Where to put the air compressor?

Where to put the compressor?

  • Spend more time/money and add the outside room

    Votes: 12 92.3%
  • Add a closet in the loft.

    Votes: 1 7.7%

  • Total voters
    13
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The unknown here is the flammability, maybe no a big deal outdoors, but inside, tear off a piece take a lighter to it first.
It is telling the Amazon listing never mentions any fire rating anywhere.

Think Whitesnake Club fire.
Yes! I had to do a report on that fire in college (Fire Science Associates)
 
So I’m in the process of building a shop and am debating on where I should put my 80 gallon Kobalt vertical compressor. The two options I’m considering are…

1. build a small room off the back of the shop (which would require spending a little more for the concrete, lumber and metal needed) or
2. put it up in the loft/mezzanine, then maybe add a closet around it if needed for noise.

Either way, I plan to either add and automatic drain valve, or plumb an air cooler and water trap in between the pump and tank.
Put it anywhere you want, as long as it's a high volume 220 unit to run impact wrenches and spray guns.

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Master Bedroom Closet with exits on each side of the house at the cement slabs. Note the AC unit next to it, that keeps it cool and supplies dry air.

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If you put it overhead, remember vibrations will knock dust down every time it kicks in. Dont plan on painting if its overhead.
In my last house, I only had a 2 car garage and wanted to maximize floor space. I had a Craftsman horizontal tank 3 HP compressor that I put up in the attic. I ran hard lines with quick disconnect fittings within reach.
SC is right...every time the damned thing came on, it vibrated the dust and ants off of the roof trusses and spread dirt all over the place. I got to where each time I painted a car, I'd have to put up visqueen/plastic sheeting on the underside of the trusses to contain the dust.
If you have floor space, a corner of the building works well. I suspect that they would need some ventilation though to cool off. I've seen outdoor sheds with vent screens in them.
 
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In my last house, I only had a 2 car garage and wanted to maximize floor space. I had a Craftsman horizontal tank 3 HP compressor that I put up in the attic. I ran hard lines with quick disconnect fittings within reach.
SC is right...every time the dame thing came on, it vibrated the dust and ants off of the roof trusses and spread dirt all over the place. I got to where each time I painted a car, I'd have to put up visqueen/plastic sheeting on the underside of the trusses to contain the dust.
If you have floor space, a corner of the building works well. I suspect that they would need some ventilation though to cool off. I've seen outdoor sheds with vent screens in t
Its very easy to vent. Just leave the soffits open or covered with chicken wire to keep the birds/animals out. Run an ac fan that cuts in and out with the compressor.
 
OUTSIDE!!! As a matter of fact - don't build the shed on to your building. Buy a cheap prefab shed building and put it even a foot from the shop and you will never regret it. and you can store parts in the rest of the shed - you can NEVER have enough parts storage to get them out of your shop.

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My upright sits on a concrete man hole cover in a dirt floor shed. Been that way for 15 years or so.
 
I have two. My small portable I use regularly is inside the shop. My big compressor, 120 gallon horizontal tank, sits outside, under an open leanto.
 
My air froze up this year. I was dead in the water for a week. So was everyone else so no big loss. First time for that. I flip the breaker at 15 below. I had to throw a heater in the room to get back on-line. We hit 30 below. A week later we are at 40 above. Crazy math there.
 
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I have a 60 gallon verticle that I put in the enclosed tool room (5x10) at the rear of my shop. Big mistake. Even with a good fan pulling in outside air and leaving the door open it heats up quickly (middle Georgia). When it gets hot it pumps a lot of water.
As for isolators, it was shipped with isolators already bolted to the pallet. I just left it on the pallet. It’s worked good for 20+ years.
 
Obviously, everyone here has what works for them. Me? I like simple. And, yes, the original plan was to set it just outside, on concrete, and build a cover. But, I found exactly what I wanted, by chance, at a local Tractor Supply. I talked to the store manager and got 10% off. Get to register, and, they say, oh, it's on clearance, so we can take a thousand off the discounted price. So, at a 40% discount, I strapped her down in the back of my truck and headed home. Of course, I didn't have the outside concrete poured, so I sat it just inside the shop front doors. Perfect fit. The Emax website said they are quiet, and for once, no bs. Can carry on a normal conversation standing right next to it. FYI, it's a 7.5hp, 80 gallon, single phase 220v, 100% American built using American parts. I bought concrete bolts and pads, but, after a year, and it's never moved or vibrated around, it just sits there with the bolts and pads unceremoniously doing nothing, but looking pretty on the shelf behind the compressor. Good luck, you will find what works for you.

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Hey, I bet these are noisy. Why don't they enclose them? Because you shouldn't !!!!!!

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EMAX 10hp plus 38cfm , quite put it under the stairs will enclose it just for the looks and its close to the soon to be paint booth.

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I have two garages attached to the house. The back garage is the work area while, long term, the front garage will be used for modern driver parking. The compressor is in the front garage with pipe through the attic to an expansion tank in the back garage. No compressor noise in the back garage.
 
Tool Man Mike is right .....you are leading a brand new piece of equipment to a slow death in Texas if you put it in any closet. Mine is outside the shop on its own
concrete pad under a lean to cover off the metal building. It needs all the air it can get for cooling (Both the electric motor and compressor wheel plus the first stage
to the second stage cooling fin line that is cooled by compressor wheel ) meaning needs mass air movement all the time down here..... Not everyone lives in the heat & Humidity
of South Texas either I get it ....
 
Tool Man Mike is right .....you are leading a brand new piece of equipment to a slow death in Texas if you put it in any closet. Mine is outside the shop on its own
concrete pad under a lean to cover off the metal building. It needs all the air it can get for cooling (Both the electric motor and compressor wheel plus the first stage
to the second stage cooling fin line that is cooled by compressor wheel ) meaning needs mass air movement all the time down here..... Not everyone lives in the heat & Humidity
of South Texas either I get it ....
The best thing is to protect it for the climate you have, and if that is enclosed, well its an air compressor, so it needs air to inhale and exhale.
So do not seal the enclosure all the way off, but protect from the elements.
 
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