Making the air compressor easier to drain

[Michael Cole]

I have a Dewalt 15 gallon air compressor. The drain valve is under the tank and a bear to reach. You have to tilt the tank over to reach it or get down on the floor and reach under. What pieces would I need to make it easy to reach?

[Ole Anderson]

A street ell. a short nipple and a ball valve

[Marty Tippin]

A kit is available at Lowes http://www.lowes.com/pd_150643-1126-PA300500AV_0__?productId=3736409 - works fine on my 60-gal compressor.

[Mike Henderson]

A street ell. a short nipple and a ball valve

That's what I did. Just have to remember to drain it every now and again.

Mike

[Steve Kohn]

A street ell. a short nipple and a ball valve

I made the nipple long enough that the ball valve handle is easy to open and close with the toe of my shoe. It is so easy to drain the tank I do it almost every time I run the compressor.

[bob ware]

I ran a piece of tubing up to the top of the compressor where I mounted the valve. No bending/kicking/etc. I also keep a plastic jug nearby to drain the water into.

[Bruce Page]

Another option is an automatic drain valve - ADV. I added one to my new (in 2005) IR compressor. It has been going strong for almost 11 years. I bought it off of eBay for ~ $60 IIRC. I keep it turned off unless I'm working in the shop and using air. When turned on I have it set to cycle every 45 minutes. It's dry here in NM and I have never needed to drain the yellow catch can. That might be a different story in a high humidity environment.

[Sid Matheny]

I have a hose and a valve about waist high then a hose leading to the outside of the shop. Sure makes it a lot easier.

[Chris Merriam]

Harbor freight sells a little $10 automatic drain kit. It spits out each time you trigger air from your tool. Only downside is it comes with cheap nylon tubing that will likely burst when it gets warmed up. I replaced it with some brass tubing and fittings. All in, about $30.

[Jim Becker]

These are usually standard 1/4" NPT so yes, you can easily extend them out and put a ball valve on for convenience in quickly blowing out any condensation without fully draining the air.

I will say that I absolutely love the automatic drain valve I have on my big compressor. It deals with this with no intervention on my part and the tank is always dry. But that's not usually practical for a small system. For that...just make it easier to do manually.