Hi all,
My shop is attached to my house; it's essentially a 24x28 room. I have my compressor in the room at this point; for many tasks (a quick hit with the die grinder, blowing parts clean, etc) this is fine, as it doesn't kick on too often. But for sandblasting/concentrated use I usually wind up wearing ear protection.

I'd like to reduce the noise, either by moving the compressor outside the shop (putting a shed on the outside wall and running power and hose/pipe out to it) or building a cabinet within the shop. Since space is at a premium, the outside option is more attractive. But I'm wondering what those of you—especially those with cold winters and humid summers like we have in VT—have done along these lines? I have good drying filters throughout my system, but will that summertime humidity present issues? Will the cold weather (it's 13 right now, will be -2 tonight) present issues?

If I need to build a cabinet in the space, I would run the air intake outside the cabinet so it's not taking in overly hot air. But will I run into heat problems with a big compressor in a pretty small cabinet? What have folks done for venting without letting all the noise back into the shop?

Thanks for any suggestions/examples.

Best,
John
www.echeloncycleworks.com