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PilotFuse

Member
I'm working on turning my garage into a workshop for my build. Due to limited space in my slightly oversized one car garage, and the fact that I'd love to cut the noise level, I'm thinking of having 220 run out to my shed (about 20 feet from the garage), and putting a 60 or 80 gallon compressor out there. I'm trying to figure out how I'll run air back into the garage, and whether I need to make any special considerations as a result. Brand new to all of this, to bear with me.

On the flip side, I could always put a 30 gallon compressor in the shed and run a regular extension cord and air hose out in the elements.

Has anyone done something similar? I'm in New England, so whatever set-up I have in place will need to content with summer heat and winter freezing temps.

Here's what this area of the house looks like:

GhDZk6V.jpg
 
I'd put the compressor in the shed and run schedule 40 pvc to the garage. Bury the pvc in a shallow trench.
 
Jesse said:
Definitely in the shed unless it will be loud for he neighbors.
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Ditto. If the noise to neighbors is an issue you could insulate the whole shed or build an insulated sound box around the compressor. If you build a box be sure to maintain the compressor's ability to cool itself.

Make sure to have water traps at the outlets in the garage.
True of any compressor set up really but a friend had a similar set up and had all manner of issues with water in the lines. He moved a compressor with a direct hose connection from the garage to and outdoor shed like you are proposing for marital harmony. When he plumbed in the underground air line back to the garage it was impressive how much water would come through the line. Added a water trap and all was well.
 
There will be small amounts of water from time to time in the tank. Will you be able to drain them in the winter?

Also, how do compressors withstand freezing? Mine never gets that cold so I don't know.

Dave
 
You will definitely want to drain the tank after every work session. Mine always has some water in it. Some places sell automatic valves that open briefly everytime the compressor cycles but I have heard the cheap ones don't work well. I have a 60 gallon compressor. When I am running grinders and sanders it is running often. Riveting requires very little air. But the tools that run for a long time, like grinders and sanders, really tax the compressor. I wouldn't bother with a 30 gallon.

A friend on mine put his compressor in a shed and loves the setup. Nice and quiet reliable air.
 
Basement?

Did you consider the basement? That's what I did in my house ... of course I had no shed to work with ... but it's in-doors, temperature and humidity controlled, easily accessed, easy to wire/connect, etc ...

Just an idea!
 
Also know the "oil less" compressors are seriously loud, if that's what I had to live with I try to put it in the neighbors shed.
Definently get yourself a cast iron piston type compressor.
Tim Andres
 
flyinga said:
I'd put the compressor in the shed and run schedule 40 pvc to the garage. Bury the pvc in a shallow trench.
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Flagman, you didn't just say that! Remind me to thump you on the head next time we fly together.

PVC with air is simply a bomb waiting to go off. In this instance, the only thing good is the depth of the trench. Below the frost line of course, (whatever that is).

Friends don't let friends run PVC for air.
 
The water problem with a buried air line is likely just because the ground is typically cooler than the air. You could do the coil of air line in a chilled bucket trick, in the shed, or plumb a small (1/4" or so) additional line from the low point of the buried line to a quick drain in the garage. If it's plumbed to the bottom of a T at the low point, pressure will clear any condensation.

BTW, those oil-less compressors are louder, but if there are budget or space constraints (need to move it between work sessions, etc) it shouldn't stop anyone from using one. I did probably 95%+ of the air tool work on my -7 using one that sat just outside my work room. I doubt I could have tolerated it in the same work space, but just outside the door worked out fine for me. As others have said, the big limits are grinders, etc, & spray guns. But I don't recall any real limitations when using the rivet gun, air drill, etc. These days, most grinding/rotary cutting duties can be handled by cheap Harbor Freight electric tools, or Dremel style tools for small stuff.

FWIW,

Charlie
 
The PVC doesn't have to run the air directly, just use a larger diameter as a conduit and fish the actual air line through it underground. The PVC would just keep the air line protected and out of sight.
 
Use 3/4 pex

I have almost 100 ft of 3/4 pex running from my upper garage to lower shop at the opposite end of the house. It's cheap and has held great for over 5 years now. I put a water trap mid span and a filter/regulator setup at the shop side.
 
Underground lines, in my experience, has caused a lot of condensation. Make sure the pie runs downhill and put a t on the low end with a pipe going down to catch the water and then run it up to a valve which will allow you to drain it.
 
As others have pointed out, a buried line will allow condensation when the soil temperature is below the dew point of the compressed air. This will be especially noticeable in the summer.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. You could build a moisture trap in a small pit just before the air line comes back up out of the ground. Slope the line toward the trap and put a drain fitting at the trap bottom. Then run a flex hose up out of the ground to a blowdown valve (preferably a solenoid valve on a timer) to purge the trap periodically.

This will actually help get you drier air at your tools.

Also as Scott said, NEVER use PVC for air. Other polymer pipes can be fine but PVC and CPVC will shatter into small shrapnel if the line bursts.

Most of my air line is black iron pipe but I used some plastic (polyethylene) tubing and press-to-fit connectors for some of the branch runs. The PE tubing is actaully a great solution and if I had to do it over again I would probably use it or PEX instead of the black iron.
 
Thinking about those cold winters, a 20 foot pipe run underground and resulting condensation to deal with, you might consider just insulating the ceiling and wall really well in the garage to help keep down the noise. Get as quiet of a compressor as you can. Maybe stick it in the basement or tuck it into a corner of the garage.

It might take some space but it would eliminate a lot of the other hassles you'd have. Plus you won't have to worry about snow removal to get to the shed, just to turn it on or lying on the cold floor in an unheated shed to reach underneath the compressor to drain the tank.

Of course as I get older, I'm less tolerant of cold and winter...

Bob
 
I have a belt driven compressor in the aircraft factory aka garage. Not too bad. If I could put it outside I would though. I fear outside even under a mini compressor shed, it would deteriorate quicker. I've had this compressor for about ten years now. It never runs with the pneumatic squeezer, runs often with the air drill, and the grinder...yeah...constant.

If I had a shed nearby, I would put in there for sure.
 
+1

scard said:
Flagman, you didn't just say that! Remind me to thump you on the head next time we fly together.

PVC with air is simply a bomb waiting to go off. In this instance, the only thing good is the depth of the trench. Below the frost line of course, (whatever that is).

Friends don't let friends run PVC for air.
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Definitely DO NOT use PVC line for compressed air; especially when exposed to cyclical temperature changes.
 
RapidAir makes nice all-in-one systems for compressed air systems, including certain types of tubing appropriate for burrial ...

The condensation factor someone mentioned seems to make sense ... compressed air warms up, hit cold tubes, condensation occurs ... Unless maybe you have a really good filter/dehydrator at the source in the shed, but even then ...

In my basement the compressor is next to the adjoining wall to the garage, one floor down ... one hole in the wall (top basement, bottom garage) and voila I'm in. With the RapidAir kit, this was all done quickly and easily ...
 
flyinga said:
Scoot,

I've run schedule 40 pvc for shop air since 1984; no problems.
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With all due respect, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The fact remains that if the PVC pipe does burst, it will do so in a particularly damaging and dangerous way. I have seen personally the results of a 3" sch40 PVC air header operating at only 15-20 psig that failed spectacularly. We were fortunate that no one was in the area when it went.

Many people have said that PVC has worked fine for them in the past, and they are not wrong in their observations. They are wrong in writing off the risk because "it hasn't happened (to them) yet."
 
rv7charlie said:
Not a recommendation to use PVC, but 3" sch 40 is dancing a lot closer to the edge than 1/2" or 3/4".
https://flexpvc.com/Reference/PVCPipeSize.shtml

Charlie
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You're right about the stresses in the larger diameter pipe with the same schedule wall thickness. However, the pipe that burst on us was only operating in the 15-20 psi range so the hoop stress was way less than it could have been.

Again, my concern is not that PVC is more or less likely to fail in this application--I can't say one way or the other--it is that the *manner* in which it fails is catastrophic and potentially quite dangerous.
 
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