If you don't drain your tank, there will be a BIG BANG.
I posted this several years ago on another site, but there are several new members here. I was in my basement working on the computor when I heard and felt an explosion. I went outside to see what happened, and found my neighbor standing in his driveway looking like he was in a state of shock. He was using his air compressor to blow the grass off his lawn mower when the air tank blew up.
He had a garage full of Harleys and expensive cars and only about 6 feet by 6 feet of open floor space. He had his compressor mounted up on a shelf about 6 feet off the floor. When it blew it knocked the outside lights off the garage wall, blew the shelf away and the compressor landed on the only open space left. He was lucky, but the cars and Harleys were all splattered with rusty water and oil slime.
He gave me what was left of the compressor, and I could see the rusty water line about half way up the tank. I also saw a sheet metal screw sticking inside the tank. Apparently a couple years earlier the tank had sprung a leak through a rust hole so he plugged that hole with a sheet metal screw and kept using the compressor and kept on NEVER draining the water.
I've also included 4 pictures of an air compressor my neighbor put out on the curb a few weeks ago. It had a sign saying that it was free and the pump was locked up. All that was wrong with it was the serpentine belt wasn't lined up, and it came off the pump pulley. I told my neighbor, but he said he didn't care and had already bought a new compressor, so I got a nice compressor for free. The first thing I do when I get a compressor is remove the cheap screw type drain valve and buy an elbow, short pipe, and a good quarter turn valve, so I can run the drain valve to an easily seen and accessible spot. I also add a 2 x 4 to the leg to put the tank on a slope, so the water runs to the drain valve. This also keeps the leg out of the dirt. Hard to believe the factory wouldn't give the tank the correct slope for drainage.
Notice the large plug on the end of this tank. This is an indicator that this is the heavy duty tank, not the cheap model like many stores used to sell, and the one that blew up in the first picture.
I posted this several years ago on another site, but there are several new members here. I was in my basement working on the computor when I heard and felt an explosion. I went outside to see what happened, and found my neighbor standing in his driveway looking like he was in a state of shock. He was using his air compressor to blow the grass off his lawn mower when the air tank blew up.
He had a garage full of Harleys and expensive cars and only about 6 feet by 6 feet of open floor space. He had his compressor mounted up on a shelf about 6 feet off the floor. When it blew it knocked the outside lights off the garage wall, blew the shelf away and the compressor landed on the only open space left. He was lucky, but the cars and Harleys were all splattered with rusty water and oil slime.
He gave me what was left of the compressor, and I could see the rusty water line about half way up the tank. I also saw a sheet metal screw sticking inside the tank. Apparently a couple years earlier the tank had sprung a leak through a rust hole so he plugged that hole with a sheet metal screw and kept using the compressor and kept on NEVER draining the water.
I've also included 4 pictures of an air compressor my neighbor put out on the curb a few weeks ago. It had a sign saying that it was free and the pump was locked up. All that was wrong with it was the serpentine belt wasn't lined up, and it came off the pump pulley. I told my neighbor, but he said he didn't care and had already bought a new compressor, so I got a nice compressor for free. The first thing I do when I get a compressor is remove the cheap screw type drain valve and buy an elbow, short pipe, and a good quarter turn valve, so I can run the drain valve to an easily seen and accessible spot. I also add a 2 x 4 to the leg to put the tank on a slope, so the water runs to the drain valve. This also keeps the leg out of the dirt. Hard to believe the factory wouldn't give the tank the correct slope for drainage.
Notice the large plug on the end of this tank. This is an indicator that this is the heavy duty tank, not the cheap model like many stores used to sell, and the one that blew up in the first picture.
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) with the Rust911 people, I'll be picking up 10 gallons of distilled water to use in the process.
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Realistically how often should one be drained. Letting all the air out and draining water after every days use seems a bit overkill. I realize that you...
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