Topic: Portable air tank ?

[Uncle Ernie]

A friend gave me a portable air tank.  Now I think I see why; it loses about 10lb of air a week. 
Do I need to take the hardware apart and put it back together with pipe tape, is this just the nature of the beast, or what?

[bill440cars]

        Hey Uncle,

                 That'd be a good precautionary thing to do and I'd also check the valve core of the filler valve. If if has an air chuck, might check the seal in it also. Take care Uncle.

                                                            Later on, Bill 

             

[TwoTired]

1) Fill the tank with air.
2) Fill the tub with water.
3) hold the tank under the water. (Or at least the parts that are suspect)
4) Address/plug holes where bubbles exit.

Alternative method:
1) Make yourself a solution of liquid dish soap and water and put it in a spray bottle.
2) Douse suspected areas so there is a surface film of the solution.
3) When you are through singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", see step 4 above.

Cheers,

[merc2dogs]

do everything above, then, if it doesn't have one, install a shut-off on the hose side.
 many of them lose a bit of air through the hose itself through permeation, or not quite perfectly crimped ends.


Ken.

[Sam Green Racing]

Hey Paul, what do you want a portable air tank for, you having trouble breathing ? 

Sam.

[Uncle Ernie]

It's hooked up to my computer so I can store all the hot air from this place.

[Uncle Ernie]

Holy cow, Sammer- type something else.  The gauge jumped 10 pounds after your post!

[Sam Green Racing]

It's hooked up to my computer so I can store all the hot air from this place.

 

[Sam Green Racing]

Holy cow, Sammer- type something else.  The gauge jumped 10 pounds after your post!

Are you not gonna tell us what it's for then ?

Sam

[seaweb11]

I have one, but don't use it anymore. For me it was a way to change tire pressure on my Kart when I used to race.
They don't hold much, but enough for a days racing.....small tires

[Uncle Ernie]

Paying 75 cents for 2 pounds of air just bugs me.  I literally wear out bicycle pumps.  I even got a fairly expensive one that was rebuildable, but after a couple of years the company stopped carrying that model.   It's nice to have something to add a couple of pounds of air before leaving, is all.  Fill it once every 6 weeks or so, except now it's not holding air.
Turns out he says it got knocked over...  What a pal.  I guess I'll try taking it apart... (one more thing to do)

[tsflstb]

I saw an email with pictures from our safety guy at work regarding these tanks.  Seems like filling them with air from questionable sources can cause some internal condensation and rust over time.  Might want to give it a good once-over if it's second hand.  If it has a drain, maybe drain it and flush it with mineral spirits and see what comes out.  We had an old one rupture at something like 120 psi.   Nobody was around it at the time, but it looked like a big rusty grenade in the pics.

[Uncle Ernie]

Very good point!  I had heard that these machines at gas stations could put water into your tire and that's another reason I started using a tire pump.  I have to wonder what the condensation is doing when your tire gets hot.  I'd imagine it would really get the pressure up.