I'm approaching the final stages of building a new garage.
In one corner, I built a small room to house my compressor.
It's a 60-gallon upright made by Campbell-Housefeld.
My primary goal for putting the compressor into a room is to drastically reduce the noise this thing makes.
Right now, the walls are only framed in, and before I finish this room,
I'd like to find out if any of you guys have done this. Also, what did you use
to absorb the sound? Also, how well did it work? Would you do it that way again, or would you use different material?
Finally, like most of us, I'm trying to do this as reasonably priced (cheap) as I can.
Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

I found this some time back.Isnt cheap but might be what your looking for or similar ideas to get started.

http://www.soundprooffoam.com/vinyl_barrier.html

 

Well, I wouldn't completely enclose the compressor in a "small room". You may want to think about putting a small "window" in there and a small fan in that window to keep a flow of cool, fresh air going to the compressor.
To cut the sound, try 6" of fiberglass insulation in the walls of the "room" and instead of using gypsum board (drywall) on the inside, try cementboard. It costs a bit more but will really cut down the sound.

 

You could use dense foam board for insulating the compressor room. But as mentioned, don't enclose the room to the point where it will be difficult to get air into the compressor. Use a vent either at the top or bottom of the interior wall near where the compressor take in air.

Add a length of hose to the tank drain so it will be easier to drain condensate out. You could even remove the factory valve and replace with a 90 degree elbow and use a gate valve located away from the tank wall. A light and a 11ov outlet will help. You might consider wiring in a quick-disconnect box with an indicator light on the outside wall of the room if you plan on shutting off the compressor motor for periods of time it's not in use.

Add a large air line dryer to the main air supply line going outto the garage on the outside wall of the room, Easy to see and an easy reminder to clean it out.

 

A compressor will generate heat. A enclosed room needs ventilation,
probably fan-driven if the compressor duty-cycle is going to be toward
the high side. A squirrel cage blower like for a furnace is more useful
and quieter than something like a bathroom ceiling fan.

When providing ventilation to the room, plan for the vent to have
sufficient interior section to be lined with HVAC insulation and build it
to have a 'Z'-like jog between the inlet and outlet openings. The leg
of the 'Z' does not need to be angled, but I believe the length of the
leg needs to be greater than the width of the openings. In other
words, there should be no way to see through the vent. There should
be provision for a suitably sized furnace filter on the inlet side leading
into the enclosure.

When thinking about how to finish the compressor enclosure, think
about fire safety. Eight years from now, how flammable will it be with
the inevitable accumulation of dust, grease and so on that will occur?

If it isn't too late, arrange wall studs so they are off-set in a left
-right-left-right alignment. This way, whatever surface is mounted to
the interior will not have a direct path (a common stud) to transmit
through to the exterior surface.

In noisy industrial environments, perforated steel, expanded mesh or
some other kind of semi-open surface is used to cover a dampening
material. I'd consider talking to the local fire department about using
peg board over household insulation.

Creating uneven, non-reflecting surfaces is another technique
- selective use of 2x2s and 1x2s might be an inexpensive approach.

Be sure to choose a cored door and provide sealing around all four sides.

Mount the compressor on isolation pads. If someone molds urethane
items in your community, see them about getting rejects that you
might be able to put to good use. I don't think the rubber-cork-rubber
sandwiches are very useful, but they are better than nothing.

If this is for an attached garage, the compressor enclosure should be
along an outboard wall of the garage for further isolation from the
occupants of the home.

As an afterthought, how about mounting your built-in vacuum in the
same room?

Now having said all of the above, I should also mention that in 'Ultimate
Garage Handbook', Richard Newton just builds a carpeted bench over a
compressor.

.

 

I didn't realize I'd get so many replies that would be so useful!

I prolly should've said in my 1st post that the compressor room
(room) has already been wired with an outside switch for the 220v
power supply.
Also, in an effort to minimize dust, dirt, etc..., i have been planning to
make the room fairly airtight and to allow air into the room via an open-element air filter on the outside wall, breathing thru an ample opening.
I must say that I think the Idea to use a properly sized furnace filter might be better.

Recognizing that there will be heat associated with running the compressor, I've been planning to leave the top of the room open all the way up to the 9-foot ceiling. At that point the ceiling board will consist of "fire-code" drywall that's insulated above like the rest of the attic.
The idea of staggering the studs to eliminate the pass thru transmission of sound is a very good idea. I'll try to incorporate both those ideas as permissible.
The door I have is not cored, but I have plans to open up the back side of it to fill it with some type of sound dampening insulation.

As for the condensation drain-line, it's been my plan to extend a line from the bottom of the tank, out thru the wall, and elbow it out to a ball-valve where I can drain it without opening the door.
Thanks again for all the excellent suggestions/help.

 

This will sound real strange but it actualy works well...we built a frame out of 2inch by 4 inch rectangular tubing so that it framed the compresser,then we got 4 springs about three feet long and suspended the compresser off the ground,it is unbelievably quiet.

 

I don't remember the gallons on my compressor, but it's 6' tall and runs on 220v. It sits in the corner of my 36x48 workshop and I don't feel the noise is that objectionable; it's hardly ever running unless I'm using a lot of air (sand blasting, painting, etc).

Why not try it without the walls first. You can always frame it later.

 

Just make sure it's got some air supply. I don't know where you live but around here a lot of people put them outside the garage, under a little roof on the side or rear of the garage. I wouldn't do that in a climate any colder than this one though. (NC) Of course this would also depend on how you feel about security in your area and/or how out of sight it would be. You could also build walls around it out there, too. I'm like you, I hate listening to those things run. Mine's under my house and the garage is only a few feet from the house. It's also a pretty quiet compressor and can barely be heard upstairs when running, unlike the old one I had that shook the house!