Compressor Shed/Cabinet options

[echelon_john]

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

[themanmonkey]

Inside you can make a fine sound cave for it using old bike boxes and Styrofoam and placing the compressor on a rubber mat. Outdoors replace the cardboard with plywood or particleboard. The only problem is the compressor motor likes some air and I've seen some folks kill the motor because the box was too "sound tight."