Shop compressor safety

[psacustomcreations]

BLUF: Check your compressors at work.

We have a large shop compressor in the warehouse where I work. The building is a jointly used building so of course no one is in charge of it. I realized the compressor had not been drained in as long as I could remember so went to check it out.

I initially a big puddle of water formed under the machine then it stopped draining. I expected built up rust was stopping it from draining so disconnected it and opened up one of the inspection ports.

I had to use a small sump pump to remove probably eight or more gallons of water. The drain hole still has rust covering it and loose rust inside the tank. I will disconnect and clean it and check it out then see about a hydro test.


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[mla2ofus]

Maybe an auto drain would be money well spent.
Mike

[psacustomcreations]

Maybe an auto drain would be money well spent.
Mike

Yep.
That is the plan.

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[Hobbytime]

whats the taping for the drain valve? use a ball valve as the drain valve , they are far less pron to clogging and if they do you can just use a small brush or wire to clean the hole out, anything with a washer has too many bends to trap rust and debris..

[psacustomcreations]

I used a pressure washer inside the tank and flushed it a bunch of times. Then an hour or so later there is now an automatic condensation drain on this one.
Last week I took another compressor out of service from another building and moved it to this building. That is part of what prompted me to check this compressor.

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[farmersammm]

Actually looks pretty good for all the water that was in it.

[tweake]

I used a pressure washer inside the tank and flushed it a bunch of times. Then an hour or so later there is now an automatic condensation drain on this one.
Last week I took another compressor out of service from another building and moved it to this building. That is part of what prompted me to check this compressor.

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one think to watch with auto drains is they can clog up or bit of rust sits on the seat and holds it open.
i've removed our work one because of the issues.
even at 90%+ humidity and running it all day, only need to drain it once a month or even once a week if your being fussy.

if you really want a good setup, fit an air cooler (with drop leg) between tank and compressor. then the tank never gets water in it and the compressed air is drier.

[arcflash]

Those auto drains on a daily timer eliminate a lot of problems.

[tweake]

Those auto drains on a daily timer eliminate a lot of problems.

they eliminate a couple of problems. but if not done right it can create problems.
they are really meant for bigger systems that have a lot more water to drain off.