# Water auto-drain question



## motormonkey (Jul 10, 2016)

I have located my new air compressor in a shed out behind the shop and plumbed air lines in to the shop from there. I am planning to mount an automotive type oil cooler in front of the compressor cooling pulley and plumb it and an automatic float type water drain in between the compressor output and the air tank. That's commonly done on the larger high-end compressors, and it really helps to keep water out of the air tank. I've seen several youboob videos where others have done this, and most claim that it works well for them.

The only problem I see from doing this is that the shed where the compressor lives is not heated. The temperature can get below freezing quite often here in the winter, and what water is in the float chamber of that auto-drain will freeze when this happens. I'm thinking that that freezing could damage it.

What do you think? Should I maybe wrap a heat tape around it to prevent it from freezing?


----------



## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

how large is the shed?
if it is an out house size
small shed a space heater with an good external temp controller can be used as a above 40 deg f for the shed.
ya you also want the compressor to be at least 40 deg f.
icing can make for a bad day on a compressor.
lol!
lots of loud noises as it snaps the internals....

we set the temp at 50 deg f for the air compressor room in the larger service shop.
then the whole system is warm enough to work right.

also we added a relay to shut off the compressor when the shop lights are off.
that is a cool easy add on if you are in to electrical.


----------



## motormonkey (Jul 10, 2016)

It's an 8' x 16' storage shed and it's vented, so space heating it is not an option. I'm thinking that the only potential problem with the compressor in cold weather would be the oil thickening up, and the manual states that, "Under extreme winter condition use SAE-10 weight oil." (Instead of the normal SAE-30) The winters here are in no way extreme.

Those little heat tapes that are made to be wrapped around pipes have a built-in thermostat that kicks them on when the temp falls below 40 or so. That would seem to be the ticket for this. I'm just looking for any other ideas.

I currently have to remember to flip the breaker off when I lock up the shop. That relay tied into the lights would be nice.


----------



## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

heck the 120 vac coil heavy duty relays are 20-60 bucks then use a hoffman box.
and a bit of wire.
super easy upgrade to shop.

they make those stick on pan heaters for oil pan that you could use on the bottom of the compressor pump
or if you have room just a magnetic 100 to 200 watt magnetic katz or zero temo block / tank heater.

have you seen the auto dump drain valves that dump the water every 10-15 min?
those are cool
and you can plumb the water to a floor drain.
i put those in on the industrial compressors.

pm any time for links if you cannot find these items.
they should be on the site with the air compressor section.


----------

