External Air Tap

They handle the temperatures easily, but not so much the freezing rain and ice. I'd put a cover over it, or at least a plastic bag in winter. .

A couple of my fellow contractors that have larger shops have air connects outside. They shoot them with light oil every once in a while, and that's it. Since we rarely get ice/snow down here, they don't do anything else. When a coupler gets messed up or leaks, they just take off the old one and spin on a new one.

Pretty damn convenient.

Robert

An old tennis ball with an "X" cut into it, slipped over the connector, works for me.

Mine are under a shed, but I use a plastic cap on them to prevent those little wasps from building a nest and plugging the hole up.

Two: clean air and oiled air. There's a water trap, regulator and lubricator just on the inside of the wall. I don't fancy leaving those outdoors. Distribution air is about 120psi, dropped to 90psi at the taps. As tyres are a major need outdoors, I wanted clean air. If I was fitting a regulator, then I might as well add a lubricator. If you route the distribution high up and then drop it down to your service taps, you can take condensate out on the same water trap, without having to add extra traps just as line traps.

I don't do anything about weather, but then I don't have US winters. Bag (old bubblewrap Jiffy bag) over them in the winter, same as the water taps, and a bit of oil seasonally.

A friend keeps two different sets of quick-connects on all of his tools - one sort for oiled, one for clean. Not a bad idea.

Andy Dingley wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@z8g2000yqz.googlegroups.com:

Adding the water/particle traps is a good idea. That would simply need to be a capped pipe with a T located several inches above it for service, right? Remove the cap and everything falls away.

I was wondering about the air pressure. Inevitably, the air would get used for tires and pool toys. 90 psi just seems to be too much pressure to use while filling pool toys. Guess I should put a regulator out there as well.

I'll have to look around the stores and see if they have anything like a box with a lift hood. Simple enough, lift the hood and the air connection is there as well as the regulator and gauge.

Puckdropper

Puckdropper wrote: ...

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That works but requires the trouble of a wrench which means it doesn't get emptied until it's full... :( ( :) ) Whether that's a problem depends largely on how much air is used and what kinds of humidity problems one has in the intake air--here where it's fairly dry it's not such a big deal; in TN during warm weather it was an amazing amount of water even w/ a small compressor.

In lines used much I generally go ahead and add the ball valve--adds some cost but generally there aren't many locations needed.

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I have done that. On inside wall put shut off valve and then a regulator. Quick disconnect on outside. Plastic cap on disconnect. Been OK for ten years. WW

Years ago I picked up a combination regulator/moisture trap at Sears similar to:

No, a proper trap. I can buy these in my local grocery store (yes, Lidl) as a pack with water, oil, regulator for under =A320 At that price it's just crazy not to.

Also capped Ts are condensate traps for pipe runs, but they're no use for pulling water out of damp air while a tool is running.

My tyre inflator has a crude fixed regulator (or at least a restrictor) in it anyway. It's happy to be fed 90psi, same as most things.

I realized I use the outlet just inside the garage door for the air compressor more than anything else. If I had a external air connection, I wouldn't want an external outlet there as badly. Has anyone done this? I've noticed gas stations usually use a metal box to protect their connectors. Would this be necessary, or are there quick connectors that can handle being outside in -10 to 105F temperatures and direct sunlight?

Puckdropper

Any brass connector should be fine. Pay for a good one, the ones from Harbor Fright tend to leak and bleed off the pressure.

However if you don't use it often you may still want the box--it keeps the bugs out--both wasps and spiders like to build nests in airline fittings.

I have one at rear of house. Direct sun (south side) I put a cap over to keep out bugs. Also a shut off on inside and a pressure regulator. Has been there over 10 years. ww

I have 2 for past 10 years. Found a plastic cap that came on a Forstner bit that fits well and keeps out the little mud daubers that build in small holes.

An old tennis ball with an "X" cut into it and slipped over the connector works well also.