Wow, never thought about this

[theo]

Wanna think about this some,,,,,,

[grumpy]

It's good to drain the water out, also to stay away when charging the tank.

[waytomany?s]

I'm guessing the regulator failed and it pumped until it blew.

[grumpy]

Possible, safety relief valve stuck ?

He mentioned rust, it blew out the center where water would sit. Could have been the seam too.

I have a vertical tank, I leave the drain valve open just a little all the time so the water blows out .

That way I don't have to remember as I don't use it much.
Lucky no one got hurt.

[gaw]

Explosive decompression. Truck tires can explode with impressive effects. Had a friend get blown against a wall and knocked silly when one let loose and it was an inside dual ao he had the outside tire between him for a little bit of protection.

[Sunny Boy]

I'm guessing the regulator failed and it pumped until it blew.

My guess too. The inside looks dry and not overly rusty. And looking at how it also split so much near the top of the tank, that says way over pressure and not rust to me.

Usually,.... the older they get they don't rust much because the piston rings wear and they start to pump oil spray into the air tank. All my old compressors aways drain oil mixed with the water.

I've been working with compressors since I was a kid, have three in my shop now, one of which is over 40 years old and has thousands of hours on it for my glass bead blasting cabinets. I never had one fail. They have a safety valve that releases excess pressure well below what will make them grenade themselves. Maybe that one did not have a safety valve, or the valve and the pressure switch both were stuck ?

About once a year I yank on the safety valve stem rings to make sure they are not stuck to the valve seat.

The only compressor I've ever seen without a safety valve is a rotary-vaned oilless low pressure compressor to feed my sandblasting air hood.

Paul

[grumpy]

My guess too. The inside looks dry and not overly rusty

He said there was enough rust in the tank that it embedded itself into his insulation and doors.

He also repaired the tank due to rust hole's, as in more than one.

[Sunny Boy]

He said there was enough rust in the tank that it embedded itself into his insulation and doors.

If he'd been draining the tank regularly there wouldn't be much loose rust in it. Tight rust scale would be knocked loose by the shock and it always looks like a lot but is actually a very small percentage of the original steel. Rust will expand something like 10 times larger than what the steel had been. That huge expansion is what "rust jacking" is that pushes stoves apart. Clean the rust off and the rust pits are nowhere near as deep as the thickness of rust would lead you to think.

For the last 42 years I've making my living working to restore rusty steel parts. First thing I looked at is the edges of the splits and they don't look raggedy thin enough like well rust pitted sheet steel would show.

And even at that the safety valve should have popped long before even a very rusted tank would blow like that.

I still stand with waytoomany? that the pressure switch failed, and the compressor kept running and over pressurized the tank.

Paul

[Richard S.]

He also repaired the tank due to rust hole's, as in more than one.

I didn't notice where he said that but it appears there was some welding done around the drain valve. If you need to start welding on something holding pressure you better know what the hell you are doing.

In any event there appears to be fairly straight line on the bottom and end that split, possibly a seam that was compromised that either caused it or contributed to it.

[grumpy]

I didn't notice where he said that but it appears there was some welding done around the drain valve. If you need to start welding on something holding pressure you better know what the hell you are doing.

In any event there appears to be fairly straight line on the bottom and end that split, possibly a seam that was compromised that either caused it or contributed to it.

He spoke about it in the comments, yes he welded the drain valve, Illegal if not certified btw. And it did split on the seam where most of the rust damage was done. Also welding would have compromised that seam as well.

I tried to find out if the unit was running when it happened but no luck short of writing him..

[Sunny Boy]

Did not hear about welding rust holes in the video. If so, he should never have reused that tank. Huge red flag.

Paul

[BrokenGrate]

I work for a pretty big company and get the accidents globally every month. Last month an air line came off a compressor and hit the man on his hard hat.

It was a fatal accident.

[theo]

I work for a pretty big company and get the accidents globally every month. Last month an air line came off a compressor and hit the man on his hard hat.

It was a fatal accident.

This is why my motto is "eat dessert first" You never know if your going to be around for it later!

[waytomany?s]

This is why my motto is "eat dessert first" You never know if your going to be around for it later!

Hang on, I'll get my wife on the phone and you can explain it to her.

[theo]

Hang on, I'll get my wife on the phone and you can explain it to her.