My Uncle gave me a small Pancake air compressor for my garage and to use around my house. Not knowing the last time or how often the tank was drainind, I drained it out the other day and a Rust Color like slude/Water came out. Not a whole lot, but it the color that worries me. Is it normal to see a rust color brown come out of the tank or do I have internal problems? Do you think it is safe to continue to use this air compressor? It is not that old, can be more then 5 years old if not less. Thanks for the help, don't need this thing blowing up down the road!!!
Rust Color Liquid Drained Out of Compressor Tank?
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Every compressor I ever drained had rust colored water / oil mix come out. I wouldn't worry about it.
I get rusty condensation out of mine also. I think it is in all compressors. Truck with air brakes also have this problem and some have auto water drains buit in.
I have not seen much in the way of oil come out of mine. I was wondering about adding some oil to the tank to help with the rust. I have heard warnings about haveing oil with compressed oxygen because of flamability and wonder if it would apply to compressed air also?
I have not seen much in the way of oil come out of mine. I was wondering about adding some oil to the tank to help with the rust. I have heard warnings about haveing oil with compressed oxygen because of flamability and wonder if it would apply to compressed air also?
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I'd say that the resin coating is breached inside those tanks ..or they just sit too long between uses (cylinder walls). I never got rusty water out of our shop size compressors at the plant. I did all the PM on all of them and we just got clear water. Most of our moisture problems were downstream of the compressor. We had post compressor driers ..but they didn't function too long in our usage. It would foul our pneumatic valves. Some of the real fancy ones had steel springs to maintain their "normally closed" condition. If the valve wasn't frequently cycled ..the moisture would just fester and turn the $3000 valve into junk (needed a refresh). The valve itself was stainless steel for the flow that it was carrying ..but the air side of things did not require such expensive internals.
Evenutally we got these air hog actuators that bled air constantly and had their own moisture traps. We also installed a better drier after the compressor.
Anyway ..I think that it will take a while (many years) to rust through from the inside. I imagine that we didn't have as much of an issue with this due to our duty cycle of our compressors. The air temp was rather high leaving the tank. I would imagine that this allowed the air to carry more moisture to condense in the remote air lines instead of in the tank.
Evenutally we got these air hog actuators that bled air constantly and had their own moisture traps. We also installed a better drier after the compressor.
Anyway ..I think that it will take a while (many years) to rust through from the inside. I imagine that we didn't have as much of an issue with this due to our duty cycle of our compressors. The air temp was rather high leaving the tank. I would imagine that this allowed the air to carry more moisture to condense in the remote air lines instead of in the tank.
We have two Saylor Beall 705 compressors at my shop, each with a 80 gallon tank. At the end of each workday, we turn off the compressors and drain each tank. A fair amount of water comes out each time.
I'd say that it's fairly critical to drain your tank after each use to remove all moisture.
Our compressors are ten years old, are used six days a week and there is no rusty water coming out of our tanks.
I'd say that it's fairly critical to drain your tank after each use to remove all moisture.
Our compressors are ten years old, are used six days a week and there is no rusty water coming out of our tanks.
No thats only with pure oxygen.
Yah as long as you're compressing just plain air the oxygen concentration should be normal, like say around 19%. But you're right, just about anything will burn in 100% oxygen and anything above say 25% has increased risks.
So the automatic drains? Air operated or electric timer? The air operated ones I have found only go to 140 lbs, so not too good for a 2 stage.
So reading this thread got me to drain my 60 gal tank compressor. I found I had a slight leak in the petcock that makes a soft whistle when one is near. But there was no water or goo or rust. Must be years (5??) since I have fooled with the drain. I use the compressor maybe every other week. Could the slight leak be draining the water in the tank.
I have used mine in the Northwest north of Seattle a little ways. Pretty moist area of the county. It always had a little tint to it.
This was on brand new Craftsman air compressors 5 hp single stage. I had one with a 20 gallon tank, sold it and bought another with a 30 gallon tank. I ran them both with Amsoil syn compressor oil.
I have wondered about putting a water seperater going from the pump to the tank. A little plumbing would be required.
I still think the tanks have a lot of meat and would take a long time for one to rust all the way through.
This was on brand new Craftsman air compressors 5 hp single stage. I had one with a 20 gallon tank, sold it and bought another with a 30 gallon tank. I ran them both with Amsoil syn compressor oil.
I have wondered about putting a water seperater going from the pump to the tank. A little plumbing would be required.
I still think the tanks have a lot of meat and would take a long time for one to rust all the way through.
ok, thanks for the replies. I will just keep my eye on if it gets any worst. Just wanted to make sure it was still safe to use. thanks again
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Sure. That's where the water drains anyway. I never could get any valve to open just enough to keep the tank free from water without it making too much noise and needlessly cyling the compressor in question. I never tried a needle valve. I was just lazy though and was always trying to figure everything to be automatic
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