I’m on a quest to get stuff off my garage floor. Everything sits on the floor: my table saw, tool boxes, compressors, tables. Every item on the floor makes it harder to clean, and easier for things to get cluttered. I replaced my pancake compressor with a new 20 gallon compressor. It takes up almost exactly the same amount of floor space area.

Note the grass growing through the wall…

Scrap Plywood Brackets

I made a couple of brackets to hang the compressor using the built in handle and then added a girdle around the bottom of the tank to keep the tank vertical. I originally planned to strap the tank into the girdle somehow, but there is no need. Nothing moves around with this setup.

My garage has open walls so I could build brackets that screwed on either side of a stud. They were made from scraps of 3/4 plywood sheeting.

Improved Drain Valve

With the compressor off the floor I gained the space to replace the terrible bleeder valve (you know, the one you are suppose to open every day, but never do because you have to get on the ground and tip the compressor over to reach) with a more accessible ball valve. The piping provides a reservoir for the condensation so it doesn’t sit on the steal tank. It drains down instead. With easier access to the valve I find that I flush the compressor out much more consistently.

The only drawback to this setup is that the built in regulator and pressure gauges are above my head level. I need to add a filter and external regulator on the wall at my hard piping location but that is a future project.

I can actually take this down off the wall pretty easily, even with this drain pipe on the bottom. A scrap piece of 3/4″ plywood on the non-wheel foot adds enough height that the new drain (barely) clears the floor. I don’t plan to take this down often, but I can without to much hassle. Lift up and then set down.