The third post of three, air compressor installation
I installed a new pressure regulator and water separator at the end of all the piping. On my previous installation there was 10 feet of pipe I installed in the wall up to the hose reel. The yellow hose coming down from the water separator is a automatic drain option, whenever you use a air tool this will causes a small pressure drop across the inlet and outlet and will actuate a valve inside the separator causing a short shot of air to empty any water in the separator down to the catch container. This should keep the water drained from the separator.
Installed a flexible hose between the compressor and the piping to isolate any compressor vibration from the piping. Also added a ball valve to be able to empty air pressure from the tank or piping line if needed down at the compressor.
I live in an area that can have earthquakes, even if this was not the case I would still anchor the compressor to the floor. The compressor is extremely top heavy and could be tipped over by accident very easily and with the vibration that is common with compressors it could move around on the floor. I did add some rubber mounting blocks to dampen/reduce the vibration.
I’m lucky when coming up with a place to install a large air compressor with out taking up my small shop space. The area under my house I primarily use for storage, very rarely if ever drops below freezing and is the coolest place on the hottest days, always dry and away from all the dirt/mess generated in the shop. The biggest problem was getting it thru the 3 foot wide x 4 foot high door down some stairs into this area, but I think it will be worth it.
Larger compressors are becoming more common place in small shops and I can say that I’ve joined that club now. All I really want is to be able to plug in my air tools and have enough air to run them without a delay and a long lasting system with minimized maintenance or problems. This is just my attempt at reaching that goal.
Most of the piping and electrical came from a local hardware store but some of the specialty items I obtained thru TP Tools & Equipment. They have a lot of good information on their web site on setting up an air compressor.
Now back to working on the truck. The best shop in the world is worth nothing if no work is done in it. So I will be out there to extract every penny’s worth invested in it.