What does everyone do for their air compressors outside in the garages during the winter time?

I have a smaller one right now so its not super important to me but now that my garage is finished I will be getting a much bigger and expensive one and I want it to be protected. It will be in the garage but obviously I dont have heat running inside the garage all the time.

So what do you guys do in the winter when your not working in there and it gets down to real low temps, just make sure the tank is always drained and the water is drained out or what?

Thanks

 

Make sure the water is drained out regardless of temperature. I have mine out in my occasionally heated shop with no issues.

 

Same, make sure you drain the condensation after each use and you should be fine. Hell I live in Canada. :-)

 

We have ours in our attached garage that is not heated. Don't do anything different than normal. We drain the water out whenever we remember and check the oil in it.

 

What they said, keep it drained and you'll be ok.

 

I just leave the drain slightly cracked so moisture can get out as it builds up. Can be annoying if you're working right next to it, but you won't forget to do it.

 

You can get an auto drain as well... it'll automatically drain as soon as it passes below a certain pressure in the tank.

 

We had an 80 gal IR blow up last winter at work, serves them right for having the heat set to 35 in the warehouse.

If you don't use the compressor much just don't have it pressurized, or drain the water when your done using it.

 

Holy cow! I hope noone was hurt!

 

My 6hp 60 gallon air compressor is down my basement, bolted to the floor. It is then plumbed in the basement and out to the garage. This way, it never goes through a temperature change, and always starts right up.

My neighbor has a difficult time getting his compressor to start in the winter when the oil is thick. He keeps a light bulb on the crankcase at all times to keep the oil warm. just like a 25 watt nightlight will do it

 

I set a fire under mine and call it a boiler. hahaha JK

Dont do that. But do keep the water drained all the time and you have no issues. all the companies ive worked for have compressors outside. Drain daily and they last forever. Hell the one company had a compressor that was almost 30 years old and still passed the 5 year recert inspection. We have a 15 year old compressor in my moms garage.