Air compressors and fire codes

[Salishseaorganicliqueurs]

Anyone ran into any IFC requirements or issues as far as using a small air compressor in your space? We are looking at using one with a small sparser to clear our bottles before filling and wanted to know if there was any issues before our fire marshal raised them?

[Sorghumrunner]

There are generally some requirements for inspection of compressed air tanks above a certain volume (5 gallons?), but they are straightforward, proper pressure relief valve... This is usually inspected by the state boiler inspector, in NC that is in the department of labor.

Only thing I can think the fire marshall would be concerned about would be having an electric motor in a classified area. We have our air compressor in a separate room and pipe the air in to the classified areas.

[HedgeBird]

I have a large air compressor and it had to be inspected by state Labor and Industry; same guy that inspected my steam boiler. They required me to bolt it to the floor and add vibration pads. They also required specific clearances for front/back/sides, etc. I did not have enough space where it was located to meet the minimum clearances but was able to apply for a variance. Inspector said mine was only subject to inspection as it was not small/portable but he did not elaborate on what the size limit is...

[Salishseaorganicliqueurs]

The one we are looking at is really small. only 6.3 gallons. Do you think this would be big enough? We'd only ever be bottling around 100 cases in a day at our full production.

http://www.amazon.com/California-Air-Tools-CAT-6310-6-3-Gallon/dp/B00889ZYPQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1396178327&sr=1-5&keywords=oil+free+air+compressor

[Sorghumrunner]

Not sure what you are using it for, just the bottler? You should be able to look up air consumption rates for the equipment, and compare that to what the air compressor can provide. A small portable compressor would not be sufficient for most air pumps, it'll run constantly and you'll wear out the motor.

[Salishseaorganicliqueurs]

Sorghumrunner,

We would be using the air compressor to power our bottle sparger in order to clean our bottles out before bottling. We'd only really need a second our two per bottle and wouldn't be doing more than 100 cases over the course of a day so I figured I wouldn't need a much bigger one. Do you think we will need a bigger one? I'm just concerned about triggering a mountain slide of regulations by getting a bigger one.

Bottle Sparger

http://morewinemaking.com/products/clampon-double-bottle-sparger.html

Air Compressor

http://www.amazon.com/California-Air-Tools-CAT-6310-6-3-Gallon/dp/B00889ZYPQ/ref=sr_1_5?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1396178327&sr=1-5&keywords=oil+free+air+compressor

[Sorghumrunner]

oh yeah, you should be fine with a small compressor on that sparger. it's air pumps and agitators that can use up a lot of cfm, requiring a bigger tank and pump that can handle longer duty cycles.

you will want to put a good filter and regulator before the sparger, you don't want to blow water or odor into your bottles. you can find a selection of filters and air equipment on mcmaster-carr.

[daveflintstone]

You can successfully use a much smaller one for air sparging, in fact the smallest oil-free one you can find at HD or Lowes will suffice. As mentioned, the important thing is to filter the air before it enters the bottle.

[Salishseaorganicliqueurs]

so like 1 or 2 gallons? even if I'm sparging 100 cases of bottles in a day?

[Natrat]

Sam, why don't you use compressed CO2, instead? It's cleaner, quieter...might even be cheaper. I used to sparge bottles with a 20 lb tank, and one tank lasted about 12 bottling runs, with 2088 bottles on each run. I'll also point out that I had better luck with this running the CO2 under 10 psi, instead of 30-45 as is recommended by the equipment manufacturers (I had an Enolta Mapan sparger)