Harbor Freight Compressor Auto Drain Fix

[MTboatguy]

I know a lot of us depend on compressors in our various projects, so do I, I have a 65 gallon upright that I got in a trade a few years ago and wanted to make sure it drained so it didn't incur rust damage to the tank, so I hop down to harbor freight last time I was in a bigger town and pick up one of their cheap compressor auto drain valves and install it, worked great for about 6 months!

Then of course being cheap it started leaking!!! Normal for cheap fixes, thought crap can't do all my chores without my compressor! take the valve out and tore it apart, and found out what goes wrong in these things, seems a lot of people have the same problem with them and either buy a new kit, or junk it and back to the old way of draining them.

Well what goes wrong, is there is a 1" PVC diaphragm disk that the air pushes a plunger up against and opens and closes when it turns off to drain the water, the disk ends up tearing where the nut seals to it and you have a leak, so I look around in my local town and can't find anything to replace it for less than $20 for a small sheet of rubber!

Crap, the valve only cost $10 new! So I am digging around the tool box and find an old inner tube patch kit, notice their is a rubber patch in there just about the same size as the diaphragm that tore, trim it down a little to match the PVC disk, put it all together and it works just as it should again!

$1.99 for the patch kit and it comes with two of the rubber disks that are the right sized for fixing this.

 

[GA_Boater]

Using a tire patch to fix the compressor you use to pump up a tire after patching just seems so right!

 

[Grub54891]

Good idea! I use roofing rubber quite often for stuff like that. My theory is if it can hold up to the constant sun and weather without dry rotting, it should be fine for other applications.

 

[bigdee]

Kudos.....I grew up without the benefits of wealth which taught me to seek innovated alternatives. Some people are helpless in this regard and have the false belief that more $$ thrown at something,the better.
As far as the drain valve goes I have never seen one that would last without maintenance anyway. I tried many brands and types in my years of industry.

 

[gm280]

Bravo MT, shop or garage fixes are usually the best anyway. How about popping up a picture or three. I am contemplating one myself and would like to see what's involved if I should need to fix it.