Is it bad to leave your compressor with air in it. I do most airbrushing at night once the kiddies go to bed. So if I could fire up the compressor during bedtime routine, make all its noise while the kids aren’t trying to fall sleep. Then I can get setup and paint. But that would mean leaving it with air for maybe up to an hour or 2. Is that bad? Would it be ok once in awhile?
Hi gunner_chris,
Personally, I don’t think leaving a tank pressurized for an hour or 2 would hurt. My little tank gets pressurized when I go in the shop and will be painting. It stays on the whole time I’m there so is pressurized for several hours at a time. I do empty the tank when finished for the day though and drain moisture periodically.
From the little I know about pressure tanks I cant see it being a problem. The tank will expand and contract a little each time it is filled so over a LOT of uses it will get weaker but due to the pressures we use for airbrushing it will take a very long time. I have heard of SCUBA tanks having issues if left in the sun for extended periods of time but again its for a long time and the pressure they use is a lot higher. So over all your safe dont worry about it
Phil
It’s not going to cause a problem at all.
One of the primary reasons to drain the tank is to expel moisture, which over time will corrode the bottom of the tank. Some users out there just keep using their compressor without draining & only notice a problem when the compressor starts to run almost continuously (the tank is full of water & there is little space left for air).
Although you are leaving the compressor charged for a while, you are still draining it on a regular basis, so all will be well.
i live in colorado and have left mine on for days. when i drain it at most the air feels a tad damp which may be my imnagination. no water, not even a moisture stain on the concrete.
As others have said, leaving the tank pressurized over several hours is not a problem.
However, I always drain the tank after every use, as where I live the relative humidity is usually in the 60-70% range. I almost always get some water out of the drain, and did learn the hard way that keeping accumulated water out of the tank was important to compressor life. My first silent compressor became so badly corroded that it needed a rebuild. Fortunately, a friend’s dad was a refrigeration tech, so he fixed it for me.
I leave mine pressurized all the time. I would think draining it after every use would mean more wear on the compressor, since you have to pump up your tank again before the next use. I’ve never drained the water trap either, but I’m in Colorado too, and it’s real dry here.
I’m pretty sure that recharging the air tank before each use won’t adversely affect compressor life. If your tank does not accumulate water, then periodic checks would probably suffice.
In my case I forgot about the drain plug, despite the previous owner having told me to always check and drain the tank. After a few month’s use, there was so much water in the tank that the internal components like the shut-off valve started to rust. It was a real mess in there, and took a bit of work to get the thing going again. I live in Hawaii, so the humidity is vastly different than Colorado!