Air Compressor Question

plastickjunkie wrote:

I have a Campbell Housefeld compressor thats about 7 years old and I use for painting my models and running air tools, etc. The switch is acting up and needs to be replaced. No big deal at $30 for the part. However, I have noticed a lot of rusty moisture being released thru the drain valve when I purge the tank. I't been getting darker with time. I wonder if its time to just buy a new compressor since maybe the tank is getting ready to rust thru? I don't want this thing to go pop in my garage!

I had the same problem with the switch and ended up getting a new compressor for about twice as much as the switch.  

I would suggest instead of investing money on an old compressor, you look at replacing what you have.  Sears, Walmart and Harbor Freight has great prices on them.  Compressors now days are cheap enough to be throw away items if they go bad after a few years.  

I bought a Sears 1/2 HP compressor years ago and paid $250.00 for it.  Now days you can get a 2 HP compressor for around $89.00.

I had a compressor I left at my Parent's house for 18 years, I venture to guess it was never drained.  The tank did rust out, had a small hole at the bottom of the tank.  It didn't explode and the hole was small enough that it didn't loose much air pressure.  The compressor part is still good and I might save it and get a new compressor.

As a chemical engineer I have built and designed many an industial air system. It is perfectly normal to eventually get some rust out of the tank. As far as a catostrophic failure of the tanks, it is highly unlikly base on the tank design. What is more likly is to develop a leak.

Fix the switch and keep on chugging.

Rounds Complete!!

I once service a compressor in an old bank that was part of the elevator system. The compressor was 200 years old and still had the original tank. Because of its location it constantly had moisture in the tank and rusty water would flow out of it. That was more than 10 years ago and it is still in service.

I will occasionally flush my compressor tank with alcohol to remove the water. Once flushed I let it run with the drain valve open to remove the vapors. The sludge and sediment from the moisture doesn't do much internal damage, it just looks yucky.  

They do make lined tanks, but believe or not they fail at a slightly higher rate than none lined ones. A piece of debris will puncture the lining and the moisture becomes trapped, thus causing a cancer inside the tank. Eventually it fails in that spot. 

Though most compressor failures don't occur with the tank, rather the plumbing to and from it. 

when I WAS gainfully employed, I built and repaired machine tool equipment. More than once I had a one to three gallon air tank get full of rust due to a failure of an air dryer. Most of the time these tanks were custom built and in odd shapes and sizes. I found out that I could remove the tank, and then remove all the fittings attached to it, and literally fill it with swimming pool acid for two or three hours. Then flush it out with water and let it completely dry out. No more rust inside the tank. Later on I found this paint like stuff the motor cycle guys use to coat the insides of their gas tanks. A coated tank will almost never get rust in it again, but it's got to be completely dry inside before coating it. This method be the idea of having to fab a new air tank, and cost was less than twenty dollars with the sealer.

gary