Why Does My Air Compressor Have Water In It?

Why Does My Air Compressor Have Water In It?
Why Does My Air Compressor Have Water In It?

Why does my air compressor have water in it?

Water coming out from the air compressor can be an alarming sign. It can pave the way for quite a lot of problems. Your air compressor can be damaged, and even the tools you use are not safe. You might find it challenging to operate the tools if there is water in the air compressor.

What’s causing water to be in the compressor system?

The compressor draws in air from the surroundings. This air is rich in moisture. The compression of this air leads to condensation, thereby creating water. Indeed, a 200CFM compressor can produce as much as 18 gallons of water in a single day.

Once there is water in your air compressor, it might start making noise. It would inadvertently end up damaging your air compressor, and thus, it is crucial that you deal with the problem at the earliest.

What to do?

The first thing that you need to do is drain water from the air compressor. Before you start draining, turn your air compressor off. It is advisable that you unplug it. Reduce the pressure using the safety valve, or else the air can burst out the drain. The valve will be present at the bottom of the tank. You can place something underneath this tank to catch the water.

Now open the valve slowly and let the water drain out. Ensure that even the last drop comes out by tipping the tank at various angles. Once all the water is drained, you can close the valve and continue using the compressor as before.

A lot of people wonder if they can leave the valve open when the compressor is not in use so that water does not collect. While this might sound like a good idea, the problem is that leaving the valve open would pave the risk for insects and dirt to come into the air compressor. Therefore, it would be better if you drain the air compressor before using it each time.

In case the drain is located in such a position that you cannot access easily, you can use drain extension kits to get the job done.

If you do not want to handle the draining manually, you can also use automatic tank drains to make things easier. In this case, all that you need to do is hook up to the air compressor, draining the tank after a trigger.

Automatic drains save you a lot of time and also make sure that your compressor lasts for a long time. This is because automatic drains ensure that the water does not build up in the tank, and therefore, rusting does not occur.

Final words

Everyone would want to make sure that their air compressors last for a long time. There are some preventative measures that you can take to protect your compressor. You can use an air filter to filter out the water ensuring that the water does not come in contact with the tools

A refrigerated air dryer can also make things easier as the air would be thoroughly dry before it enters your compressor.

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