Compressor safety

Because humans do stupid things, liability disclosures are mandatory and usually don't hold up in court anyway. Stupid people still manage to win lawsuits.

Not a ticking time bomb unless you allow it to fill with water and don't perform normal maintenance. Drain the tank weekly. Something you might want to do outside just in case it spews rusty water.

There are numerous products which people misuse even though they can have severe even lethal consequences. A compressor can be misused, but it will be intentional not usually accidental.

I work in printing and we use a 25 gallon tank compressor to power some components on the press. Most notably the printing rollers that deliver the ink to the impression blanket. We bought a new compressor 10 years ago and it's been sitting in its corner keeping the pressure up for all that time. In fact, the only time it's been turned off is when they swap out the rollers, which is sometimes six months apart, or when the power is off. The pressmen are supposed to drain the tank weekly, but if they remember to do it every other month I would be surprised. So far no explosions, and not a heck of a lot of water. I use a 3 gallon compressor, myself and if I drain the tank every six months I'm lucky (note to self DRAIN THE TANK TODAY). but then I release the air after use, so there isn't much risk of water in the first place.

The person who made the ticking time bomb claim is more at risk from a fire caused by the T-shirts spontaneously combusting, than from the tank exploding. Legal beagles are always lurking ready to pounce on the unsuspecting manufacturer that doesn't plaster their product with warning labels. My favorite has always been the hair dryer with the warning not to use in the bath.

I've also watched a show on cable called "Deconstruction" where they were testing the safety limits of various tools. One was dropping a filled 3 gallon tanked compressor from a third story balcony onto a bed of nails. One of the nails punctured the tank and the tank went HISS, not boom. Another was to see what happens when you chop an air hose while connected to a 125 psi compressor. Again with the HISS, though there was a little danger from the whipping hose as it quickly lost pressure.

Put the comment firmly into the paranoia column, but as Gerald says, drain the tank weekly (outside!) and try to remember to turn it off. Oh, and keep knives away from it. Hoses can get expensive.

The main problem is not draining water from tank frequently. I know I don't remember to do this nearly as often as I should, but neither of mine have blown up.  The problem is that most of the tanks are steel, and they rust if water is left inside.  If the tank rusts enough, it will weaken, and even a small tank does become a bomb when pressurized.  So, indeed a tankless compressor would be safer if you do not do the required draining.  On the other hand, tanks are nice :-)

What they said.

Unless you have a major fire, they are very unlikely to go "boom," and probably not even then. The greatest danger is probably breaking off a connector or valve, which will become an angular, high speed projectile. Unless the connections are improperly installed, or you drop the thing or start whacking it, that's not very likely.

One thing that can be done to decrease the water problem is to put a water trap on the intake, using frozen salt water as a coolant. Just attach a standard in-line water trap to the intake, and enclose the bowl in a double walled hollow container (essentially a wide mouth thermos) filled with frozen salt water. Put water in the inner well around the water trap bowl. I made my "thermos" from a Chinese food container and a plastic storage container.

Kinda what they do on dragsters to cool the fuel...run it through a glorified ice bucket. As long as the humidity isn't too high you should be fine without such a setup.

By the way...older TV emit radiation...so do certain types of wrist watches. Radon gas causes cancer. tick tick tick

Here in the northeastern corner of the Peoples Socialist Democratic Republic of ILL, next to the fresh water inland sea called Lake Michigan, the humidity rarely gets below 40 percent, even in winter, and is usually much higher.

Then there are really humid places, like the southeastern US.

EBergerud

Just bought a Senco 1 gallon tank compressor: has all the safety valves and gauges. Also got a Talon 

My Chinese put-put gave me an honest 30PSI and worked ok. I'd make a bad martyr. Is this nutty or does it fall into the category of paranoids having enemies? 

I hope that you bought the Senco PC1010 compressor. It has an aluminum tank so that rust is NOT a problem, though it is still a good idea to drain it every week. You have chosen your parts well.

The Senco PC1010 is one of the quietest tools compressor when I compared them 2 years ago. A 100 times quieter (20 dB) than the Campbell Hausfeld made junks. But it may still be 10 dB noiser than your Chinese put-put.  I ended up using a twin piston airbrush compressor (Paasche DA400) that costed about the same as the Senco but quieter. It is not nearly as powerful, but enough to drive 2 airbrushes at the same time.

I never took a Senco home to try it. I did take a Dewalt compressor home instead. They sound about the same in store. I ended up returning the Dewalt in favor of the Paasche.

Thankee very much for your assurances. The Senco appears to be a good gadget indeed and has an aluminum tank. It's not on very much after it fills so noise is no big deal and the steady airflow is very nice. It was just a little sobering that a forum moderator was leery of a garage tool in the house. I know lawyers have clout in the US, so I'll ignore the 12 pages of warnings. (Wish there'd been some directions instead.) Just thought I'd check though. ERs across the country are regularly visited by people slicing limbs off to remove vacuum packaging from a 12 pack of AA batteries and that never makes CNN. So who'd know if the spare modeler has shrapnel wounds. Anyway, if half of Albany CA blows up, dedicate a cyber-plaque somewhere in my honor.

Eric: Minnesotan exiled to Berkeley CA