Air compressor

[Thunder chicken]

So i thought i needed a real air compressor. The 15+year old, 8gal hardware store compressor wasnt up to the task of running a small sandblaster, and for some reason i thought it a good idea to get something that could, rather than forget about that dirty job.
So, asking around, this comes up....its a 1974, 80g, DeVilbiss, 5hp 230v. It hadnt ran in 9+years. No power in the shop it was in so no way to test it. But a fool isnparted with his money, and it was an excuse to use the Kubota to lift it up, load it, and haul it home!
I know nothing of air compressors, but after cleaning the grime and gunk off, this has a DeVilbiss 432 pump on it. It wasnt seized and the oil was clean. Previous owner ran an outside air source for it, likely with no filter. Hmm.
But, for fun, wired it up to my welding extension cord, and hit the undersized breaker. It ran, and I wimped out at 85psi.
The tank had about a gallon of clean water come out of it. I should hydro test it i know... but thats hard to do now with winter on and the hose frozen in the snow. Hopefully i can get the side bungs out and take a peek inside.
Ill also have to invent an air filter, as it has a homemade adapter on the intake to hook to the dryer venting the po used.

 

[cthomas]

What does the tag say on the tank? Things that old were sometimes over-rated for air compressors. My old tank was rated for 300 PSI and the safety switch tripped at 120 PSI. Also in use the air supply is kinda oily so hopefully the tank is not rusty. I would try to get a peak inside of the tank somehow.

 

[fried1765]

So i thought i needed a real air compressor. The 15+year old, 8gal hardware store compressor wasnt up to the task of running a small sandblaster, and for some reason i thought it a good idea to get something that could, rather than forget about that dirty job.
So, asking around, this comes up....its a 1974, 80g, DeVilbiss, 5hp 230v. It hadnt ran in 9+years. No power in the shop it was in so no way to test it. But a fool isnparted with his money, and it was an excuse to use the Kubota to lift it up, load it, and haul it home!
I know nothing of air compressors, but after cleaning the grime and gunk off, this has a DeVilbiss 432 pump on it. It wasnt seized and the oil was clean. Previous owner ran an outside air source for it, likely with no filter. Hmm.
But, for fun, wired it up to my welding extension cord, and hit the undersized breaker. It ran, and I wimped out at 85psi.
The tank had about a gallon of clean water come out of it. I should hydro test it i know... but thats hard to do now with winter on and the hose frozen in the snow. Hopefully i can get the side bungs out and take a peek inside.
Ill also have to invent an air filter, as it has a homemade adapter on the intake to hook to the dryer venting the po used.
View attachment 115525 View attachment 115526

A tank that old (49 years) and with a lot of water. is a bad (dangerous) bet!
You may be able to get the compressor to run, but I would "run" away from that tank!

 

[Motion]

You're on the right track remove the bungs and inspect, if it looks acceptable, then hydro the tank to 1.5 to 2 times the rated pressure. It's better to find out now if the tank is up to suff.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

My advice is to stop using it until its inspected/tested by a pro.

20 years ago, I worked with a guy whose dad was killed because his air compressor exploded.

 

[DustyRusty]

If it maxed out at 85 PSI, I would be inclined to believe that the head will need work. The nicest thing that I can say about your bargain purchase is that I hope that you didn't pay a lot for it since it appears on the surface to be scrap iron or something close to that.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Probably needs a valve job,they look like feeler gauges..... DV has them, could be in a 'kit', check online for pricing. FWIW dang motor is maybe $400 to buy now !!!

 

[Thunder chicken]

Well, i borrowed a scope, and took a peek inside the tank. It looked exactly what youd expect an old tank to look like. But i wouldnt say it looked like it was full of holes.
So i moved it outside, rigged up a presure gauge on a hose to have in with me while i stood away from the door by the breaker panel. She made 175psi as the book says it should. Held just fine, just a slight leak from the cheap drain valve. I did a few cycles and it seems well enough to me!
Now to plan out some lines, itll be simple, as i have a small shop and limited air tools. Im thinking one 1/2" drop outlet to run the sandblaster, and a 3/8 drop for the hose reel that'll run everything else. Maybe a 3/4" air cooler set up with pex. (3/4" Copper =$50 per 12', yikes)

 

[je1279]

Well, i borrowed a scope, and took a peek inside the tank. It looked exactly what youd expect an old tank to look like. But i wouldnt say it looked like it was full of holes.
So i moved it outside, rigged up a presure gauge on a hose to have in with me while i stood away from the door by the breaker panel. She made 175psi as the book says it should. Held just fine, just a slight leak from the cheap drain valve. I did a few cycles and it seems well enough to me!
Now to plan out some lines, itll be simple, as i have a small shop and limited air tools. Im thinking one 1/2" drop outlet to run the sandblaster, and a 3/8 drop for the hose reel that'll run everything else. Maybe a 3/4" air cooler set up with pex. (3/4" Copper =$50 per 12', yikes)
View attachment 115737

Did you bring it to 1.5x the tank's rated pressure? It's definitely not something that you want to take chances with.

 

[Thunder chicken]

I didn't fill it with water. I went for broke with air. I wanted to know if the pump was even any good. It made 175 psi. The tank held.
Having it professionally tested is a minmum 400 mile one way trip to the nearest city. If they even do that in that city.....(waiting on call back on availability and price of test)
The tank tag has WP200# on it, i assume thats 200psi of water pressure.
Itll take me some time to rig up for that if i bother. Its winter here, not easy to get water to my garage, nor do i have the fittings here to do a test. (a week waiting on mail at the very least)
Knowing theres concern is good, i wouldnt have bothered to even have done any checking.

 

[fried1765]

Did you bring it to 1.5x the tanks rated pressure? It's definitely not something that you want to take chances on.

Unfortunately....... it is a 49 year old time bomb, just waiting to go off.
Maybe......build a concrete block wall tank enclosure?

 

[TheOldHokie]

Well, i borrowed a scope, and took a peek inside the tank. It looked exactly what youd expect an old tank to look like. But i wouldnt say it looked like it was full of holes.
So i moved it outside, rigged up a presure gauge on a hose to have in with me while i stood away from the door by the breaker panel. She made 175psi as the book says it should. Held just fine, just a slight leak from the cheap drain valve. I did a few cycles and it seems well enough to me!
Now to plan out some lines, itll be simple, as i have a small shop and limited air tools. Im thinking one 1/2" drop outlet to run the sandblaster, and a 3/8 drop for the hose reel that'll run everything else. Maybe a 3/4" air cooler set up with pex. (3/4" Copper =$50 per 12', yikes)

You want steel and/or air hose lines. I have a vintage Wayne that is much older than that and hasn't been hydro tested in many decades. It got it dirt cheap because it had a 3 phase motor on it. I rpelaced the motor with a new single phase motor. It also has a copper cooler and low oil cutoff. I have the cutout set at 150 PSI and it has been running in my shop for 20 years. I am not in the least bit nervous.

Dan

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I built an 8 x 18 'annex' to the garage to put furnace and air compressor in, also stores a lot of small engines,supplies, and 'weird stuff'..
If the air tank blew, it'll take out the furnace, and if that's running, I'll never know the air tank blew.

 

[fried1765]

You want steel and/or air hose lines. I have a vintage Wayne that is much older than that and hasn't been hydro tested in many decades. It got it dirt cheap because it had a 3 phase motor on it. I rpelaced the motor with a new single phase motor. It also has a copper cooler and low oil cutoff. I have the cutout set at 150 PSI and it has been running in my shop for 20 years. I am not in the least bit nervous.

Dan

View attachment 115742

Not all tanks are/were created (wall thickness) equally.

 

[jaxs]

Having it professionally tested is a minmum 400 mile one way trip to the nearest city. If they even do that in that city.....(waiting on call back on availability and price of test)
The tank tag has WP200# on it, i assume thats 200psi of water pressure.
Itll take me some time to rig up for that if i bother. Its winter here, not easy to get water to my garage, nor do i have the fittings here to do a test. (a week waiting on mail at the very least)
Knowing theres concern is good, i wouldnt have bothered to even have done any checking.

On the bright side,if the tank does go ka-boom you are so far out in the bojacs it's doubtful anyone else will even notice.

 

[Thunder chicken]

I spent some time trying to clean the baked on body shop dust off, and it came out not bad. I thought about putting it up high, but thats a project nitself. Got it wired up to the panel, but have a switch on the pressure switch line by the man door to shut it off when not here.
So a company in Winnipeg can test the tank. Language barrier prevented asking too many details, but it would be a minmum of about $500. They dont do many homeowner tanks.


Can't/won't bolt it to the floor due to the radiant floor heat. With the effort it takes to move, i dont think it'll wander away!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

WOW an ACCESSABLE drain valve !!!
Mine's hard pipe and ball valve, used glove around it when I pizzzzzzz it, almost daily....
price of new units even at Princess Auto are skyhigh !

 

[ferguson]

So i thought i needed a real air compressor. The 15+year old, 8gal hardware store compressor wasnt up to the task of running a small sandblaster, and for some reason i thought it a good idea to get something that could, rather than forget about that dirty job.
So, asking around, this comes up....its a 1974, 80g, DeVilbiss, 5hp 230v. It hadnt ran in 9+years. No power in the shop it was in so no way to test it. But a fool isnparted with his money, and it was an excuse to use the Kubota to lift it up, load it, and haul it home!
I know nothing of air compressors, but after cleaning the grime and gunk off, this has a DeVilbiss 432 pump on it. It wasnt seized and the oil was clean. Previous owner ran an outside air source for it, likely with no filter. Hmm.
But, for fun, wired it up to my welding extension cord, and hit the undersized breaker. It ran, and I wimped out at 85psi.
The tank had about a gallon of clean water come out of it. I should hydro test it i know... but thats hard to do now with winter on and the hose frozen in the snow. Hopefully i can get the side bungs out and take a peek inside.
Ill also have to invent an air filter, as it has a homemade adapter on the intake to hook to the dryer venting the po used.
View attachment 115525 View attachment 115526

 

[ferguson]

It has
It has a T E F C moter on it put it outside in a (outhouse Enclosure) No Noise in the shop & safe if it blowes

 

[fried1765]

WOW an ACCESSABLE drain valve !!!
Mine's hard pipe and ball valve, used glove around it when I pizzzzzzz it, almost daily....
price of new units even at Princess Auto are skyhigh !

My 80 gal., 20 cfm two stage @175 psi, pressure lubed Quincy, now is selling for $4063 USD + tax and shipping.
I bought it new,.... 32 years ago, for $1,000....... and THAT was a LOT THEN!
Still have it, but only use it rarely.

I put several coats of LPS-3 on the inside of my 80 gal tank , before any use.
Had a rust proofing fogging/spray equipment in those days.