How to tell air compressor is about to rupture?

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I was the recipient of a air compressor that had never been drained in the 5-10 years or so before I owned it. I just now got to looking at the bottom side and noticed some paint bubbling on top of a rust spot. Seems minor, but at 125psi it may not be.


How do you tell when your air compressor is in danger of an explosion?
 
Personally, I've never had one rupture. I have had several old ones rust through and start to leak. It was like a tire with a nail hole in it. As a matter of fact, the old compressor I have now did that very thing and I ran a self-tapping screw through the hole and so far, no problem. I do however, keep mine behind a 3/4 inch sheet of plywood "just in case."
 
Yea, with 125psi behind a rusted wall, a faiure is likely to be slow and uneventful.

What I like to to with my tanks is drain them, dry them, open them up, pour some thick oil in there, roll it around to coat internals, drain and put them back in service. That + regular drains = never a problem.
 
Originally Posted By: jrustles
Yea, with 125psi behind a rusted wall, a faiure is likely to be slow and uneventful.

What I like to to with my tanks is drain them, dry them, open them up, pour some thick oil in there, roll it around to coat internals, drain and put them back in service. That + regular drains = never a problem.


How would one do that with a 60 gal. tank and 5 HP 2 stage compressor?
 
Originally Posted By: jrustles
Yea, with 125psi behind a rusted wall, a faiure is likely to be slow and uneventful.

What I like to to with my tanks is drain them, dry them, open them up, pour some thick oil in there, roll it around to coat internals, drain and put them back in service. That + regular drains = never a problem.


100% correct.
Over the years I've had countless air compressors. I've taken 2 or 3 to build one that works etc. when the tank walls rupture(I've seen it many times) it ends up being pinholes,and once ruptured the tanks leak air,so they usually won't hold the max psi anymore.
Worst case scenario is a small chunk will blow out at the weakest point which will be the bottom where its rusted and weakest.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: jrustles
Yea, with 125psi behind a rusted wall, a faiure is likely to be slow and uneventful.

What I like to to with my tanks is drain them, dry them, open them up, pour some thick oil in there, roll it around to coat internals, drain and put them back in service. That + regular drains = never a problem.


100% correct.
Over the years I've had countless air compressors. I've taken 2 or 3 to build one that works etc. when the tank walls rupture(I've seen it many times) it ends up being pinholes,and once ruptured the tanks leak air,so they usually won't hold the max psi anymore.
Worst case scenario is a small chunk will blow out at the weakest point which will be the bottom where its rusted and weakest.


I agree!

I have also dried the tank with alcohol, then poured in a little Fibreglass resin to fill the pin holes.
 
A true explosion of the tank could be very nasty. But I doubt this would be the case - likely a small hole that acts as an orifice instead.

I like the idea of putting oil in and sloshing it around. I
Just don't like the mess draining in the future with oil and water.

Didnt they used to check submarines with a small tack driver hammer, hitting stuff to see what was weak?
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Google air compressor explosion to see what can happen when a tank explodes. They can be deadly. If there's anything doubt about the tank throw it away


Naturally you want to be careful and always keep safety in mind - a new tank is cheap compaired to bodily injuries. However, the "explosions" I've seen on youtube and places like that are "on purpose" explosions, (it's a lot easier to, have a camera on hand to film said "explosion.") Even so, when it doubt, throw it out.

On a side note, several years ago, my brother and I found an old propane tank and thought we would blow it up. We took it way out in the woods, set it up on a stump, got on the other side of the truck body, (for protection) and shot it with a .22 rifle. All it did was poke holes in it. We looked at each other and asked, "Where is the 'ka-boom'? There was suppose to be an earth shattering 'ka-boom'!"
 
If you know anybody who techs race cars and has a ultrasonic thickness gauge that can tell you a lot. Or remove the outlet pipe and stick am inspection cam in it.
 
It's not going to "blow", as others have said. It will leak down.

"Blowing" comes from a catastrophic material failure at a higher than rated pressure.

Consider what you have to be more like a pressure relief valve.
 
Being as I've never heard of lawyers rushing to sue air compressor makers I doubt its really much of a danger factor.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
I was the recipient of a air compressor that had never been drained in the 5-10 years or so before I owned it. I just now got to looking at the bottom side and noticed some paint bubbling on top of a rust spot. Seems minor, but at 125psi it may not be.


How do you tell when your air compressor is in danger of an explosion?


Did you drain the compressor? I had the same issue. I bought a used compressor off a guy and he never drained it once. At first I couldn't get the drain screw undone. Once it was off I drained it and it looked like brown gravy coming out of the compressor. It had to be at least a quart of liquid that came out. I ran the compressor with the drain screw removed.

On youtube I found some ideas and I got a ball valve that I added along with a galvanized nipple and elbow for easy access to the ball valve. I ran the compressor for a while and drained it some more to get the rust out. Now when I use the compressor I always open the ball valve and let the moisture out. I usually also make sure to fire up the compressor with the ball valve open, then after 5 seconds usually the small amount of moisture is on the garage floor, then I close the ball valve and let it fill up.

As others have said, the tank will probably be ok. Once the tank is full does the compressor turn off? It's not like you would leave the compressor running for hours without the motor turning off. Probably only something that mythbusters would do, to prove a theory.

Regards, JC.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: jrustles
Yea, with 125psi behind a rusted wall, a faiure is likely to be slow and uneventful.

What I like to to with my tanks is drain them, dry them, open them up, pour some thick oil in there, roll it around to coat internals, drain and put them back in service. That + regular drains = never a problem.


100% correct.
Over the years I've had countless air compressors. I've taken 2 or 3 to build one that works etc. when the tank walls rupture(I've seen it many times) it ends up being pinholes,and once ruptured the tanks leak air,so they usually won't hold the max psi anymore.
Worst case scenario is a small chunk will blow out at the weakest point which will be the bottom where its rusted and weakest.


I agree!

I have also dried the tank with alcohol, then poured in a little Fibreglass resin to fill the pin holes.


Cool idea. I can't even consider something like that on my work pumps. I could easily see someone onsite trying to sue me because I tried to fix a defect blah blah blah.
But a cool idea none the less.
 
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