Outside shed for dust collector and air compressor

[Joel Robe]

I am building a lean-to type of shed to place my air compressor and dust collector in with the goal of reducing noise in my shop. I understand I need to keep the vibration down between the lean-to and the shop. Also, I have heard that I may need to keep a window open in the shop. Is that necessary? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[hughie]

Joel I did very much the same and gave it the lofty name of an annex , but by any definition it was a lean to addition. Windows open don't think so, my shed aka shop has no windows only clear roofing panels ok I do have a vent to the roof with a small cabinet fan from an electrical cabinet and quite often the pedestrian entry door is left open as my pets like to wander in and out at times to see what I am up to. All in all it worked well and gave me more space in single car garage sized shop.

 

[Joel Robe]

Thank you. Was the "Annex" attached directly to your shop or did you leave a space between them. I worry that there might be a vibration that increases the noise in the shop if I don't have a slight gap or do something to dampen the sound.

 

[GRJensen]

Is your shop heated/cooled? If so, you'll want to add a return air duct ... otherwise your conditioned air will be drawn out of the shop.

 

[Joel Robe]

Good point. I'll make sure to add a return. Thank you.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Joel, my dust collector system is in my shop but vents to the outside after the separator. Like GR says, it can make a difference in the ability to cool and heat your shop. When I use my AC or heat I pay attention to how long I leave the dust collector running and shut it off when not really needed. I don't have windows but the neg air pressure from the system pulls air in around the overhead garage doors, openings in the ceiling insulation, etc. It can change the temp a lot quicker than you think. That said, I still prefer the outside vent setup since filters often leak and they take up a lot of room.

 

[Joel Robe]

Thanks Randy. I'm looking into what options I have for the return air so I can retain as much of the warm air as I can.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

I am building a lean-to type of shed to place my air compressor and dust collector in with the goal of reducing noise in my shop. I understand I need to keep the vibration down between the lean-to and the shop. Also, I have heard that I may need to keep a window open in the shop. Is that necessary? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

Several years ago, I built an extension to my shop to provide more storage space and to provide noise control for dust collector, air compressor and vacuum pump. To minimize heating/cooling loss, I made iit a closed system. The return path to the main part of the shop consists of an adjustable louver at the bottom of the connecting wall in the noisy side and a vent directly above near the ceiling of the other room. The hollow wall provides a bit of sound muffling.

 

[Richard Coers]

Condensation in the compressor can be a real job when the compressor is located to work in ambient conditions. Get a hot compressor pulling in cool moist air, and you make a ton of water! Does Eugene get freezing weather? Really hard on a compressor to start up when the whole machine has soaked in freezing temps.

 

[Donna Banfield]

When my 2-story barn was built as my studio, we thought it would be a great idea to put all the noisy equipment on the second floor. Note, the second floor was not insulated because it was entirely devoted to wood storage., other than the compressor, sand-blasting cabinet and vacuum pump. In a 10-year period, I burned through three 60-gallon compressors. During the cold months of a New Hampshire winter, there were times when it would not come on. In the hot and humid months of July and August, even with a large fan installed on the end wall with a sensor to turn on 90 degrees, it was too much. After the 3rd compressor motor died, we made the switch to a California Air inside a noise-cancelling cabinet, and in-line air dryers. It's on the first floor, main part of the studio. Not near as noisy as those 60-gallon tanks, but it took up a lot of floor space.

 

[Larry Copas]

Some years ago I moved my compressor outside. It's a 120 gallon 15 HP Champion. I was concerned about cold starts so I called Champion customer service. They told me to switch to synthetic oil and I would not have any problems. I put in synthetic but was still a little worried so I bought one of those magnetic block heaters. I'll plug in the block heater for a little while before starting the compression on those really cold days.....we don't have many of those.

 

[robo hippy]

Joel, didn't notice it was you who posted this originally.... If you build an outdoor shed for your DC and compressor, you will want it insulated, and maybe even a tiny bit of heat, just a light bulb may be enough, at least during the spring and fall. It will need to vent back into the shop so you don't lose all of your warm or cool air. I would put the compressor up on blocks of some sort to make it easier to drain the tank. Bending down isn't as easy as it used to be. Depending on your DC, you may need to filter the air as it comes back into the shop. I would make the return several times larger than the intake.

robo hippy

 

[Joel Robe]

Condensation in the compressor can be a real job when the compressor is located to work in ambient conditions. Get a hot compressor pulling in cool moist air, and you make a ton of water! Does Eugene get freezing weather? Really hard on a compressor to start up when the whole machine has soaked in freezing temps.

Thanks for the information Richard. Eugene does get freezing weather occasionally. I'm looking at options to provide some heat. I will be adding insulation and a small light. If necessary, I could provide additional heat. Definitely a work in progress. Thanks again.

 

[Joel Robe]

Joel, didn't notice it was you who posted this originally.... If you build an outdoor shed for your DC and compressor, you will want it insulated, and maybe even a tiny bit of heat, just a light bulb may be enough, at least during the spring and fall. It will need to vent back into the shop so you don't lose all of your warm or cool air. I would put the compressor up on blocks of some sort to make it easier to drain the tank. Bending down isn't as easy as it used to be. Depending on your DC, you may need to filter the air as it comes back into the shop. I would make the return several times larger than the intake.

robo hippy

Thanks for the idea about putting the compressor on blocks. Yes, the bending down isn't getting any easier. How often do you drain your compressors? I'll look into the large return and insulating it. I will be upgrading my DC as I'm using a smaller Jet right now.

 

[Joel Robe]

Some years ago I moved my compressor outside. It's a 120 gallon 15 HP Champion. I was concerned about cold starts so I called Champion customer service. They told me to switch to synthetic oil and I would not have any problems. I put in synthetic but was still a little worried so I bought one of those magnetic block heaters. I'll plug in the block heater for a little while before starting the compression on those really cold days.....we don't have many of those.

I'd forgotten about a block heater. When I lived in North Dakota they were pretty much required most of the winter. Thanks Larry.

 

[Joel Robe]

When my 2-story barn was built as my studio, we thought it would be a great idea to put all the noisy equipment on the second floor. Note, the second floor was not insulated because it was entirely devoted to wood storage., other than the compressor, sand-blasting cabinet and vacuum pump. In a 10-year period, I burned through three 60-gallon compressors. During the cold months of a New Hampshire winter, there were times when it would not come on. In the hot and humid months of July and August, even with a large fan installed on the end wall with a sensor to turn on 90 degrees, it was too much. After the 3rd compressor motor died, we made the switch to a California Air inside a noise-cancelling cabinet, and in-line air dryers. It's on the first floor, main part of the studio. Not near as noisy as those 60-gallon tanks, but it took up a lot of floor space.

Thanks Donna. Yes, secondary to the noise reduction was the additional floor space I would get. Those California Air compressors are nice. I will see how mine performs over the winter and through next summer. Hopefully, I can adjust the environment so I don't have problems. In the summer it won't be in the sun so I am hoping it stays a little cooler. It should be OK. Emphasis on the should.

 

[Joel Robe]

Several years ago, I built an extension to my shop to provide more storage space and to provide noise control for dust collector, air compressor and vacuum pump. To minimize heating/cooling loss, I made iit a closed system. The return path to the main part of the shop consists of an adjustable louver at the bottom of the connecting wall in the noisy side and a vent directly above near the ceiling of the other room. The hollow wall provides a bit of sound muffling.

Thanks Dennis. What size was the return versus the vent? I will have a 6" insulated wall between my shop and the new shed which should keep noise levels down but I definitely don't want to appreciably lose the heat or cooling in the shop.

 

[Ron Solfest]

Joel, having a return vent (with dust filter) will be important not just for heat loss, but also for air pressure equalization. I worked with someone 30yrs ago that put a DC in another room and found that his shop was so tight he couldn’t open a door with the DC on.

 

[Joel Robe]

Wow. I'll make sure I have a filtered return vent before firing up the DC. And maybe crack a window until I'm sure. Also, keep my remote on the inside of the shop. Thanks.

 

[robo hippy]

Joel, look into Oneida dust collectors. They have the smallest foot prints, and their pleated filters go down to about 0.5 microns. That fine and you would not need to filter the air that comes back into the main shop. You can come look at mine. It is a 3 hp model. The old pleated paper filters filtered down to 5 or so microns. They have come a long way.

robo hippy

 

[Joel Robe]

I had been looking at their new Supercell version. It requires some beefier pipes but it says it can pull from 100 feet which is overkill for my small shop but I was thinking that if it could do 100' that my 50' max of pipe would be easy for it and it has a small footprint.

I'd like to see your setup sometime. Thanks.

 

[Gary Beasley]

I made my tank draining easy by putting an elbow and piping long enough to get a ball valve within easy reach. In your shed you might want to extend a line outside the wall for the outflow.

 

[Joel Robe]

I was thinking that as well. I was also looking at one of an automatic drain system so I can worry less about it. One thing I need to look up is how often draining the compressor is recommended. Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Thanks Dennis. What size was the return versus the vent? I will have a 6" insulated wall between my shop and the new shed which should keep noise levels down but I definitely don't want to appreciably lose the heat or cooling in the shop.

Joel, a few more comments. The connecting vents in each side of the wall are about 12" by 12" and will cause negligible resistance to air flow. The reason for the closeable vent on the noisy side is to is isolate the two areas when desired. If you close this vent and open a window in each area you can sweep any residual dust or vapors to the outside when desired.

 

[Joel Robe]

Thanks Dennis. I appreciate you getting back to me.