Reminder : Drain your air compressor tank !

[sberry]

I got a couple really minor leaks in my main I threaten to fix and a couple more am not sure where they are. I need to dedicate a morning to find them. It probably causes a couple cycles a day. Probably about 10 minutes on a 3 hp motor.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Regarding the posts on "why don't they coat the inside of the tanks"....the issue you run into with a corrosion cell (any time you have steel rusting in a moist environment is an example of a corrosion cell), if you attempt to coat the steel to stop corrosion you just force all of the corrosion to occur at any point that is not coated.

It's a strange thing, but unless you are going to apply a source of electrical current to reverse the cell, you're better off NOT coating anything as that will cause the corrosion to occur all the way across the tank rather than be concentrated at just a few area where the coating is bad.

If you could coat something "perfectly", sure that would be better...but in practice eventually the coating will come into contact with the electrolyte (water in this case) and you'll rapidly create a pinhole at that point.

Water heater tanks are a good example of this. If someone clips off the anode (which is what creates a cathodic protection current to protect small defects in the ceramic tank coating) the tank will fail rapidly...actually much faster than if it had no coating at all.

In the case of an air compressor, galvanized coating on the inside might be a good solution to make it last longer, as the zinc is anodic to to steel and would protect it even if scratched...but then you would have to deal with any flakes in your filtration.

Everything's a trade off.

Phil

 

[sberry]

Water heater tanks are a good example of this. If someone clips off the anode (which is what creates a cathodic protection current to protect small defects in the ceramic tank coating) the tank will fail rapidly...actually much faster than if it had no coating at all.

I got a couple 3 I cant even imagine got any anode left. Got 1 in service since 1980, just replaced a T stat and really should clean and replace the bottom element. About every 10 years. The shat in the bottom destroys it. I have fairly hard water, not stinky sulpher or iron though but the newest water heater I have is 25 or more. 3 gas and 1 electric.

 

[IdahoMan]

I got a couple 3 I cant even imagine got any anode left. Got 1 in service since 1980, just replaced a T stat and really should clean and replace the bottom element. About every 10 years. The shat in the bottom destroys it. I have fairly hard water, not stinky sulpher or iron though but the newest water heater I have is 25 or more. 3 gas and 1 electric.

Our last water heater lasted at least 50yrs I think (don't know how long it had been in the house, we moved in in the 80s). We had it replaced about 5yrs ago because the bottom of the tank started leaking. It was a "porcilined" brand or something. At the same time we had the hot-water pipes re-insulated, they originally were would up in about 1.5" of 1937 newspaper, cardboard and string. Never had a problem with it, and it wasn't as loud as the new one.

 

[1cargarage]

Regarding the posts on "why don't they coat the inside of the tanks"....the issue you run into with a corrosion cell (any time you have steel rusting in a moist environment is an example of a corrosion cell), if you attempt to coat the steel to stop corrosion you just force all of the corrosion to occur at any point that is not coated.

It's a strange thing, but unless you are going to apply a source of electrical current to reverse the cell, you're better off NOT coating anything as that will cause the corrosion to occur all the way across the tank rather than be concentrated at just a few area where the coating is bad.

If you could coat something "perfectly", sure that would be better...but in practice eventually the coating will come into contact with the electrolyte (water in this case) and you'll rapidly create a pinhole at that point.

Water heater tanks are a good example of this. If someone clips off the anode (which is what creates a cathodic protection current to protect small defects in the ceramic tank coating) the tank will fail rapidly...actually much faster than if it had no coating at all.

In the case of an air compressor, galvanized coating on the inside might be a good solution to make it last longer, as the zinc is anodic to to steel and would protect it even if scratched...but then you would have to deal with any flakes in your filtration.

Everything's a trade off.

Phil

This is all just redoxulous.

 

[dkmc]

The Compressed Air system there sucked. They had a 100 HP Sulliscrew Compressor. I bet 50% of the air was created to fill leaks. All black iron pipe.

Oh yes, most of the plants I've been in at auction time have at least 2 compressors. Always figured one serviced the plant, and the other serviced the leaks.


I bought 2 compressors from a local Aluminum foundry. Was told they were scrap. A 25hp Joy Twistair screw, and a 25hp IR piston type. They installed a new 30hp IR screw, and spent about $30k on it. You could hear many leaks hissing out on the foundry floor when the place was in operation. Anyway, it was $300 for both compressors. I got them to my shop, pressure washed the foundry sand off them. Changed the oil and cleaned the completely caked intake filters. Test ran them, both made air just fine! Funny how they don't with the intake filters full of sand! Anyway, I sold both on Craigslist, the Joy for $550 and the IR for $650. Dumb people can be profitable at times.

 

[driz]

I got a couple 3 I cant even imagine got any anode left. Got 1 in service since 1980, just replaced a T stat and really should clean and replace the bottom element. About every 10 years. The shat in the bottom destroys it. I have fairly hard water, not stinky sulpher or iron though but the newest water heater I have is 25 or more. 3 gas and 1 electric.

You’re supposed to drain those electric water heaters annually. Then if it won’t drain Pop out the lower element and bust up / shovel out all the crud that builds up.
Those annode are only $20 snd pop right out if you can hit it with an air line and your 1/2” air wrench.
I had a water heater in a rental one time that had around 3 feet of lime scale in it. Somehow I flushed / dug it all out[emoji81].


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[sberry]

I do drain it once in a while but it gets away. I clean it right out when I element it. I have a little used one sitting beside it for the day but so far hasn't happened yet. But,,, why would I put an anode in it?

 

[TRWham]

This is all just redoxulous.

I see what you did there...