G'day everyone, just a question for the brains trust
Any hints on how you guys blow/empty the water out of your air compressors?
I probably don't do it as regularly as I should, because its a pain to get to the tap underneath but when I do let it out under pressure it blows red rusty water everywhere and stains the concrete floor.
Just leave it in the tank .
When the tank is full or it finally leaks replace it
Cheers
Dennis
My compressor is mounted overhead with a 6" or so pipe nipple screwed into the bottom of the tank and the tap at the bottom of that. Makes it easier to drain and hopefully the water only ever sits in the pipe... also frees up some floor space.
Jim
my compressor is an 80 gal. 2 stage, when I bought it I removed the drain valve from the bottom middle of the tank & put on an elbow & 18" piece of pipe & then the drain valve back on so I can see/reach it much better, that doesn't mean I drain it more often (which I now need to do) I also have a little jar that I try to catch the rusty water with. I have a story about an air compressor tank that was never emptied....it was made out of an old water heater tank & was difficult to drain with the drain cap being slightly up the side of the tank, it was my brother in laws & we built his garage with it, it blew up in that same garage , the bottom let go & it went through the loft floor (broke 3-2x10's) & buckled the roof, the concussion sprung the walk through door and blew out most of the windows, the corner it was sitting in....it pushed one wall out about 6" & the other wall about 4" , & blew rusty water all over his new truck. the insurance man had said that he had seen air compressors blow & land a block away, so yes....it is good to drain your air compressor regularly.
Mind what Bruce just said ..... rusted out compressor tanks can most definitely kill, just as well as can boiler explosions!!!
You don't have to do it under pressure. let all the air out, open the tap and put a tray underneath and leave overnight.
You can also buy automated drain valves. When I bought my Ingersoll compressor I sprang for one of these. Plugs into a 110V outlet and "blows off" at predetermined intervals. Well worth what at the time was a little drop in a fairly large bucket.
Cheers all, many thanks for the replies. When I had the little direct drive unit it wasn't such a big problem, now that I updated a year ago to a large double belt drive motor with a much larger tank its become more problematic.
Thanks again for the ideas.