Wasted $350 on a cheap auto-drain valve, here's the warning

I picked up one of those no-name auto-drain valves off Amazon for my compressor setup. Figured it would save me time not having to drain the tank manually after every shift. Lasted about three weeks before it started leaking air nonstop. I came out to the shop one morning and the compressor was cycling every 2 minutes because the valve just gave out. Took me an hour to find the leak because it was a slow drip inside the drip leg. Ended up replacing it with a Drain-All brand unit that cost twice as much but at least it's built right. Anyone else get burned by cheap automatic drains on their air system?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jake3d ago

Man, I feel your pain. I tried one of those cheapies from a no-name brand and it dumped all the air out of my tank overnight, compressor ran for like 4 hours straight before I realized what happened. Switched to a better brand too and learned the hard way that saving money on air system parts just costs you more in downtime and frustration.

dakota4153d ago

Learned the hard way that saving money on air system parts just costs you more" - that's pretty much the story of my life with anything mechanical lately. It's like the same pattern with tools, tires, lawn equipment, you name it. Buy the cheap version once, it breaks, then you buy the decent one anyway and end up paying double. I've been doing this long enough now that I just skip straight to the middle grade stuff and save the headache.

fiona_west213d ago

I saw an article once from a shop that works on commercial trucks and they said half their repairs come from people using those no-name fittings and couplers. They said the tolerances are all over the place and the o-rings are usually the wrong material. It stuck with me because they broke down the cost of a cheap coupler failure versus buying a Milton or something similar from the start. The math was pretty clear, like an extra 10 bucks upfront saves you a whole Saturday and a service call.