cjensen

cjensen

Well Known Member
It's been so freakin' cold here the last few weeks! I powered up the compressor the other night for the first time in over a month, and my practice when using the compressor on a regular basis, is to drain the water every Wednesday and Sunday after a session. I went to drain it Wednesday night, and lo and behold, when the valve was opened, nada. Not even a pinch of air.

Being that it's below zero at night, and only in to the teens during the day, it's obviously frozen.

Is there any concern here? Should I go so far as to heat the bottom of the tank and drain with a propane torch to drain it? Should I not even have used it when it's this cold? Do nothing, and wait for the spring thaw?

I don't remember having this problem last year... :confused:
 
Chad, if you bleed off all the air, then run the compressor until it refills, the hot compressed air will probably melt the water in the bottom, then you can drain it.
On mine, I removed the drain valve, put in a 90 elbow and about a 6" pipe nipple, then a brass ball valve and then a poly line drain to the outside. Now I can just give the valve lever a twist and all the **** drains outside the garage/shop. Where I live, no problems with freezing! Sorry!
 
Depends how cold it is

Think of it this way, if you run the compressor and it doesn't melt the ice then you have a pretty good refrigeration dryer built into your compressed air system..This is actually a GOOD thing.

I would open the drain valve and start work...if you hear big hissing after a few hours go shut the drain...Otherwise forget about it.

Frank
 
captainron said:
<snip>On mine, I removed the drain valve, put in a 90 elbow and about a 6" pipe nipple, then a brass ball valve and then a poly line drain to the outside.<snip>
Click to expand...
I did the same thing...

9-7-06-003w.jpg


I'll try running it this weekend with the valve open to see if it will melt out.
 
AH! A halogen work light! Ding, ding! Light bulb! Have to get me one of those! Didn't even think of that because my work lights/trouble lights are are LED...

:cool:
 
just a suggestion----

You might want to support that extension about mid length with a block of wood or something.

Compressors vibrate a lot, and with the way you have it, looks like the fitting in the bottom of the tank will eventually crack.

Mike
 
Thanks!

Thanks Mike. I'll have a look at that this weekend. I *think* that it is actually supported well just resting on the pavement, but I will definitely check on it!

:)
 
I'm still narrowing my list, but on the high end, TMX FADEC IO-360, and on the other end a good 'ol carby O-360, probably from Mattituck, either with mags, or LASAR. Either way, parallel valve and ported/polished intake.
 
captainron said:
Ah, just get the el cheapo 100w with the tin guard around it.
Click to expand...

Now why would you counsel a guy to get an el-cheapo light when this is the perfect opportunity to buy a double 500w halogen worklight? Heck, he might need two! :D
 
Maybe I am missing something here, but I wouldn't worry about it unless you consistently get a lot of water, even in the winter. Cold air doesn't hold much water so you shouldn't have much in there and it's not going to rust out if you let it sit there a week or 2 longer than you usually do.

Richard Scott
 
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