AIR compressor ??

[NewEnglandRaceFan]

Well last spring I moved my 60 gallon compressor into it's own little shed.... so the noise is less inside the garage.. but because it's not a heated space.. at what temp should I pre heat the compressor pump.. or is this even an issue?? I'd just thing the -20 temps and it being splashed oiled, the fridged cold would make the oil less likely to "splash" . am I over thinking this? if it's an issue would a truck oil pan heater work.(pad like thing that gets put on bottom of pan) I have a small electric heater that I could put out there and put on a switch, to heat the pump up some before I turn it on.. and then kill the heater..
hope to bump out side wall of garage in summer so this won't be as much of an issue.. but I'd like not to kill the compressor in the mean time..

[silver_bullet]

sounds like a good idea... maybe heat the bottom of the tank, so you can get the condensate out...

[SuperBuickGuy]

change the oil to one more likely to flow at low temps? once the machine gets going, there's plenty of heat from friction to keep it warm

[Hemi Joel]

Usually, compressors use a straight 20 weight oil. You are correct, you can't rely on splash at those temps, the oil will be too thick. I would use the truck pan heater. You could hook it up to a thermostat that senses the block temp, so it only heats when the block temp is below 40 degrees.

[68 Valiant]

I use a heat lamp or halogen light to pre-heat

[SuperBuickGuy]

in our pump house, we use a 100w light to keep the temps just high enough to prevent freezing (it works, too)

[Deaf Bob]

in our pump house, we use a 100w light to keep the temps just high enough to prevent freezing (it works, too)

As do I... Mine is hooked to a thermostat.. Comes on below 40.. Hard to set the house type thermostat to temps under 50..
The new regulations where 100 watt bulbs will not be made anymor has me buying a few boxes of 4 every month..

[Beagle]

huh. I never thought about it. It gets down in the teens and lower here a lot and I never thought to turn off my compressor... it gets pretty warm all by itself when you turn it on, empty tank won't put a lot of load on it at startup? 100w is nothing really, at least compared to the 2000 or so it takes on startup. If the doghouse is vented like I expect it is, how much heat is gonna actually stay with it from a 100w bulb?

[milner351]

I use amzoil full synthetic compressor oil, and in temps like we have now - I just don't turn it on!

[TheSilverBuick]

I just got a compressor and find this discussion interesting as it gets pretty cold in Ely too. I got it in CA so it probably is worth changing the oil out of the compressor when I get home.