Compressor exploded

Good thing no one was seriously injured. Lot of energy stored in that tank when it went.

My dad has an old Sears compressor used for painting though he only used it to pressurize the chemical tanks on a Sickles E-4 film processor. I used it for air nailers back in the day. Very quiet compressor, maybe a 1/2 HP motor, then I started hearing a "hiss" after it hit pressure. Tank had rotted through at the bottom. You guessed it, compressor had never been drained in 20+ years. I tried MIG'ing the thin spots to plug them, but kept burning through. I patched the holes with JB weld and welded a piece of 16-gauge stock well past the thin spots, has held up to very limited (tire pumping) use sense. But I think we'll retire it and use a $40 import after seeing these photos.

Bruce
 
Had an acquaintance who said his compressor was acting weird. Big 80 gallon thing. Would run and register pressure and then shut off but would only run his impact wrench for about 30 seconds before it kicked on again. Would fill up really quick and shut off and it seemed as soon as he started to work it would kick on again. Went to check it out and found it was still bolted to the shipping pallet. I told him he really needed to bolt it to the floor so it didn't get knocked over and pushed on it. Thing didn't budge even a millimeter. Pushed harder and it weighed a lot more than it should have. Reached under and cracked the drain valve open and then watched as 79.5 gallons of rusty sludge spewed out on the floor of his shop and snaked toward the drain that was 3 feet away. I should have known when he said, "Whatcha doin?" when I reached under it, then I realized, there was no rust stain on the floor. He didn't know the thing had a drain on it. Had bought it 20 some years before and it sat in an unheated garage undrained ever since. He had maintained it well otherwise. Oil changes, filter changes, belts etc.

I unplugged it and told him he needed to have it checked as the tank was no longer safe and I didn't want to be around if it let go. He told me later he had a guy come and pressure test it and the tank failed at 158 pounds of pressure. I'm not sure what the pop off valve on it was but I think the pressure on the gauge when I got there was at 140 pounds. He ended up buying a new tank for it and getting an automatic drain valve too.

I know another guy that was nearly killed by a beer keg that busted by being over pressurized hooking it to an air compressor for "extra capacity" on his shop compressor. You don't mess with compressed air, it can kill you.
 
I have a 2 stage 60gal compressor on the floor of my garage and another 60gal reservoir tank in the rafters drywalled ceilings. Garage is plumbed with d.o.t. 5/8 air line with push connect fittings for all connections. Have air connections every eight feet on the walls and two drops in the ceiling. I use to leave the compressor on all the time until one morning. I’m leaving for work passing the garage and I hear the compressor running. I unlock the door and open and the whole garage was filled with a oily smoke. I immediately ran and shut down the compressor. Found the tank fill line had broke right above the unloader valve on top the tank. Luckily nothing bad happened garage stunk for weeks. I replaced that hard line with a braided flex line which had been running strong for about 10yrs.
I do drain my tank every so often and don’t get much water maybe a cup. My problem is valve on bottom of tank gets gunked up not liking to drain well.
 
this is a wake up call for me. I have an old Curtis make in the late 50's with the original tank. I drain it often but we have enough humidity that there is always water when I drain it. It is always rusty water. I always thought the failure mode would be a pinhole leak and it would just not hold air anymore. Now I think I should be looking at a new tank. Soon.
 
Cadillac said:
Found the tank fill line had broke right above the unloader valve on top the tank. Luckily nothing bad happened garage stunk for weeks. I replaced that hard line with a braided flex line which had been running strong for about 10yrs.
Click to expand...
When I bought my house/shop, the P.O. left his 5HP compressor in the small attached room behind the shop. It was a beast, very old, crusty with a mix of dust and oil. Dragged it out of the "building" with a come-along. Opened the tank drain, and it must have had 2 gallons of water inside. I gave it to another member of the local machinists' club, who said he'd dump the tank and keep the pump.

I did notice one very good feature of the original installation - the output air line was a 3 foot length of hydraulic hose - great vibration isolation between the tank and the (copper) air pipe into the shop. When it came time to install my own (~2 year old) compressor, I went to Tractor Supply and bought a new hydraulic hose to connect it with. I also cobbled up an automatic drain valve, which opens for about 30 seconds every time the compressor starts.
 
hman said:
When I bought my house/shop, the P.O. left his 5HP compressor in the small attached room behind the shop. It was a beast, very old, crusty with a mix of dust and oil. Dragged it out of the "building" with a come-along. Opened the tank drain, and it must have had 2 gallons of water inside. I gave it to another member of the local machinists' club, who said he'd dump the tank and keep the pump.

I did notice one very good feature of the original installation - the output air line was a 3 foot length of hydraulic hose - great vibration isolation between the tank and the (copper) air pipe into the shop. When it came time to install my own (~2 year old) compressor, I went to Tractor Supply and bought a new hydraulic hose to connect it with. I also cobbled up an automatic drain valve, which opens for about 30 seconds every time the compressor starts.
Click to expand...

When I grafted my old industrial pump on its new tank I also went with hydraulic hose and AN connectors between the pump and the tank. That was about 15 years ago and it has been holding up great! The local CarQuest auto parts store had a great selection of AN connectors and cloth jacketed hydraulic hose... they made for very easy sturdy DIY custom hoses.
 
That exploded compressor looks familiar ... thanks for the reminder.

296571
 
When I built mine up I gave it three coats of PA 10 and two coats of International 2K bottom paint on the inside, custom made tank with 1/2" wall. 42 years and the drain water comes out clean. I have bought a new bigger compressor and the tank has much thinner walls so I'll be doing the same before putting into service.
I've seen inside some old tanks and most have had about an 1/2" - 1" of water sitting them during use and you can see a line of pitting all around the tank. I've never seen a tank painted/sealed from the factory.
 
I contacted Red-Kote tank repair and they said that their product is made to be resistant to gas and all of its additives but is water soluble. Back to looking for something else to pour into my tank to kill the rust and coat it to prevent further rust.

Or I may just start shopping for a new bigger tank. As long as I drain it regularly it will outlive me.
 
I just went out and drained my ancient Craftsman and as always, water comes out clean. Not a speck of rust. Like others, I added a ball valve to mine as well as a short extension to get it out where I can easily get to it.
 
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