Air Compressor Safety

This forum is dedicated to the Live Steam Hobbyist Community.

Moderators: cbrew, Harold_V

Post Reply
steamingon
Posts: 70
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 8:02 pm

Air Compressor Safety

Post by steamingon »

Air Compressor Safety

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm_FJ6Pat4I

Ooophs!

and people worry more about steam locomotive safety
User avatar
Fender
Posts: 3084
Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:33 pm
Location: Chattanooga TN

Re: Air Compressor Safety

Post by Fender »

How many home workshop air tanks ever get a hydrostatic test after they are purchased? And many are not drained regularly.
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
User avatar
Steggy
Posts: 1976
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:19 pm
Location: JB Pritzker’s Hellhole
Contact:

Re: Air Compressor Safety

Post by Steggy »

This is a duplicate post.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Music isn’t at all difficult.  All you gotta do is play the right notes at the right time!  :D
rkcarguy
Posts: 1730
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:33 am
Location: Wa State

Re: Air Compressor Safety

Post by rkcarguy »

I find it Interesting that in the video you can see where it appears the tank had been repaired around the big NPT fitting that holds the drain plug with a big blob of weld. It didn't split open there though, but it's an indicator that rust was a known problem.
User avatar
Pipescs
Posts: 2194
Joined: Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:16 pm
Location: Lester Alabama

Re: Air Compressor Safety

Post by Pipescs »

How many home workshop air tanks ever get a hydrostatic test after they are purchased? And many are not drained regularly.
Bought it 25 years ago, you mean I am suppose to drain it?
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
Little Engines American
20 Ton Shay (Castings and Plans Purchased for future)
User avatar
Fender
Posts: 3084
Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:33 pm
Location: Chattanooga TN

Re: Air Compressor Safety

Post by Fender »

I suspect that horizontal tanks are more susceptible to this type of failure, because the condensate accumulates along the side of the shell, weakening it there. A vertical tank usually has a hemispherical bottom, which is inherently stronger.
I had a Craftsman compressor with a horizontal tank for about 40 years, drained it occasionally, but one day when I turned it on, the drive shaft snapped off where it went into the pump body! Not economically repairable.
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
User avatar
Greg_Lewis
Posts: 3014
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2003 2:44 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: Air Compressor Safety

Post by Greg_Lewis »

You'll find other such incidents on Youtube. One was a still under warranty unit from Horrible Fright Tools.

By the way, Horrible Fright Tools sells an automatic drain gadget for about $10. I had one on my compressor for years until it clogged up with oil that seeped past the compressor rings. I just bought another today and it was on sale for $9. You do need to replace the plastic tubing that runs up to the pressure switch with metal but otherwise it works. Every time the compressor shuts off the drain opens for a moment. I hook mine to a hose that leads outside the shop as I don't care to have the water on the floor.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
Post Reply