[F ROCK]

Air compressor explosion videos were popping up on my feed.
Wow. I drain my tank but not every time.
I just went out and unplugged mine. It's right next to my car.
Explosion at about 1:27:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVP_A7eGYxw&t=102s

Here's another that shows some aftermath of a different explosion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm_FJ6Pat4I&t=60s

[Cliff R]

Pretty scary for sure.

I moved mine to another room about 10 years ago so I didn't have to listen to it. I'm glad I did after seeing those videos!......

[BTCS]

Power plants that require 24x7 plant or control air install either mechanical traps or automatic electric drain valves to keep their receivers clear of free water. We also checked them daily.

[SRR]

I put an auto drain on mine. The larger professional air compressors aren't thin wall consumer grade like the ones that failed.

[A.W.Dille]

Mine is fairly new but I do drain it on a regular basis. My Ingersoll Rand appears to have a pretty good tank and if I have any problems my neighbor works at the local Ingersoll plant.

[dataway]

Yep, those look like bottom of the barrel cheapo compressors. Even then, catastrophic failures are very rare. With rust it almost always starts with a pinhole leak that gets larger and larger. I'd be willing to bet that in both those instances the tanks were over pressured by a faulty pressure switch and relief valve. Of course improper maintenance and lack of draining can accelerate the demise of both those components. And of course some people will readjust the pressure switches to a higher pressure and disable the relief valves to get more pressure.

Those look like structural failure of the tank on a fundamental level rather than rust failures.

[lust4speed]

First off I fully acknowledge that air compressor tanks fail, but the massive failure of this tank might have more behind it. First off, the granddad is right beside it for several minutes as if monitoring its progress. Looking at the stills at the end of the video it looks like a bung might have been added on one of the domes, and possibly some recent welding along the fracture. At least the paint looks burned off which definitely didn't just happen. Maybe it's just me, but motor and compressor look pretty big for what appears to be a low line tank setup. Also in one of the stills there is a new unit right next to where he was working, and this would support the theory that the guy was just getting this one up and running.

I don't worry about my 80 gallon upright because it is outside behind the garage and very heavy metal, and the 30 gallon barn unit is probably 20 feet from the work area. What hit home with the video is the danger with my old 11 gallon portable tank that I have to stand over while filling it prior to loading it up in the trailer when going to the drags. Definitely light metal and no drain.

[Formulajones]

Here's pictures of dad's compressor when it blew out the bottom. It broke a 6" thick section of concrete, and blew the wall out of the garage, and shot straight up in the air high enough to hit the 10 foot trusses. Shrapnel everywhere and several thousand dollars damage to the garage. Had to cut and pour a new floor.

[Mr Anonymous]

i got one from a friend of my dads. It was a 20gallon horizontal, opened up like a flower on the bottom, providing a nice amount of surface area for the thrust vector. 3 doors, 2 cars, and 15,000 later, every thing was fixed. Had to fix the ceiling where the compressor and motor made holes.

[dataway]

Formula ... now that looks like a rust failure.

Sure wish you could pay extra and get stainless tanks, they would last forever.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by dataway

Formula ... now that looks like a rust failure.

Sure wish you could pay extra and get stainless tanks, they would last forever.

I'm not sure but that's what I would assume. It was drained regularly though, but the gauge of the metal isn't all that thick either, after seeing it open. Just a simple 120psi stand up that wasn't over regulated either.

Dad was standing in the garage about 20 feet away when it blew. Sounded like a bomb going off. The garage sat on a 5 acre lot probably 150 feet away from the house and my mother heard the explosion inside the house. It's pretty violent when these things decide to let go. Just 120 psi and look at the damage that does!! Imagine what damage the compressor I have now would do that is regulated to 175 psi. Yikes!!

[mgarblik]

After reading all this stuff and looking at the damage, I am intrigued by the auto drains. After looking for a few minutes, there are many different kinds. Pneumatic operation, 115V on a timer, 115V with some type of float deal like a sump pump, 220 single phase like the compressor itself. Quite a variety. Any recommendations? I have my vertical 80 gallon anchored to the slab with shock cushions. I can see that would offer little resistance to an all out failure

[Formulajones]

I've never done the auto drain stuff so can't offer a recommendation.

I simply just open the drain valve every morning before working, so it gets a daily drain. I have it plumbed so it's a simple ball valve that drains into a bucket, easy to reach, and I'm back in the corner turning on the air compressor every day so it's just simple to turn the ball valve while I'm there.

Out here in Arizona though the air is so dry here with single digit humidity and dew points, I get very little moisture out of the tank. Nothing like I used to get back in Ohio.

[Formulajones]

Just to add,
Something to think about. This might be a good reason to consider a standup compressor. I never liked the little roll around units, which is shown in the videos that Frock posted. It seems apparent when those things go there is no telling what direction, as they have much more surface area along the bottom for potential rust and holding water and those videos show the explosion covers a broad area.

The stand up is only the diameter of the tank, not the length that is affected by rust as the water settles in the bottom, and from dad's experience they apparently tend to go straight up like a rocket rather than sideways like the videos of the horizontal style. Dad's destruction is only concentrated in the corner where the compressor was sitting as you can see in my pictures. He had both cars parked in that garage at the time and none of them were affected. He was just 20 feet away, and other than his head ringing, he wasn't hit with anything.

Might be something to think about.

[STEELCITYFIREBIRD]

My bud had an upright go thru his garage roof, definitely no joke.
Looked like yours Formulajones, wish I still had the pics, he was running really high pressure for big truck wheel removal, etc.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by STEELCITYFIREBIRD

My bud had an upright go thru his garage roof, definitely no joke.
Looked like yours Formulajones, wish I still had the pics, he was running really high pressure for big truck wheel removal, etc.

Dayum!! Seems the higher pressure could do more damage. That little Ingersol of dad's was just a 120 pounder. The 2x4 roof trusses of the 10 foot ceiling stopped it so it never got into the attic area. It was an all open attic with no finished drywall. I don't believe it even broke the 2x4's, it did most of it's damage to the concrete floor and the bottom of the wall.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

After reading all this stuff and looking at the damage, I am intrigued by the auto drains. After looking for a few minutes, there are many different kinds. Pneumatic operation, 115V on a timer, 115V with some type of float deal like a sump pump, 220 single phase like the compressor itself. Quite a variety. Any recommendations? I have my vertical 80 gallon anchored to the slab with shock cushions. I can see that would offer little resistance to an all out failure

I have a vertical 80 gallon two stage compressor mounted on a wooden base with 2" rubber very dense rubber isolators in the corner of my garage.

I have always opened the drain (if I knew I was not going to use the compressor for a while) and left it open.
No water was ever left in the tank to rust out the inside of the tank at the end of the days work.


Course My air compressor was purchased 30 years ago before all of the Chinese stuff hit the market.

You really need to watch them purchases today on garage equipment, as shown by the crappy floor jack stands, etc posted in a couple of threads last year. When I move out of this house the air compressor will be in a custom "shed" next to the garage on the outside of the garage more to reduce noise than anything else. Marty Palbykin had his set up that way back in 1996.

Glad no one was hurt.

Tom V.

[SRR]

https://www.gosuburban.com/our-brand...ic-drain-valve

Not cheap, but USA made and works like a charm.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by SRR

https://www.gosuburban.com/our-brand...ic-drain-valve

Not cheap, but USA made and works like a charm.

Thanks. I will check that one out. I admit I don't check my tank as often as I should. It's a 2-stage with an oil pump and a spin-on automotive type filter. Here in Ohio, it gets a lot of water in the tank as well as in the compressor crankcase. I change the oil about every 6-8 weeks in the spring and summer due to milky oil. I drain the tank about once a week during those seasons. Have a separator for my lines and power tools. Have about 250 ft. of hard plastic plumbing running through various small garages and the shop, through attics and some underground. Auto drain would provide some extra piece of mind. Run about 150 PSI at the tank. Compressor is around 40 years old but I rebuilt the pump a year ago.

[BTCS]

Any good automatic drain device for condensate removal should work fine and be considered, especially for 'constant use' units. I'd suggest cycling the manual drain daily to ensure the auto draining is effective.

I don't run my own compressor daily so after each use I open the drain and leave it that way until next use.

Depending on jurisdiction, large plants are required to get their air receivers inspected/certified periodically, requiring operational, internal and UT checks. We don't have that at home....