Pancake compressor under pressure

[Mark J]

So I have this new pancake compressor that I've now used for the first time.  Having pumped it up to pressure it seems a shame to empty out the air only to have to fill it again next use.  But I probably won't use it again for several days or a couple of weeks.  And then there's emptying the condensate.

So do you leave your small compressors under pressure between uses?

What do you do about the water?

Do you use your compressor frequently?

[pkinneb]

Not my pancake compressor but I do leave my big one on all the time.

[Mark J]

5 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

Not my pancake compressor but I do leave my big one on all the time.

So you empty the pancake?

[pkinneb]

Just now, Mark J said:

So you empty the pancake?

No just unplug it.

[thatCharlieDude]

I empty mine and open up the condensation value between uses but I only use mine once a month or so. 

[Mark J]

While waiting to decide whether or not to empty it, I made a little house for my pancake.

Probably does little or nothing to really dampen the sound, but I have a stack of these foam mats I'm not presently using.

[Tom King]

I've never relieved the pressure on any of my compressors.  On any that there is room for, I changed the drain valve to a ball valve.

[Just Bob]

I leave both of my compressors pressurized, twice a year I open the drain valve to drain any collected water.  

[wdwerker]

I just flip the lever/switch off. I used to leave the hose hooked up overnight until a hose blew one night , the compressor ran all night and was scorching hot when I got in the next morning. It cooked the cylinder head. This would have destroyed a pancake compressor but a new head made my 6 hp 50 gallon compressor good as new.  If you drain the tank after a period of use you will figure out how often it is necessary. My little pancake that I use for running the micropin gun and blowing dust off might get drained every 2 weeks, but it gets run daily. There might be a couple tablespoons of water.  I have never drained the air pressure on a tank in 40 +years.

[pkinneb]

3 minutes ago, wdwerker said:

...I used to leave the hose hooked up overnight until a hose blew one night , the compressor ran all night and was scorching hot when I got in the next morning. It cooked the cylinder head...

 Note to self shut the main valve off at night.

[Tom King]

My switch for a stationary compressor is the breaker.  I put the breaker box right next to the exit door.   If it's a shop with no electric heat, I just flip the main breaker to turn everything off when I leave, and one switch to turn everything on when I return.  If the compressor turns on first thing, I know there is a leak somewhere.

I also put large gauges on the big compressors, so I can see them from all the way across a shop, or from the outside of the shed that one is in.

[wdwerker]

Pop the hose off and flip the switch on the compressor is all I ever do.

[Chestnut]

I always drain mine but that's because i never have it set up. I only get lquid out of the tank when i run it in the spring or summer basically when ever it's humid. In the winter it stays dry as a popcorn fart.

[Mark J]

I closed the regulator valve and let the pressure out of the hose.  

[Steve B Anderson]

I leave mine pressurized, just hit the off button when finished. I use mine just about every day and living in the South I have to drain the tanks at least once a week. If it was going to be unused for an extended period of time I would open the drain valves and depressurize.

(Depressurize) Is that even a word

[mat60]

Just turn if off and that's it. In the summer I drain the tank  or depressurize as @Steve B Anderson says. 

[hlogan]

I live in Canada and leave my compressor full until it eventually loses pressure in between uses. I drain it 3 or 4 times a year

[wtnhighlander]

I empty my pancake between uses. It almost always spits out a teaspoon or so of water.

[Woodenskye]

I release the pressure, but mine gets infrequent use, so I figure no use having it pressurized.  I also take off the hose. 

[Tom King]

Those little drains that come on them are useless after a few years.  Once you get a little rust in the tank, it doesn't take much of an accumulation to clog up the little opening to the point that it will only drip.  Changing to a ball valve gives a larger opening, and also a much easier, and quicker to operate valve. 

On my compressors that have the threaded insert too close to the floor for a ball valve to screw right into the tank, I used a galvanized street elbow.  Even with the ball valve horizontal, it still flows much more freely than the little butterfly handled valve. 

I use earplugs, and open the valve while the tank is under pressure.  It blows the water right out, but also saturated with enough rust that it will stain anything, so blow it into something that it doesn't matter-like a scrap cardboard box, or on the ground outside.

[pkinneb]

40 minutes ago, Tom King said:

...Changing to a ball valve gives a larger opening, and also a much easier, and quicker to operate valve. 

On my compressors that have the threaded insert too close to the floor for a ball valve to screw right into the tank, I used a galvanized street elbow.  Even with the ball valve horizontal, it still flows much more freely than the little butterfly handled valve...

I'm going to put this modification on my list. You're right that little butterfly thing is about useless.

[Tom King]

My current favorite thread sealer is the thick, gray stuff.   I don't remember the name.  I've probably used everything there is, at one time or another.  Back when the only kind of teflon tape I could get was the thin, white type, I had to use pipe dope on the threads, and the tape in between, before I ever fixed all the leaks on my 3hp 2 stage compressor.  The gray tape is holding fine on the 10hp 2 stage.

 The setting sealant holds wonderfully, but I kind of hate to use that for something that might need to come apart in the future.  You can get the joint apart, but it's extra work to clean off.

[Mark J]

9 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

I'm going to put this modification on my list. You're right that little butterfly thing is about useless.

Thing I wish is that they had put the outlet at the actual bottom of the tank and the valve in the front so that draining it was actually easy to do.  I'll take a look at the valve and see how I might swap it out.  Maybe some tubing to bring it to the front.

[wdwerker]

I also added a ball valve to my big compressor. The drain was dead center on the bottom of a tall tank. I added an elbow & section of pipe to put the ball valve out where I could reach it. The oil, water & rust mixture is messy so I added a barbed fitting and a few inches of hose past the ball valve to make it easy to aim into a container.

Those butterfly valves are a pain. I guess I should replace the dam thing on my little compressor.

[Tom King]

For those that might not know what a ball valve is, Google "ball valve picture".  They work with a quarter turn of the handle.