Do You Leave Your Air Compressor On?

[George Clark]

I think those who close a ball valve at the tank that isolates the compressor and tank from the rest of the air plumbing have taken care 99+% of the potential problems. I do this and shut the power off to the compressor because its easy to do on my compressor. It has on on/off switch on the box that houses the magnetic switch. I guess it's sort of like wearing belt and suspenders.

George

[Curt Harms]

My compressor is on a 24-hour mechanical timer...it is basically on 12 hours and off for the other 12. I hate it when it kicks on at 2 am and I have to change undies....

Or worse yet, kicks on at 2 a.m. and wakes SWMBO, leaving her in a foul mood.

[Callan Campbell]

I have a large vertical tank compressor which I leave on all the time ... But, I always shut the air off at the tank so there is no pressure in the feed lines. I have done this for about 20 or so years without any problems what so ever. To my knowledge there are no plastic parts that could fail ... however, since I cannot spend the time in the shop I once did, I think I will change my methods and start killing the power to compressor motor! This means that I will be pulling the disconect to shut it off. Funny ... this unit was wired per the Compressor Mfg. and the codes at the time ... maybe me and thousands more were just Lucky, Hmmmmm!
Leo

I hear what you're saying. I do Both at my house, shut off the power, and always turn the 3/4" ball valve off, isolating the tank from the lines since I know I have a tiny leak all the way out in my garage[the seperate garage is plumbed underground from my basement shop]. At where I work however, just shutting the outlet valves at the 2 tanks would have prevented losing all that air over the weekend from the plastic bowl failure of the air filter. No one does it, however.........

[Rob Damon]

Just thinking. The commercial air compressors in large shops generally have motors that are rated for continous duty, so if it did spring a leak and run continously, it would be no big deal.

I believe the 7-1/2hp motor on mine is also rated for continous duty, so in theory, I could just leave it on and the system open, but I don't.

Rob

[Thomas Bank]

The other thing for me is that it may be a week or more before I use air the next time. So turning off power makes sense. If I had a business use and was using it daily I'd likely leave it on - perhaps shutting it off over the weekends.

[Callan Campbell]

Just thinking. The commercial air compressors in large shops generally have motors that are rated for continous duty, so if it did spring a leak and run continously, it would be no big deal.

I believe the 7-1/2hp motor on mine is also rated for continous duty, so in theory, I could just leave it on and the system open, but I don't.

Rob

Not quite, most air pumps that are running on conventional oil as their lube are rated LESS than continous, 80/20 duty cycle being a norm. You really don't want to find out the hard way if the pump side can handle a wide open load from a blown part by running all night with no one to shut off the system if needed. Hard on the motor, hard on the pump/compressor, and of course really hard on the wallet if either or both suffer damage as a result. The newer assemblies for a commercial setting might brag about using synthetic oil for a continous duty cycle, but there are lots of older compressors running that haven't been built, or upgraded to meet this claim.

[Dan Andrews]

I never leave my compressors on on purpose. However I have a tendancy to forget by the end of the day that I had turned mine on earlier. When I started reading this thread, it reminded me that I had left mine on today, and I went out and shut it off. I need to wire a small red light to be on whenever either of my 2 compressors are on.

[Rob Lindquist]

I wired in a solenoid to shut the supply from the tank when the power was turned of, so the air doesn't leak out while it is off. Then when I come back and turn it on it is always full and not leaked down from leaving a slightly leaky air nozzle or other tool plugged into the air.

I almost lost a shop I was renting when a head gasket blew on the pump, and it ran until everything melted down. Arrived just in time to put out the fire that must have just started. Now power goes off every time.

[Steve Kohn]

I installed a contactor on my compressor. The coil is wired thru the light switch for the shop. Compressor can't run unless I'm working in the shop with the lights on.

Perry

I use a similiar approach. I have a relay in line with the dedicated 220V circuit for the compressor. The relay is only activated when the lights are on. Since I always shut off the lights when I leave the shop, the compressor can't turn on.

Of course when I turn on the lights and the compressor starts it scares the heck out of me.

[Chris Padilla]

Looks like I'll be adding to my own list (not LOMLs):

Wire in a light switch for the compressor to make turning it off easier (my compressor is mounted up near the ceiling )

Put in a ball valve to kill the pressure in the lines and isolate the compressor from them.

Oh, and LOML Is a HEAVY sleeper...I'm the light one.

[Erik Christensen]

i have my 220v/2 stage unit on a solenoid with the solenoid powered by a switch in the same dual box as my shop lights. If I don't need air I leave it off but when leaving the shop I always hit both switches down on my way out the door.

[Chuck Gallup]

I installed a contactor on my compressor. The coil is wired thru the light switch for the shop. Compressor can't run unless I'm working in the shop with the lights on.

Perry

Most excellent tip!

[Perry Holbrook]

Actually, in addition to the contactor, I installed a solenoid operated valve in the compressor outlet as well. Double protection. My compressor is installed outside and not all that easy to get to, if there were a problem I wouldn't necessarily notice so I took extra precaution.

Perry

[Josiah Bartlett]

I have a compressor rated for continuous duty (Quincy QR-25 series), so I'm not worried about overheating, but I do disconnect the motor, shut the ball valve off to the tank, and burp the tank drain to clear out condensate. I don't ever blow the tank down, though, unless I'm going to work on the piping. My compressor has an oil pressure unloader for in case the lubrication fails, and I have a breaker on the motor rated to shut it down if the motor locks up.

[Jim Davenport]

Being old, and somewhat forgetful.
I try to make things simple. I have a two stage IR verticle.
Every day when I finish in the shop, I drain the tank, close the ball valve, shut off the pressure switch, and unplug the unit.
The tank holds pressure for weeks, So when I work in the shop, there's no wait for the presssure to build.