Rust Water in Compressor Tank

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I’ve had my Paasche airbrush compressor for 2-3 years and have been using it lightly about 2-4 time per month (my goal is to build more models and used it more). After each session, I unscrew the drain plug at the bottom to drain the air and any moisture. Somtimes I feel some moisture draining with the air but not much. I then leave the drain plug unscrewed to allow any remaining moisture to drip out. Today, I unscrewed the plug to drain the air and a half dollar to silver dollar sized pool of rust water drained with the air. This hasn’t happened before.

Am I following good practices operating my compressor?

  1. Draining the air after each session?
  2. Leaving the bottom drain plug open after draining until next session?
  3. Lastly, seeing the rust water, is this the beginning of the end of my compressor tank?

Thanks.

2

Yes, yes and no.

Could be that the air was humid this week.

Bill

3

The beginning? Yes,any condensation and metal is going to form rust,but it doesn’t mean it’s going to rust thru anytime soon,keep doing what your doing and hope for the best.My little compressor tank developed a pin hole and I was able to seal it with JB steel reinforced epoxy,it’s held for 15 months,so not necessarily the end,but it might eventually blow out in the future sometime.

4

Thanks for the replies.

I didn’t know a tank could be spot repaired like that. That’s why I come to the forums to get wise advise :slight_smile:

5

Sonetimes,people told me it wouldn’t work,but it has extended it a bit.

6

JB Weld on a pressure tank isn’t best practice. If it’s held a while, fine. But personally I wouldnt wait for a blow out to replace either the tank or get a new compressor.

Some rust tainted water when draining can happen. It doesn’t mean it’s curtains for the compressor, not yet anyway.

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7

Why? I’ve been waiting 15 months and its fine,that’s money I didn’t have to spend,when it blows beyond repair,then I’ll spend.

I’m talking about one of those little compressor/tank combos

8

I think the problem would be if the patch dislodges, possibly causing injury.

When I got my first serious compressor, I didn’t know about the drain plug in the tank, so it got really rusty. I only found out when the head gasket failed and a friend’s dad who was a refrigeration tech took the unit apart and told me to drain the tank after every use.

9

I was just trained that way, you can do as you see fit. It’s your space, your equipment etc.

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10

This is the compressor,it’s tiny,the “patch” is a plug of JB Weld the size of a dime on the very bottom of the tank,any blowout isnt going to do anything.

Thanks

11

[Y]

12

I’m in the same exact boat, however my compressor and tank combo is much older. Roughly 20 years old, give or take a few years. It was barely used after purchased new, maybe a handful of times max and sat for the rest of those years, until recently. It was never drained. I’ve been using it but just found out it needed to be drained, so I did and the water is very rusty and there was a lot of it. I’m wondering if I should get a replacement tank just to be safe, or a whole new compressor, since it’s so old… even though it works fine. I’ve tried Goggling and can’t find just the tank, anywhere… model is an Airbrush Depot TC-20, if anyone has any leads on a new tank… otherwise, I may just get a whole new compressor.

13

If it’s not leaking I’d just use it. But that said there is a site I know nothing about that list tanks, do a search for Ali Express airbrush compressor replacement tanks. I’d post the link but it comes out about 300 letters long lol.

14

If you eventually replace it,and it’s s small setup like mine,they are all over Amazon at reasonable prices.

But again,if it works and doesnt leak,no reason not to use it till it dies.

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