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Automatic Air Compressor Drain system

DiamondWash

DiamondWash

Well-known member
Are they reliable? I thought of putting one of these in but also heard some of the negatives of having them.
 
The simplest is a solenoid with a timer. They usually have a minimum on of one second and a maximum off of 45 minutes. It's what Ingersoll-Rand uses for their auto-drain kits. There are also types that use the blow-down off the head to drain the tank after each time the pump runs - those seem to be a little less reliable due to more mechanical parts. A friend of mine bought one from Harbor Freight and couldn't get it to work at all.
 
I lost the compressor piston and pump because my auto drain wasn't working correctly. Cost me about $1k. If you use one make sure you check it manually every few months. I did not put mine back on and drain mine manually every two weeks now.
 
That's what I like about the ones on the 45-minute maximum timer, you're almost certain to be there long enough to hear it blow off at least once.

FWIW, I just put a ball valve in easy reach and drain it once a day.
 
We have IR with auto drain. KNOCK on wood --no problems in 10 years--we just look at 5 gal bucket under drain every once in a while to be sure there is some water and dump when full.

Ted
 
MEP001 said:
That's what I like about the ones on the 45-minute maximum timer, you're almost certain to be there long enough to hear it blow off at least once.

FWIW, I just put a ball valve in easy reach and drain it once a day.
Click to expand...

When mine went bad it would make a blow off noise but the drain was obstructed. That's why I don't trust their reliability.
 
MEP001 said:
FWIW, I just put a ball valve in easy reach and drain it once a day.
Click to expand...

That is the way we do it with our 3 drains (3 ball valves) on our big tank & backup smaller twin cylinder compressor tanks.

The failure rate of 3 solenoid valves would be pretty low but greater than our manual ball valve "somewhat in our sleep" evening closeup routine.
 
So my dema valve with a christmas light timer probably won't impress you...I did put a light switch in series so I could manually purge. Now thats fancy!!!
 
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