I was just enjoying a great session of priming my latest Gundam kit when my compressor (no-name ag-326) made a weird sound and started vomiting a brown fluid from a valve (?) in the bottom of the tank. I’ve cleaned it up with a rag so far but have no idea what just happened. Is my compressor toast?!? What do I do?!? This has never happened to me before.
UPDATE: Is this hole supposed to be here (see pic)
That brown fluid was rusty water.
As air expands it cools and causes the moisture trapped in it to condense. This creates water that can collect in the bottom of the tank. The silver piece to the right of the hole is drain valve to let that water out. Part of normal maintenance is to drain all the air out of the tank and then open that silver valve on the bottom to drain out any water that condensed inside the tank. If it isn’t, the water will sit on the bottom of thank and cause it to rust until it loses strength and holes form.
That hole is likely where the tank rusted through and where the brown rusty water came from. At this point the tank will not be able to hold pressure.
If you know someone who is a good welder they may be able to fill it, however. Given that you’ve already had one blow out it is likely another could happen at any time. You might be able to replace just the tank depending upon how it was built. Depends upon how comfortable you are with disassembling it. Easiest path may be to just replace the whole thing.
I completely sympathize with this. I did something similar. I learned about that drain valve after running my compressor for three years with out draining it. When I did finally open it a flood of rusty water came out of mine. I expect it means I have limited life before I experience the exact same thing.
Thank you for your quick reply! I wish I had known that before this happened. Looks like I’ll be making a new purchase 
Consider CO2. Silent and dry. I’ve been using it for 30 years.
Mine had a blow out 2 1/2 years ago now,I patched it with this stuff.
It loosened up once and I had to redo it,but it’s still good. If your hole isnt too big, a repair shouid work,but you probably should put some money aside,but by all means,I would wait until it’s done,you never know how it might go.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I just went straight ahead and bought a replacement. Bless you Amazon Prime & Spraygunner
Expensive lesson learned!
Spraygunner is a great site!
My first compressor ( I use a full size 40 gal now) I plumbed the compressor into an old 5lb fire extinguisher I cleaned out, used compression fittings and tubing to plumb it all up. Worked great till the compressor gave out.
I’ll second PhoenixG. Part of my shut-down process at the end of a session is to pull the valve on my tank (a Craftsman compressor and tank) and bleed off the air and any water vapor in the tank.
Looks good,enjoy it.
Get on eBay and buy a new tank and transfer your working pump to the new tank.
Ok. New compressor is great but I already have noticed some evidence of rust despite emptying out the tank every time I use it . Spotted some on the screw for the tank. What gives?!
Its still condensation on metal,the tank isnt top grade stainless steel,gonna be some rust along the way.I would say that properly draining it is going to slow down the rusting process though
Yes, happens to mine too, a Sparmax TC-620X, despite draining after every use. Guess we can only hope the rusting through gets slowed down.
Does anyone know of compressors with rust-proof tanks? Perhaps with an aluminum tank?
Spraygunner helped me out on mine…I purchase 90% + of my airbrush and painting needs from this excellent company.
@mrg149
Thanks for sharing. I never heard of this brand and learned that it’s much cheaper than IWATA in terms of price. I wonder about its long term quality?!
I’d say it’s like anything else these days. Quality is decent enough to sell the product but not as “hardy” as it used to be.
I like my new compressor. I recommend it.
