Air compressor?

[3Deep]

How often do you guys check or let the water drain from your airtanks...I really don"t have an idea of how quick water builds in my tank I know I drain it every few months or so.   My dryer seems to be doing a heck of a job, no mositure in the airlines on the press that I can tell.  I guess its possible to let the water build over time and damage your equipment.

Darryl

[alan802]

If I were you, I'd drain it every Friday afternoon.  We do it once a week and honestly we should probably do it more often even though there really isn't much water in the bottom of it, maybe 4-6 ounces if I had to guess.  I've checked our press regularly and there has never been one drop of water in the water drain cannister at the bottom of the press so the dryer is doing it's job.

How much water is coming out of the tank when you do drain it?

[3Deep]

I really don't know Alan, I pop the drain a little and walked off, but I know it was coming out pretty good before I step back inside the shop.  I think I'll take your advice and drain it every friday even though our press seems to be bone dry as well, never can tell, and who wants to F'd up a 30K press when 5 minutes of work can prevent it.

Darryl

[bimmridder]

Not sure what compressor you have, but I have auto drains on mine. I try to drain them but nothing comes out.Same with press manifold. I have a couple screw compressors now,but previously I had reciprocating with auto drains, same results. Ask your vendor. 

[Binkspot]

It's all based on how humid it is. If it is real humid keep the drain cracked all the time or get an auto drain that will pop open at a preset time interval. We keep ours cracked all the time during the summer months and drain daily the rest of the year. The less water you send to the dryer the less it has to work. Another thing commonly overlooked is the oil in the compressor. If you are producing a lot of water in the air receiver then chances are the water is also contaminating the compressor oil. If it appears milky or there are drops of condensation on the fill cap the oil is being contaminated. There is not much you can do except change the oil more often.   

[mooseman]

This is real simple...get an automatic drain valve for your compressor

http://www.paragoncode.com/shop/compressor/
If you google automatic water drain for air compressor you will get bunches of choices
mooseman

[tonypep]

I have two 60 gal Devair Compressors, a 300 gal holding tank, an aftercooler and two dryers. Even with all that all are drained daily as per the mfgr. Also they check the autos once a week just to be super sure we have dry air.

[mk162]

Darryl, I would drain them daily.  down here that is a must.  It's not so much about them filling up, it will over time eat away at the tank..and then they explode.

And nothing much stops their flight path...not even people.

[tonypep]

What?........More killing machines? Thought we had enough of that yesterday.

[GraphicDisorder]

I got a automatic drain on mine.  Nothing to worry about and its great.

What?........More killing machines? Thought we had enough of that yesterday.

Tony I was rolling at your comment about the dummy being ok.  I was thinking about doing some Estops today, but then I realized what do I have or M&R have to prove.  Printex is a infant and has trouble M&R has been around for decades and if it was a issue on M&R it would be well documented.

[mk162]

What did I miss about killing machines?  A PM will work fine.

[tonypep]

Check DS..........Its alarming, funny, and embarassing all at once.

[Gilligan]

... did you mean, "been killing people for decades"?

Yes, I too appreciated your mannequin comment very much.

[ZooCity]

Check DS..........Its alarming, funny, and embarassing all at once.

Indeed it is.  I had to look around for the right section for a minute.  I think that is alarming.  "Oh well, you know, we wouldn't want to hurt the machine in case of an emergency." was the message I read from that.  Well holy Jesus, what about the person or person's parts stuck in the damn thing?  I would get any machine that functioned like that way the hell out of my shop, all other things aside.

Anyways, I always forget to drain our pancake compressor and it's all rusty inside.  They also put the drain plug not on the actual bottom, very intelligent.   This is off topic, though not as much as above subject, but who uses a small compressor here and what do you use to keep the air dry and clean on it? 

[mk162]

Holy crap-nuggets.  That is 30 minutes of my life I will never get back.