Air Compressor/ Shop Vac in attic

[Jeff Dill]

I have a shop in a small two car garage, since space is a premium I was thinking about putting my air compressor in my shop vac in the attic space above my garage and running the air hose/shop vac hose down through the ceiling. Has anyone done this or know I a reason I shouldn’t do this?

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I think it could be OK if done with care. I have thought that dust collection in the craw space under the floor could be helpful. An engineer pointed out possible fire hazards. Attics tend to get hot. Equipment overhead will be noisy. Getting bulky equipment out of the workspace certainly has appeal.

[Steve Jenkins]

If you do this I’d run a hose from the Compressor drain with a valve on the end so you can drain the moisture from the tank.

[Tom Bender]

Trusses have limited load capacity. How heavy is your compressor? You may want to spread the weight over more than two trusses or better yet transfer some of the load to a wall, which has more capacity. But don't put any significant side load on a wall, especially a gable end.

It may be best to keep your dust bin on the floor. It could get heavy and emptying it from a ladder could be awkward. If you do empty it from a ladder please get video every time. We might enjoy the event.

[Jim Becker]

Putting the compressor out of the way like that isn't a horrible thing as long as you can service it, such as draining moisture as has been mentioned, and as long as you provide for remote on/off for the power. The shop vac can be less convenience in this kind of arrangement because it makes it harder to service and these machines don't work their best with really long hoses. I helped a friend install her cyclone in the upstairs of her shop, but it was a real upstairs and the collection bin under the cyclone remained on the ground floor. But that's a whole different animal than a shop vac.

[Andrew More]

I've got a similar setup for my table saw and sanding dust collection. Haven't had to empty it yet, because both operations don't generate lots of dust for a hobby woodworker. I think I originally put the shopvac up during the last black Friday sale. During that time I removed a couple of inches of dust after a couple of months, and then again just a week or so ago because I had to move it to install insulation. I also added a switched outlet so that I could turn it on and off.

Honestly, I think it's a great idea for a shop vac that you don't empty much, probably not as good for a very heavy air compressor. Something like that is better off in a shed outside the shop with a dust collector.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Can you build a hanging platform in the shop to support them instead? Attach one side to wall, and support other edge from trusses.

[Doug Garson]

Depending on where you are, an attic can get very hot or very cold depending on the season. Air compressors don't perform well in very hot or cold air. Hot air is less dense and compressor capacity is reduced, cold air is more dense and theoretically at least, can overload compressor motor. You could build an insulated enclosure over the air compressor with openings in the shop ceiling so it operates closer to shop temperature.

I overlooked the obvious problem with very cold operating conditions, freezing. While this article may be for industrial air compressors, some of it would still apply to a shop air compressor. https://fluidairedynamics.com/how-to...air-equipment/

[Leigh Betsch]

I have my air compressor, my dust collector, my phase converter, wood and general storage all in my attic. But my roof (not the ceiling) is insulated and the attic is heated and cooled. It’s really just a second floor to my shop. All these decisions were made in the shop design phase including live load considerations, not as an afterthought to a garage. But if you can overcome the limitations there will be huge benefits to space, noise, cleanliness and overall comfort in your shop.

[George Yetka]

With an autodrain compressor in the attic would be fine. I have my dust collector up there but the bottom of my dust seperator drops down to a can in the garage

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Leigh Betsch has approached his attic as a mechanical room. The Architect and Engineer that designed the factory told us that the crawlspace would have to meet the requirements for a mechanical room if we wanted any equipment down there. We were restricted by county codes, town codes, and an insurance company.