Easy access air drain on compressor

[Sgbarker]

Nice job on the auto drain. I’ve used many of them in the field over the years and found that they tend to get gummy and sticky and leak. I end up having to take them apart and clean them and sometimes even have to replace them. I hope yours holds out for a really along time!

[blkadder]

I worked at a Dodge dealership back in the late 80's as a mechanic. When I started working there I noticed that my air tools would be spitting water all the time and I figured it was just time to empty the compressor. I was rather dismayed to find out that the drain had broken a number of years ago, and the shop decided to do nothing about it. Well, I spent good money on my tools, so I thought I would repair the drain valve, using some parts and pieces from our parts bins. When we got the old valve out we found that the compressor must have been half full of water, rust and general nastiness. It took about an hour for it to finally drain out. After that, we decided to have a schedule for the last guy out to drain the compressor. After that things worked so much better.

[RetiredFAE]

Home depot carries an 18 inch long braided stainless steel hose, with the 90 degree elbow on the end, and the valve on the outboard end of the hose, for $18.
Being lazy, I went that route, but replaced the valve on the end of hose with a 90 degree ball valve, easier for my old arthritic hands to operate that way.
Just checked, over the years the hose kit has gone up in price, now $25.98.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Ex...023H/205183928

[BuffaloJohn]

They all look the same in the pictures, here is the cheapest I found:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QQL2BPY

$4.99 prime

[NeiljohnUK]

One of the main causes for compressor tanks going bad is the drains are so inaccessible most folks don't drain theirs regularly

Even when accessible a lot of people just don't bother, in Academia CBA is all too common. We made a frame to tumble small lab 'silent' compressor tanks with s/s nuts as the cleaning medium to remove surface rust before treating and pressure (hydraulic) testing them. One was so full the compressor hydrolocked, even though the lab SOP specified the 1/4 turn valve should be opened and the tank drained daily.

Our main system compressor receiver, 9 feet long and 6 feet diameter has electric solenoid vales triggered by an internal float switch in the valves housing, as does every other drain from the compressor, the air passes through a drier so or dew point is ~-30°C as a lot of the kit it's used in/for is very moisture sensitive.