Public Service Message: Have you hydrostatic tested your air tanks?

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MrPink

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I am glad my compressor is less than a year old. And I drain it every time I use it. I still need to do my water trap setup since I don't have room for a dryer.
 

PlayingWithTBI

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Here's my little 5HP air compressor I bought (among other goodies) from the PO when we bought the house 5 years ago. When I had the shop built I wired in a 50 Amp circuit for it, ran a 1/2" hose down along the girt to a storage tank about 40' from it, and the 1/2" hose reel in this picture. This was all kinda temporary, I guess one of these days I need to make it more permanent.:anitoof: Then I can install a drain pipe and ball valve since, I haven't drained either tank in 3 years.:waytogo:

While we're talking public service, OSHA requires all air compressors to be shock mounted permanently in place. It also need to be hard wired with flexible conduit too. You can see mine walks away from its place. Of course OSHA doesn't apply to residential but, home owners' insurance may say something if an accident happens involving your compressed air system. :33:
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Erik the Awful

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I have an ancient 10 gallon upright bolted to the floor in my garage, and the first thing I did was install a ball valve in the bottom. My 2 gallon roll-around compressor out in the shop still has the stupid 39 cent wingnut drain valve. I'm planning on visiting the hardware store this afternoon and buying the fittings to do a proper hydrostatic test. There are some pretty good videos on YuberTuber on how to do the test with a grease gun. The one thing the video below misses is rapping the weldments with a hammer while it's at 150% of the rated pressure.

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454cid

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I have an ancient 10 gallon upright bolted to the floor in my garage, and the first thing I did was install a ball valve in the bottom. My 2 gallon roll-around compressor out in the shop still has the stupid 39 cent wingnut drain valve. I'm planning on visiting the hardware store this afternoon and buying the fittings to do a proper hydrostatic test. There are some pretty good videos on YuberTuber on how to do the test with a grease gun. The one thing the video below misses is rapping the weldments with a hammer while it's at 150% of the rated pressure.

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150lbs? I would hope the tank is rated at more than 100lbs, as that seems aweful low to me.
 

Erik the Awful

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So, I finally got the $26 worth of the fittings I needed and hydrostatic tested my small 12 gallon (not 2 gallon) roll-around compressor. It had plenty of rusty water inside, and I had to use a propane torch and a 1/2 drive twin hammer impact wrench on the rusty bottom fitting to get it out. It looks like the bottom fitting sits 1/4" above the bottom of the tank, which is what prevented me from getting all the water out in the past. I'm going to cut it down before re-installation.

I dorked up one of the pressure gauges when I disassembled the compressor, and the hardware store didn't have an 1/8" npt gauge, so I bought a larger, easier to read 1/4" gauge. I put the gauge in the side of a tee and put a 1/4" npt grease zerk in the end of the tee. The other end went to a 90° fitting into the orginal reducer at the bottom of the tank. Since I was using a grease gun to pressurize it, I wanted it at the bottom to help keep grease from going into the compressor. Every fitting got teflon tape.

I installed all that mess and filled the compressor from the top with water. I tilted it back and forth a bit to get all the air out of the top ports, then plugged both ports with teflon-taped plugs. I pumped the grease gun until I had a steady 180 psi on the gauge. That rates the tank for 120 psi, but I typically limit it to 110 psi in use. I grabbed a hammer and firmly tapped all around every weld. As rusty as it was, it held.

I drained everything out, and there's a bunch of grease piled up around the bottom fitting. Well, fart. Note for anybody following in my steps - my bottom fitting is 1" npt, and next time I'll put a short extension on that as a reservoir to keep the grease out of the bottom of the compressor.
 
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