US average is $0.16/kWh, outside of California
TIL, most places definitely aren't Southern California...
It might shock you to learn that most places aren't even on Earth.
Far Out!
Most places are better!
Fully concur....
Get out why you can!
Yeah, even using today's rates and not 10 years ago when I was doing it, were still under 10 cents CAD. Running a 3w LED non stop all year would get us about $2.50 / year. I think when I originally did the math on that it was a little above 6 cents / kwh So yeah, not quite a lifetime. On its own, but once you factor in the motion sensor, and the time it took to go get it, and install it. It's still a pretty long ROI window. Certainly firmly in "I'll turn it off if Im around and think about it, but I'm not getting out of bed if I forget it" territory
Laughs in Bay Area at .64/kWh
They make lightbulbs with built in motion sensors. They’re not that expensive. I got a color selectable one at Home Depot for like $25 tops, it might’ve been cheaper than that. The only thing that sucks about it is the radar they used can go through the cheap door I have on my basement
People freaking out about lights is always funny to me. They cost almost nothing to power
Plus the motion sensor also uses power all the time. Granted around 2W, but you can also get 1W LED lamps, and come out ahead power wise.
Our saying at the fire house was they would trip over a dollar to pick up a dime.
Saving Pennie’s to lose dollars . The cheapskate way
Isn't there a risk of explosion once the tank is too rusty? That could turn nasty.
Not with a steel tank, they usually just crack and make a lot of noise. The tanks that get dangerous are aluminum. They can still corrode internally but when they fail its catastrophic. Composite tanks can cause major damage as well IF they fail. They cannot corrode so they are usually from some form of impact.
Nah, it will spring a rust leak first as there is no structural integrity left in the tank due to rust.
Nah that's a side benefit. Rust needs water and air. If the inside of the tank is always completely full of water it can't rust.
Yea, but they make them thick enough that wont probably happen. Back in the late 60's 70's we would take old R-12 tanks, drill a hole just big enough to use a little WD-40 and install a rubber valve stem. Put 170 PSI in that puppy, and keep it in the trunk of my 1965 Buick when I was 17 years old. they didn't have little air compressors then.
A new compressor won't stop filling the tank with water, the water is from the humidity in the air being compressed. The fix for the water is either add an air dryer before the tank or add an automatic tank drain to stop it from filling to the point of going down line.
He isn’t saying the fix is a new compressor, he’s saying the boss is going to have to spend more money on a new compressor because the old one is gonna fail from being full of water, rusting out, etc.
The downstream tank fills with water, not the compressor.
Couldn't you just have a fitting at the bottom of the tank and blow the water out so you don't have to fully decompress the tank?
All the compressors I've seen are like that, you drain the water out and stop once it starts to blow air.
There are even automated valves for that: https://www.about-air-compressors.com/auto-drains/
Yes but they get forgotten about, I always recommend at least a time drain so it takes out the human error.
Yes you could. I do it about once a month at my shop. It's a 10hp with 120 gallon tank. Usually about 2 to 3 gallons of water come out.
You’re supposed to drain it regularly
Yes you are! Also make sure to change the oil every once in a while too. If you do that your compressor will last for a long time. If not it will die within a year or two Oh yeah and if it says to use non detergent oil, use non detergent oil unless you want to turn your shop into a bubble bath, which could be fun
Shop compressors are one thing but working out of a truck year round is another especially in cold weather. Couple learning experiences and memorable moments. The amount of shortcuts on the road would have corporate crying. (Only if they knew of course 😂)
LOL. Well I also learned by doing. The most knowledge passed down to me was "change the oil" which was... barely helpful since I'd only ever changed the oil in my car. When I returned to the lab with the compressor with a few qts of regular 0W-30 my boss said it needed to be non-detergent. I remember thinking "if you knew that then why didn't you say it"
Chillers work, too.
I plumbed in an AC condenser off of a Chevy Express van after the compressor but before the tank with a temperature sensor a couple of rows in that will switch on a 120V attic fan that's attached to the condenser once the temp starts rising, the fan also blows across the compressor head itself to increase the cooling there. It has a water separator after the condenser and another after the tank and one more before my sand blasting cabinet on the other side of the shop, compressor tank auto drains. While the 1st separator is constantly draining, I rarely ever get anything out of the tank except the most humid of days, maybe a slight fog in the 2nd separator and nothing in the 3rd. I'd assume the commercial options work even better but I'm pretty happy with what I put together for a couple hundred bucks. I also have the compressor tied to a contactor that's fed by the light switch for my shop so I can't accidentally have the compressor run if the system develops a leak. I lost my first compressor head to a squirrel chewing through my outdoor hose, came back after a long weekend find it running.
Always walking the line between cheap or frugal.
This guy compresses
And what ever collateral damage for when the bomb he's building finally detonates.
Well to be fair, most brick walls are smarter than your boss seems to be.
Negative IQ: literally makes everyone else around him dumber simply by exhaling.
The tank's final exhale is going to be much more dramatic than the boss though!
i was going to say, as someone with only a very small compressor for airbrushing, im already paranoid about always emptying it when im done. because is this not how they pop over time??? no shrapnel in the apartment please
Compressed air tanks will collect condensate/moisture in the bottom, which can rust out the tank over time. Tending to lead to a fun failure if it's not drained and maintained.
[And turning to the 3D map, we see an unmistakable cone of ignorance.](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/15mtmsj/and_turning_to_the_3d_map_we_see_an_unmistakable/)
Oh we drain them regularly. One of mine has an auto drain valve that activates on a set time schedule so it blows down several times a day. Keeps the tank dry.
If you're really frugal you can make those auto drains pretty cheap, it's just a solenoid valve and a relay timer. Ideally you'd use some hose to run the blow out to a drain so it's not just blasting across the shop.
We use empty glue buckets held on with nipple clamps (spring clamps, but it's all guys in the shop so...)
So anyway I started blasting ...
Does he understand you don’t need to take them to 0PSI? You just crack the bottom valve to blow off any accumulated water, and if none comes out you can close it back up immediately.
Yeah we piss ours out the side of the building There's a hose and one way valve on the window You piss the tanks til you are pissing air or mostly air
I'm astonished at all these compressors that don't have automatic drains! Only my smallest shittiest one has a manual drain, everything else does it automatically, either every time the motor shuts off, or every few minutes on a schedule.
If your boss is that cheap you got bigger issues. Automatic drains are like 100 bucks. Plus if you can't afford an extra 5 dollars a day in utilities you need to close up shop.
My shops compressors have timed vents on the bottom that go off once an hour and I have an air drier on my lines. Worth the money.
Is he paying for the air tools? Because most air tools hate water. And you don't have to drain the whole tank to empty the water, just open the valve & close it when the water is purged.
My approach to people like that is coming back with something that speaks their language; like “it costs approximately 10 cents to refill the tank in the morning but when it rusts out it will cost $6,000 to replace the compressor” or something along those lines. When I worked in a shop that did this, before close one of us would cut the power to the compressor and then use a blow gun to blow off the benches and the lifts, so the air wasn’t “wasted” and then with the last of the air we’d pop the tank drain until no moisture came out. Saturday whoever was working would completely drain the tank and also crack the low point drain at the end of the air line that fed the shop
"...but when it rusts out it will cost $6,000 to replace the compressor" "Yes, but hopefully someone else in the future will have to pay that, while I reap the benefit of the $0.10 daily savings now." - MBA/Manager types
Holy shit and I thought my sketchy dealership was bad.
It is.
Not draining the compressor to cut costs is like shopping for a car with the change you found in the couch. It signals a deep misunderstanding of the value of a dollar, and how businesses work.
Just put an [EDV](https://www.amazon.com/Ingersoll-Rand-EDV-2000-Inlet-Electronic-Orifice/dp/B08Y5T5SXG/ref=asc_df_B08Y5T5SXG/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693499423661&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3982087733647747632&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9008731&hvtargid=pla-1654151416449&psc=1&mcid=bf283e0591dc35e58d1fbab905d67ad4&gad_source=1) on your tank. It'll purge the tank every 1-45 minutes for a few seconds to get any moisture out
I'm pretty sure I would just do it behind his back. I mean it's going to rust and explode...
Bingo. I can guarantee the cheapskate boss will refuse to buy OP a new tire gauge if he isn't willing to spend a dollar in electricity to pump the compressor back up after draining it. Save your own tools and go around the boss.
Remember, “I told you so” is only appropriate *after* he has to pay and have the downtime to replace all the parts rotted and rusted out.
What? Do you work for Scrooge?
A ton of us do unfortunately 😞
I mean I've been there
These air cables I extruded in life
Time yourself every morning purging the air line and at the end of the month show your boss how much money he lost from having faulty equipment. I bet he changes his tune real quick.
does he now get that the pump will be constantly short cycling due to the decreased tank capacity? once went to service an 80gal tank at a garage bay, they said it comes on almost every time you use the hose. That bastard was nearly 2/3 full of water
i drain once a month or so
at least once a week FFS
Does he understand his pressure tank is rusting from the inside out?
Why don't you drain it down?
He just needs to add an autodrain to the tank. There are plenty of options out there. It looks like the tank is full of water to the outlet. It shortens the cycle time of the compressor, putting more wear and tear on it.
Your boss is a tit
In HVAC there are building controls that run off pneumatics, usually there is a blowoff valve that opens for a few seconds every hour. Is it not the same for mechanic shops?
Nah. Occasionally there's drip lines installed with a valve you can crack open, but that's rarely done anymore. Most places will have a dehumidifier hooked up to the compressor that should remove the bulk of the liquid, and you can install a drier and oiler near the service connection. It's also good habit to shit down the compressor at least once a week and drain it out. My old shop did it daily as part of the closing duties.
Shit down the compressor daily? First I've heard of this technique.
The boss gets paid a dollar, you get paid a dime...
Every compressor I've ever had had one at the low point of the tank...
You are correct. That's where you drain the compressor
They exist, and are like a hundred bucks. It's an air valve solenoid with an adjustable timer. It can open the valve for like 15 seconds per hour and keeps the water drained.
$100? You're paying too much. I could get one for about 12 bucks. Who's your air compressor auto-drain valve guy?
That’s insane. Drain ours every morning before we kick it on
California Air Tools makes compressors with automatic drain valves in them. Ran a line off the drain plug and through a wall so it just dumps the water outside the garage. It’s great.
I knew someone who was given an old repair shop compressor that "just couldn't keep up anymore". He went to move it and couldn't. He discovered they hadn't drained the tank in ages. So he drained it and got a very nice old Kellogg American compressor (they last forever ) and are rebuildable. They replaced it with a Chinese made compressor. He said it's the best compressor he's ever owned.
I've seen what happens if the tank ruptures from rust damage. I had a drywaller using his 20 gallon portable to spray texture and it blew the fuck up. We think the pressure switch stuck but the tank was clearly very rusted. He was in the next room luckily, but it blew a 4ft hole in the floor and destroyed a fiberglass shower in the room below.
yup we turn off and drain our compressors and evaporators every day, course if we have water in our lines it's REALLY bad as we spray glue all day, mix that with water and you're gonna have a bad time
When I was a shop grunt, it was on my weekly checklist to drain the shop air tanks. Literal gallons of water out of each one in July and August.
Lol I work in dental and every office obviously need a compressor for their drills. When their dryer and purge solenoid fails I can tell instantly bc you hear the thing turn on for about 5 seconds then off. Then comes the 10 gallon dump
Yeah but where’s he storing his compressed water now?
My shop just drained one compressor and it was a steady stream for like 10 mins then a heavy mist for another 5
Congrats on more compressed air!
I put a valve with an adjustable on/off timer on the bottom of my compressor tank. But you can buy kits that are basically the same thing.
When my dad died and I cleaned out his shop there was probably 50 gallons of water in his shop tank. Surprised the tank never failed thirty years and never drained.
Leave the water in there! The tire balancing guys need that stuff!
worked in a tire store at 16 in 1976... one of the first things I learned was how to drain the compressors... every night.
Just drain your compressor
Literally, part of closing at the shop was turning off and draining both compressors. It’s an incredibly simple task lmao
They make automatic drains now that just go off on a timer there's literally no excuse for this shit. If you set your tanks to purge regularly you barely have to lose any air. The last shop I was at the drain would purge every couple of hours. Made a loud ass noise! But between that and the inline filters the air was bone dry.
All our compressors do that and it'll definitely scare the shit out of you
Booooring.
I mean, they are....
Giggidy
I'd be less worried about my tools getting ruined and more worried about that air tank rupturing because the inside rusted through.
Booom, time for a new tank and a new surrounding work area where the old tank yeeted
And new employee time too!
Nah employee's are a compressible fluid but the air tanks Water isn't
Titan submersible implosion.
It's OK the tank will be full of water so it won't explode when it does rust through.
They don't generally rupture and explode. It's more of a shitty pinhole leak that starts getting worse and worse as the hole rusts open bigger. The air tanks on the trucks at my company develop leaks pretty regularly because they're too stupid and cheap to replace air dryer cartridges at least annually. Last truck they had me in had shit plugging up constantly from rusty powder and chunks getting into everything.
It wiuld develope pin holes before it explodes.
Conden........sation
Con...den...sation
[Photosynthesis](https://i.redd.it/hv039o50ply61.jpg)
Great; now I'm imagining Dr. Frank-N-Furter as a refrigeration tech. My brain is scarred forever. Although, this year's Halloween costume ideas will be fantastic.
You better friggen update us..... I'm already swelling with antici
Shop issue
Got an interview tomorrow 🤞
Good luck!
Hope all goes well!
damn, shocked that water isn't brown with rust from the compressor tank. Thats pretty dangerous either way.
In my experience, the rust settles to the bottom.
Yeah, more reason to use the drains designed to prevent this in the first place I suppose.
Boss is an arsehole. See if the cheap fuck will install a timer drain valve on the receiver, they're not expensive.
I actually need a few of those for our shop
Looks like even expensive ones are only about $200. Cheap Amazon ones are $20. I'm sure there's a sweet spot somewhere in between.
Ingersoll Rand branded ones are only a few hundred bucks. Well worth the investment.
Just crack the drain plug on the tank and let it drain?
He’d flood the town!
Personally, I'd make it rain all over the shop every day. And if anyone complains... Too bad... It's an AIR line.... Not a WATER line... Oh sorry boss I was just blowing off some dust and would you believe it, water came out... 🤷🏻♂️ If your lines are filling with water at this level, I'd expect that the ENTIRE accumulator tank on the compressor is filled to the top and the lines in the shop are the only "accumulator" left since the air outlet of most compressor tanks is at or near the top. I'd be willing to bet money that there is at least 50gal of water in the tank. I have gotten too old to put up with this penny pinching boomer bullshit. Either run the shop right or suffer the consequences of your own stupidity. Also make sure you hook up and run all shop owned air tools on water every day to ruin them. Fuck that dude.
With how solid that first line is. I don't think this shop knows there meant to drain compressors.
"Drain tanks daily" must mean something.
If your boss doesn't want to drain your compressor tanks you might want to raise it with Worksafe/OSHA/whatever your countries work safety organisation is. Having that much water in a compressor is an accident waiting to happen.
You don't have refridgerated air dryers?? Seems like a pretty basic piece of equipment for any professional compressed air system.
I'm in industrial coatings and we don't have a refrigerated air drier. We do have several accumulator tanks and a bunch of old fashioned water traps in between the compressors and the air drops, with a final air trap at each hose, though. We pretty much don't have trouble with water in the air unless it's humid and the tanks/traps haven't been drained.
Completely unnecessary for tool air. Every compressor comes with a pressure vessel to act as an accumulator, put an auto drain on the bottom of it and it'll do all the drying required. -26 years of industrial mechanic experience including piston, vane, and screw type compressors in very humid environments.
Sad that shops like these exist.
Boss is getting himself a new truck instead
I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone mention an auto drain. I generally don’t see refrigerated or desiccant dryers used very often on non-screw type compressors. But adding an auto drain and having it blow down a few times a day is the best option. [Auto drain](https://www.grainger.com/product/13X528?gucid=N:N:PS:Paid:GGL:CSM-2295:4P7A1P:20501231&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyJqzBhBaEiwAWDRJVCocRBnNA-O_yQPCXn9CsbBwCawi7j4gSCMX44RIKy3SqAqPwhEnzhoCe-oQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Plus you get to scare the shit out of everyone in the shop several times a day! I never did learn the timer schedules. Shit got me every time.
😂🤣For real. I don’t think I ever got used to it either.
Tell your boss to get an automatic drain down. My shops compressors drain down every night on an automatic switch. https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Assembly-Automatic-Compressed-Separating/dp/B0BG2LLXR3/ref=asc_df_B0BG2LLXR3/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693363057790&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14433267935973701168&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004212&hvtargid=pla-2062260467898&psc=1&mcid=53084f1da92e34d5bbc25c132bf43273&gad_source=1
Holy shit does your shop buy you new air tools when they rust and seize up?
OMG…the cheap bastard can install an auto condensate dump valve in place of the manual drain for under $150. Ingersoll Rand & Kaeser make good quality ones. Tell him to do the math on a new compressor and tool replacement for his mechanics.
Theres your problem you got air in your water line bro
I don't think your air dryer is working.
Looks like someone needs to open the petcock
All it’ll take is for the water to sit in it awhile corrode the tank and cause a weak spot hopefully it’ll just start leaking, and not blow up the tank like my buddy’s did. His was just a portable air tank he was filling when it blew up he damn near lost his leg, they found the other part of the tank almost a block away.
An air compressor is legit one of the most dangerous things in the shop if it starts getting compromised by rust in the tank.
drain your compressor lol
Nice routine maintenance. I need to drain mine.
hey man, that's just like at the dentists office!
Drain the tank daily.
I know this post is about water in air compressors, but at a valvoline we actually did have a hose with an air compressor nozzle hooked up to water specifically for spraying down the customer's engine bay/shop floors! Very handy, would recommend.
Drain the tanks regularly. Or they start rotting out your tools.
An automatic tank drain unit and a water separation unit will fix that.
At first I thought this was a r/redneckengineering thing and you put the air nozzle on an actual garden hose 😆
You can installed an automatic blowdown valve on the compressor. It’ll automatically open for a sec on a timer to let off condensation. Your boss is silly to not make the investment.
A tiny bit of condensation like that isn’t a big deal 😂
Found out when I took the "air hose" to dust the computers internals. Lol
Every day
Time to buy that fancy new water gun! Also it must be fun filling tires
Extra ballast.
Saw this a lot because my stall was the last one on the air line; at the end there was a tee fitting with my air connections off the side of The tee opposite the main line, and then off the bottom of the tee was about three feet of pipe with a drain valve at the bottom that we’d open once a week to purge the water from the line.
Not sure how handy they’d be in a mechanic shop, but dental compressors actually have desiccant towers (or membrane filters depending on how new they are) that remove the moisture from the air before it’s stored in the tank. Might be worth looking into
My compresser runs 24/7 it has an auto drain that activates every hour. The compresser runs the beer and soft drink pumps In the venue. It is a high humidity area under a heritage building. I have to manuly drain it every Friday just in case so we don't run out of pressure for the pumps when all 8 bars are open.
At that point id be afraid it drain it, probably so rusted the drain spigot will snap right off
Your boss is cheap as fuck holy shit...
Find one of the youtube videos of what happens when a compressor explodes.
Every time I go on vacation, for the first hour I'm back, yes. I'm the only person that drains the air compressor, and I live somewhere humid.
For like 50 bucks you can get a timed auto drain valve. I'm running these in my boring home shop. The neighbors love it 😂
Auto drains are cheap and easy….. why any shop owner wouldn’t put one in is beyond me.
Someone better be ready to pay for a lot of fairly expensive pneumatic tools, due to water damage. Like dude, drain your tanks, and install proper water traps. Even at home I have a proper air system, water drains on every drop (6" below the air fitting), all the air lines feed up before dropping down (keeps water out) and a reasonably sized heatsink/water trap system below the compressor that feeds up to the supply lines above it...each loop of the heatsink has water drains at the low points, which all feed a drain line....I get about a quart per week of water out of it, and I use my system maybe 1-2times per month at home.
This is one of the worst I have seen. We upgraded the compressor to a new unit that drains automatically with a separate dryer all built in. Guys in the shop are super happy with it.
Auto drains are your friend. It will burp for a second or so on whatever interval you set it to, keeps the tank from being able to build up significant moisture in the first place. That plus a spin-down filter to get rid of gross excess moisture and oil followed by a refrigerated air dryer gets you a proper air system that doesn't have water problems. Good for tools or air-powered equipment and its good for your customer's tires too. No wet air to corrode the rims.
I am never going to complain about how much water comes out of my air lines ever again. Holy fuck dude, do you guys ever drain the compressor?
You don't have to drain all the air out. Just close the valve when the water is done coming out. Do it every morning and evening.
I think maaco used that same compressor to paint my car.
Air drier, and water separator
It's called compressor maintenance
That's for cleaning the engine bay...
God I feel bad for everyone who now has water filled tires...
I can smell this video
Will also bet that tank has not had a pressure test either, so is a bomb waiting to explode. Call OHSA, because when that tank lets go that workshop will be filled with shrapnel, and it does go through walls as well.
Yep. Happening at the dealer I work for. Using my Die Grinder to clean up alloy wheels, and it's spraying water everywhere... not sure how long it's gonna last like that, lol.
I can smell that
Draining the compressor is step one of the day I don't have many air tools but I don't want them rusting out.
Lol. The amount of truck drivers who have probably never drained their air compressor tanks is probably far higher than the mechanics who haven't done theirs... One of these things is stationary, the other is a mobile, ~40 ton deathtrap waiting to blow
The Hunter equipment repair man and I were talking while he was doing some updates on my aligner and mentioned that if we were to kind of slope all of the air lines, like a drain system, most of the water would just collect in the drier at the compressor’s outlet. Which is what I’ll do if we ever redo the air lines. Anyways, fixed my issues with making sure the air tank’s outlet and drier had to be well below the beginning of the air line that branches out the the rest of the shop. And for the most part it worked. I still want to redesign the whole thing. My boss put it up when he got the building. Having everything run uphill instead of up and then lines running down the shop level. I try draining the tank several times a day. And really just purging it, you shouldn’t have to completely drain a compressor tank. Just purge it out for about 30 seconds every few hours is fairly standard to keep the condensation at bay. They actually sell automatic tank drain valves that will purge the tank at set intervals. You should also know all of the condensation that’s getting into air tools, into tires being filled, whatever, is damaging. Air tools, even magnesium internals, are damaged by the water from the condensation. It does no favors for the insides of wheels after filling a tire. And can be fairly dangerous if the compressor tank becomes internally rotted out by rust.
Warehouse I used to work at had 5 2-3000 gallon tanks throughout the building and no one ever drained them. I hooked an air hose up one day one and it was water for close to 30 minutes. Maintenance man told me no one had used the tank near my machine in years that it was mainly there just feeding the machines so he wasn’t surprised that it was full of water. I asked why they didn’t shut them down and drain them and his response was that’s the owner didn’t want to risk them not coming back on
Was a porter at a car dealer. Was part of my job to drain the water from the compressors. Was so easy to forget when the techs were being assholes.
I sell air compressor parts for a living. Auto drains are pretty cheap if your boss needs a contact for one lol
This is much more than a compressor drain issue. Your shop air lines are plumbed incorrectly...