Includes:
- Stainless Steel 3/8" Solenoid Valve
- Push Button
- 1x 1/4" NPT x 3/8" PTC Elbow Fitting
- 1x 3/8" NPT x 3/8" PTC Fitting
- 3/8" x 1/4" Reducer Bushing
- 10 Feet of 3/8" air line
- 20 Feet of 18ga Wire
- Necessary wiring & terminal connectors
INSTALLING THE ELECTRIC DRAIN VALVE KIT
Getting Started
The electric drain valve kit will allow you to drain the moisture from your tank with the push of a button from inside the cab of your vehicle.
Start by locating our solenoid valve within the kit.
This valve will need to be installed close enough to the air tank so that you can run the air line to it from the drain port on the tank itself. The moisture will dump from the outlet side of this valve so you may want to point it down to the ground so that it isn't spraying towards the vehicle.
At this point, you can go ahead and locate the 1/4" NPT x 3/8" PTC elbow fitting. It should look like the image below:
This fitting MUST be plumbed into the bottom-most port on the tank. This is not always the port in between the legs of the tank. If you mount the tank sideways, this fitting would be plumbed into one of the ports facing down to the ground. This is essential for this kit to work, as gravity will pull the water to the bottom of the tank over time. If this fitting is mounted on the side of the tank, no water will come out when you press the button.
Plumbing
Now that you have the tank portion of this install taken care of, let's move onto the valve. You can now plumb the supplied 3/8" NPT x 3/8" PTC fitting into the inlet portion of the valve. This is important because the valve is directional. If you plumb the inlet fitting to the wrong side, the valve will not hold pressure and your tank will leak constantly. The inlet side of the valve can be found by looking at the valve itself. Cast onto the valve is an arrow. The air flow needs to go in the direction that the arrow points. The image below shows where you can usually find the arrow on these valves:
In this image, the arrow points towards the outlet on the valve. The arrow ALWAYS points towards the outlet on the valve. Take the 3/8" NPT x 3/8" PTC fitting and plumb it into the side of the valve that faces away from the arrow. From here, you may run the suppled 3/8" air line out to the valve from the fitting on the tank. Simply press the line into each fitting on the tank and the valve.
Finishing Up
Now that the valve is in place and the line has been plumbed to it from the tank, you can use the supplied 3/8" NPT x 1/4" FNPT reducer bushing into the outlet portion of the valve. This will slow down the flow of air out of the valve so that you don't lose all of your air in the tank. At this point, you are done plumbing our drain valve kit, and the valve will need to be wired to our push-button.
Wiring
The drain valve will be wired to a push-button that can be pressed from inside the cab to release the moisture from the tank. The wiring for this valve is pretty straightforward.
This valve has two leads that come off of it. It does not matter which wire you decide to use as the positive lead.
Take one of the leads and route it over to the frame of the vehicle as a ground. Alternatively, you can run this to the negative terminal on the battery. The opposite lead can be ran up to one lead on the push-button. Finally, take the opposite end of your push-button and route it to a fused power source capable of handling a 10A load or greater. If you are installing this drain valve with one of our kits, you could simply tie it into the same fuse connected to your battery that supplies the compressor with power. Once connected, press the button and listen for a 'click' from the valve. The clicking sound indicates that it is working properly.
Start your vehicle and pressurize the tank. You can test this valve by pressing the button a few times and checking to ensure air escapes from it when the button is pressed.
Your electric drain valve kit is now installed and ready for use.