Wayne Air Compressor?

gm280

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The compressor has lost 2 psi over 24 hours. I sprayed some soapy water on the fittings and found a small leak where a reducing bushing screws in to the manifold.
I've read a lot on hydro testing and it doesn't look to difficult, the only issue is the tank never had a ASME ID plate so I don't know it working pressure. Hence I don't know what psi to test the tank too.
I'm thinking I can remove the over pressure valve which appears to be adjustable and attach it to the air hose from my 6 gallon 150 psi compressor and turn up the out put pressure until it pops open then I will know what pressure the compressor was being used at.

Two issues. What happens IF the over pressure valve it stuck? Second, what pressure do you usually use around you shop? I would not go over 110 psi if it were me. But that is just a personal opinion.
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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The over pressure valve from the Wayne compressor wouldn't open when attached to an air line from a newer compressor with 150 psi going to it. I'm considering it junk and have installed a known good 100 psi rated over pressure valve that I tested the same way and it popped open at just over 100 psi.
At present the highest pressure I'm using is 100psi when I'm filling my load range C tires to 90psi. My plan is to be able to paint my boat and will be getting some air tools. I'm planning on using the tank as a receiver tank if it test good.
 

gm280

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If you go with a HVLP spray gun setup, it should work okay. It all depends on the amount of CFMs you will need.
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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I ran the compressor for a few minuets this morning and noticed the crank seal is leaking. Then I pulled the drain plug and a few drops of clearish water came out.
Great I thought then I stuck my finger in the drain hole and dislodged some crud and about 2 to 3 cups of light chocolate colored water and oil came out. The pump is going to need a full rebuild to be useable, not having any info on the compressor or the pump is going to make this all but impossible.
I'll have to disassemble the compressor and flush out the tank before it can be hydrostatic tested.
 

MTboatguy

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I bet you just about any of the pump companies out there can get you the parts to rebuild that pump, they are not complicated and their design has not changed in many years, I would take the pump off of it and take to a shop that has pump parts and see what they have to say.

It might cost more than it is worth, but at least you would know if you can.
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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I can hand cut the necessary gaskets and find a crank seal based on the ID and OD measurements. The piston rings would be the hard part.
When I was taking the pump, motor and manifold off I found a paper with the original specs for the Furnas brand pressure switch. It's set to turn the motor on at 100psi and shuts off at 125psi. Now I know what my target pressure is for hydro testing is 185 to 200 psi.
 

gm280

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I can hand cut the necessary gaskets and find a crank seal based on the ID and OD measurements. The piston rings would be the hard part.
When I was taking the pump, motor and manifold off I found a paper with the original specs for the Furnas brand pressure switch. It's set to turn the motor on at 100psi and shuts off at 125psi. Now I know what my target pressure is for hydro testing is 185 to 200 psi.

Without manufacturing specs, once you remove the piston and measure the diameter and the ring groves, rings should not be hard to locate. Most manufactures try to use off the shelf spec parts instead of design unique parts. So once you know the diameter and ring grooves, I suspect you could find a lot of rings that would fit. JMHO

I have followed this thread from the beginning. And I will say, some times a find along side the road isn't as great a deal as we would like.
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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Primarily I'm interested in the tank.
The pump is too small to provide enough cfm's to be of any real use even if rebuilt.
 

MTboatguy

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Primarily I'm interested in the tank.
The pump is too small to provide enough cfm's to be of any real use even if rebuilt.

Then just make up a plate of 1/4 in steel, drill the mounting holes and put a gasket on it, do away with the pump all together.
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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I bought a bottle of dawn dish soap and flushed out the tank. The first flushing used 4oz of dawn and 2 gallons of very hot water, when I drained that the water was fairly dirty and the foam was brown. The second flushing was one cup of dawn and 4 gallons of very hot water, this time the water was much clearer and the foam was a lighter brown. The last flushing was 2 cups of dawn and 10 gallons of very hot water, this time when I drained the water it was almost clear and the foam was mostly white. I then flushed out the tank with a steady stream of cold water until it ran clear and no more foam was coming out.

Through the whole process I didn't get any noticeable rust or large chunks of crap out of the tank. I have a couple of places to call about hydro testing the tank before I try doing it myself.
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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I have found a fire equipment dealer that does hydrostatic testing, they are about 20 miles away. One of their techs will have to see the tank before deciding if they will test it. I should be able to get it there next week.
​If they wont do the test or it's too expensive I will attempt do it myself using the grease gun method.
 

gm280

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I have found a fire equipment dealer that does hydrostatic testing, they are about 20 miles away. One of their techs will have to see the tank before deciding if they will test it. I should be able to get it there next week.
​If they wont do the test or it's too expensive I will attempt do it myself using the grease gun method.

For the dummies out there...okay for me, can you explain the hydrostatic test you are going to do? I will be interested in seeing or hearing how you will do it. :facepalm:
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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To hydrostatically test a pressure vessel you fill it completely with water and then force a little more water in. There must not be any air in the tank or it could explode if the tank fails. If the tank fails when full of water the pressure drops quickly and is just a lot of water to clean up.
​My plan is to stand the tank on end and strap it to a tree as it will weigh 400+ pounds when full of water. The tank has 3. 1/4" openings one to let air in on the top of the tank, one to let air out in one end of the tank and the drain in the bottom of the tank. With the tank standing on end the drain opening is where I will install a zikr fitting to force my water in. On what is the air in fitting I will install a 200psi or higher water pressure gauge. The air out fitting will be on the top of the tank and will be for filling the tank with water and to bled out the air in the tank. Once the tank is fill I will plug the fitting on top and force water into the tank with a grease gun.
​Then you leave it for about an hour under pressure if it holds it's good to go.
 

bruceb58

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My buddy is a mechanical engineer who does liability testing for court cases. He was called in as a expert witness for a craftsman tank that exploded. He did hydrostatic tests on multiple tanks until they failed. Turns out the guy that was suing Sears never drained his tank and it was full of corrosion which caused the tank to fail. Sears won the case.

Air does a lot of damage when it expands. One reason why you never uses PVC pipe for air lines.
 

Tim Frank

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To hydrostatically test a pressure vessel you fill it completely with water and then force a little more water in. There must not be any air in the tank or it could explode if the tank fails. If the tank fails when full of water the pressure drops quickly and is just a lot of water to clean up.
​My plan is to stand the tank on end and strap it to a tree as it will weigh 400+ pounds when full of water. The tank has 3. 1/4" openings one to let air in on the top of the tank, one to let air out in one end of the tank and the drain in the bottom of the tank. With the tank standing on end the drain opening is where I will install a zikr fitting to force my water in. On what is the air in fitting I will install a 200psi or higher water pressure gauge. The air out fitting will be on the top of the tank and will be for filling the tank with water and to bled out the air in the tank. Once the tank is fill I will plug the fitting on top and force water into the tank with a grease gun.
​Then you leave it for about an hour under pressure if it holds it's good to go.


Oh my. I am sure there is no way I can convince you that a shade-tree-DIY-hydrostatic test on a discarded tank, with an unknown history, with the intention of depending on the results and actually using the pressure vessel, is one of the most potentially dangerous ideas I've read in here....so I won't bother trying.

I will offer two suggestions:

1) At least do a preliminary visual internal inspection with a bore-scope. Flushing it with dish soap might have cleaned any loose stuff, but as far as assessing internal condition......???? If I want to dive into unknown water, I always check for rocks and depth first. :)

2) There is a reason that all official and competently done HTs are done in a closed system. In addition to adding a safety buffer in case of failure....it also allows the determination of a pre- and post- dimension so that any change in volume...transient AND permanent can be logged. At the least, consider submerging it in a tank of water. If one of those fittings lets go under 200+ PSI it won't matter if it is air pressure or water pressure if you are in the way.
 

gm280

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Many decades ago I worked on forward looking Beacon RADAR units the were huge, about the size of a 30 gallon metal trash can. And being how they mounted on the nose section of the aircraft, and not installed in a atmospherically controlled area, they were pressurized. And even though we only used 20 pounds of pressure, we had to put them in a caged area and turn the pressure on from out side that cage. Then it had to hold the pressure for hours to be considered good. But I can't remember any of them exploding. But if it did, it was inside a heavy wired cage to control any flying parts. 200 PSI is extremely dangerous and I wouldn't want to be anywhere around such a test myself. JMHO
 

lckstckn2smknbrls

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The tank will have no air in it to compress so no massive explosion. Hydrostatic is fairly safe even if the tank fails, If the tank has been damaged by rust it will fail the hydrostatic test long before it reaching 200 psi of water pressure.
​I'm testing the tank because it is unknown and I want it to be safe.
 
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