(05-08-2014, 08:30 AM)Sunset Machine Wrote: Commercially, a solenoid and timers ("electronic tank-drain") are used to pop off every day. They're a huge improvement over the float and differential pressure types.
Yup. As long as they are working. The last shop I worked in had a sizable rotary screw compressor like this one. Extremely loud and runs non-stop.
It had an electronic drain that was set to pop off every two hours. Problem was the owners were too cheap to keep up on the maintenance of the system. Occasionally the drain would stop operating and we would all start getting a water mist through our air tools. We would complain about it to the management, but of course nothing was ever done about it.
One day the compressor started sounding real funny. The temp gauges were almost pegged. When attaching a blow gun to an air hose to blow off some parts, you would have thought you had grabbed the high-pressure washer by mistake. Not kidding. It would shoot a spray of water out as good as any self-serve car wash.
The compressor finally gave up and quit running. With no air in the shop they HAD to call in a service crew to get it fixed. Besides having to repair the compressor, drain valve system, and the refrigerated drier, they ended up draining 55 gallons of water out of the tank manually. (120 gallon tank.)
Willie