Waiting on my first Altmill to arrive, yeah! I will have an ATC and I don’t see much detail around the filter regulator’s auto-drain behavior in the documentation—other than:
“The unit will drip water, so do not mount it above electronics or wiring.”
There are air compressors that auto drain the tank condensate with a configurable timer, i.e. for 3 secs every 2 minutes
Is the optional Sienci filter regulator doing a controlled purge like those types of air compressors (a brief blast), or is it more of a slow drip?
Is the regulator drain behavior configurable/adjustable in any way?
Do others find it appropriate to pipe the regulator drain output to a catch area?
I don’t normally use pneumatic tools, so my present (cheap) compressor has only seen the occasional car/truck tire. I’m in central Texas and it’s hot this time of year with moderate humidity.
With the new ATC coming, I feel the need to consider a proper compressor with a dryer. Perhaps my cheap compressor needs to stick to car/truck tires…
If I get a dedicated compressor for long-term use by the ATC, is there justification to add an auto-drain option to the compressor, or is this just unjustified gold-plating?
The following is my opinion and is not related to an ATC but rather is based on many years of having a compressed air system in the house.
An ATC uses a minute amount of compressed air. The chances of it requiring any sort of automatic drain is exceedingly slim. Maybe if you are in an environment that has frequent 100% humidity events. …
I have an average of maybe 60% relative humidity and have very little issues with water. I have used a moisture trap when I was using a sandblaster (pretty much mandatory) and I would use a trap if I were to use compressed air for spraying a lot of paint. In regard to the ATC, a filter and condensation trap is a good idea because you don’t want to risk damaging an expensive peace of equipment but most certainly you do not need any kind of automatic moisture drain.
I have a regulator/filter/moisture trap in my shop. Draining the moisture trap happens once in a blue moon by just pressing the release on the bottom of the catch bowl. I have yet to see any significant amount of water and, if it should happen, it’s easy enough to stick a small container underneath the bowl when you drain.
A moisture trap will not do a ‘slow drip’. You get a small burst of water and air when the moisture is drained either automatically or manually.
While I do not know what the ATC filter is like, the chances of it being anything automatic are pretty much zero.
As air is compressed, it gets hot and can hold more moisture. As the air cools, that moisture condenses (usually against the accumulator tank wall) and flows to the bottom of the tank where it sits. Depending on how much air you use and how humid the conditions are, you need to drain that water on occasion. If you do not use a lot of air, the air exiting the accumulator tank will be at ambient temperature and will not hold excessive moisture and none will be caught by a standard passive water trap (it only catches liquid water). There are many circumstances where water drops out of the air but they all involve a high air flow that you will not encounter for an ATC.
To sum it up - you will not need an automatic drain, you will not need a catch area (use a simple bowl when you manually drain) and lastly, you are overthinking the entire thing unless you are running a commercial operation. You can always add additional water removal methods if you find you really need to.
@fibers 100% agree with @Jens . I too have a lot of experience with compressor usage and have rarely had to drain the moisture trap. I do purge the compressor tank from time to time and a bit of rusty water does come out of that. But it’s all manageable with a small container.
I’d definitely be more careful if I was spraying an oil-based paint or other fluid incompatible with water.