Connect An Air Line

Connect an air line ; the process seems to puzzle some folks, and I have had a number of questions about it so I thought a page detailing how to connect an air line might be in order.

There are a vast number of air compressors, air compressor models, and compressor shapes and sizes out in "Do It Yourself Land". Yet all have similarities in plumbing that should make the advice on these pages useful to you.

For even more information (shameless plug alert) buy a copy of my e-Book The Home Compressor, which has chapters providing detailed information about how to connect up compressors, air tools, hoses etc.

Discharge Coupler

Obviously, the air that is in your compressor tank has to get out of that tank and ultimately to your air tool, to allow you to do some work.

The air tool might be a simple blow gun, air stapler, air brad nailer, or any of a myriad of "air-driven, toys for big boys and girls" that you can find gracing the shelves of your DIY stores these days. Regardless of the air tool type, the compressed air has to get to it.

The compressed air is prevented from flowing out of your compressor tank all the time by the discharge coupler threaded onto the end of the discharge pipe from the compressor.

In the photo above, the white circle is surrounding the discharge coupler installed on my home compressor.

The plumbing of the air line to your discharge coupler may not look like that in the photo above, yet I assure you that the line from your tank in a typical DIY type air compressor will end in a coupler similar to that shown in the photo.

Checked Coupler

This coupler is "checked", meaning that as long as nothing is inserted into it, air cannot escape from the compressor tank through the coupler itself.

Do you want to understand more about air couplers in general? Here is complete information on air couplers and I recommend you read this page before proceeding.

Air Connector

In order to get compressed air flowing from your compressor to your air tool, you need to insert something into the discharge coupler, to open the internal ball-check, and allow air to flow.

The something you insert into the coupler is the air connector.

To understand more about air connectors do visit this page, and I recommend you read it before proceeding.

In the photo above, the part of the connector that has been circled is the part that inserts into the coupler. Inserting the connector can be easy, or a bit challenging, depending on the quality of the components.

Sometimes it's necessary to slide the knurled ring on the coupler back as you insert the connector. Let go of the knurled ring before you let go of the connector so that the "locking mechanism" can engage first. Otherwise, your connector can just blow back out of the coupler.

This is a male-NPT connector, and the part in the square box is the male thread to be threaded into the tool port, maybe a valve port, anywhere that you want the compressed air to flow to when the connector is inserted into the coupler.

Here is the next page with much more information on how to connect an air line.