Hand pump for hydrotest

[KenMathisHD]

Hi guys, I tried to test my air tank today without much success. I watched a video where a dude tested his using a grease gun filled with water, so I went out, bought a hand pump grease gun, put everything together, filled the tank and cylinder with water, but couldn’t get water to actually enter the tank from the gun through the grease gun. I tried different fittings and a different ends to the grease gun, though I’m not sure if I’m just doing it wrong or got screwed with a busted gun. I’ve seen folks say just use a small water hand pump, but what I find when I search is hand pumps for wells like you’d see on top of an old underground cistern. Is this actually what they’re using, or are they meaning something like a siphon pump? Any of y’all have a specific pump you like to use for doing this?


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[The Cobbler]

fill the tank with water ,make sure to get all the air out. hook up the grease gun (full of grease) and pump it in

 

[KenMathisHD]

fill the tank with water ,make sure to get all the air out. hook up the grease gun (full of grease) and pump it in

The grease will work for this? It won’t gunk up the drain on the tank?


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[Packard V8]

Rather than trying to use a zerk fitting, I remove the end from the hose and screw the pump hose directly into a correctly drilled and tapped pipe plug in order to seal the tank and introduce the fluid being pumped. It's possible to use a grease gun with only a hard line out, but just not as convenient.

Then, the tank must be completely filled with water and all air expelled. If there's even a small amount of air, the test isn't going to be accurate.

A good quality grease gun will pump water as well as it will grease. If it's worn or if it's a cheap Chicom, sometimes it won't. In that event, grease will be necessary. Depending on what variety of grease is used, it's going in in small shots and will form globules in the water which will float out when drained.

jack vines

 

[foghorn1966]

& use the grease gun upside down.

 

[sberry]

If grease is a must add a ****** as a catch.

 

[KenMathisHD]

It was a cheapo Lucas mini grease gun. I’ve got a different one that works off my other air compressor but it wouldn’t hold water so I didn’t use it at the time. I’ll ditch the zerk, get some grease and see if I can get an adapter that goes from the end of the hose to the 1/4 opening I have


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[KenMathisHD]

Also, on another note, what should I do to keep the inside of the tank from rusting once all of the water is drained out? Just close it up and put a bit of pressure in it?


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[theoldwizard1]

Also, on another note, what should I do to keep the inside of the tank from rusting once all of the water is drained out? Just close it up and put a bit of pressure in it?

You live in TX. Pick a sunny, hot, low humidity day and leave it out in the sun with all of the valves open. By 4 or 5 PM that tank should be well over 100F !

 

[Bondo]

Hi guys, I tried to test my air tank today without much success.

Ayuh,..... I admit I'm somewhat easy to confuse, but this thread takes the cake,....

When I hydrostatically tested my homemade outdoor wood boiler, that I designed to run at system pressure, rather than open with a heat exchanger,....
I tested it pretty much how scuba tanks are tested,....

Fill it as full as possible with water,.... Then put the air pressure to it,.....

For air to be explosive, it takes a volume of air,....
For a test, yer talkin' an once or less of volume, so no explosion hazard,....

With my boiler, with the workin' pressure of 30 psi or less, I filled it with water, 'n put 90 psi of air to a fitting at the top.
2 days later, it was still at pressure with no leaks,.....

It's still workin' now, 14 years later,....

 

[KenMathisHD]

Ayuh,..... I admit I'm somewhat easy to confuse, but this thread takes the cake,....

Aye, I’m admittedly not so great in just jumping into stuff. I’d rather ask before I mess up what I’ve got though - helps me understand a bit more.




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[Sleeper]

Never done the hydro test myself but I have read that if you use a grease gun with water you have to reverse the plunger so it will seal properly with water. Might be different on different grease guns but the one I read about was designed so the different sides of the plunger sealed differently for grease and water.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Ayuh,..... I admit I'm somewhat easy to confuse, but this thread takes the cake,....

When I hydrostatically tested my homemade outdoor wood boiler, that I designed to run at system pressure, rather than open with a heat exchanger,....
I tested it pretty much how scuba tanks are tested,....

Fill it as full as possible with water,.... Then put the air pressure to it,.....

For air to be explosive, it takes a volume of air,....
For a test, yer talkin' an once or less of volume, so no explosion hazard,....

Bondo, no disrespect intended, but that is not how any pressure vessel is properly hydrotested. There is zero compressed air or gas of any kind involved. Any volume of compressed gas can be explosive, regardless of how small.

Tommy

 

[L.Cheapo]

Keith Rucker just posted a hydro testing video today, he used a pressure washer. Just an idea.

 

[tunerwithkids]

I just followed Keith’s video and did my pressure test. I left all my valves in place since I just freshly installed everything before I learned so easy it was. The check valve held up to 270psi for 8 hrs. Here’s my DIY.

 

[wrenchguy]

IT"S BS you have a 500psi pop off. It's wrong, maybe you misspoke! What does the manufacturer tag read regarding its original psi test? This video is not good.

I miss heard 500, 300 is more like it. But it might be better that your popoff is 25 psi more than what your gonna set the max pressure at. Be extremely sure of your narration and testing.