Tanks in HOT cars and wrecks
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Might have had to do with storing my cylinders in my unheated attached garage, standing directly on the cement. Central MO can get very cold during the winter. In my previous house, I stored them in the heated basement.
I store my cylinders inside now.
rx7diver
Yep, was there. Fortunately we were at the other end of the room about 20' +/- away.
The compressor was a typical big box store, 5 gallon compressor. It has the tank that is laying on it's side with the motor/compressor/handle assembly on top and 2 little feet and 2 wheels underneath. Probably just like the ones most of us have in the garage now.
Anyway, we had just turned the compressor on getting ready to work. We had walked to the other side of the room to grab some tools and such. Just as we turned around to head back it let go.
No warning or leak of any kind.
The tank split about 2 inches above the bottom center line and the compressor took off. Lucky for us the split was pointed toward us and the unit flew away from us.
The compressor slammed into a refrigerator and split the metal on the door. It then bounced off the door and hit the ceiling smashing a fluorescent light before crashing down on the work bench and knocking stuff everywhere.
The damage was contained to about a 6 x 6 area from the floor to the ceiling.
The failure sounded like shooting a .45 at an indoor range and forgetting to put on hearing protection. And there was what looked like a cloud, which was the water blowing out.
We got blasted with the typical grit from a garage shop floor and some water but other than blowing our beers over and needing to change our pants we were ok.
When we looked at the air receiver there was a line of rust pitting at the 1.5" to 2" level and the side of the receiver that split was right along that rust line. Lucky the receiver split and didn't fragment. That would have been bad.
I asked my buddy how often he drained the receiver and he told me... Whenever I start noticing water spraying out of my tools.
Seriously, WTF? Yes he drains it more often now.
We were very lucky that we weren't still at the compressor or standing over it to hook up an air line or something. This failure gave me a new respect for home shop tools that everyone just considers "safe".
This failure was no fault of the equipment. It was a lack of proper maintenance. 100% preventable.
And yes, the fridge was ok. A little spray foam in the gash and it continued cooling beer for another couple years until it died in a hurricane storm surge. I believe it was Hurricane Ivan so the failure would have been about 2000.
Drain your shop compressor after every use.
Edit: To be honest we're guessing it let go at about 115 psi. That's what the gauge was stuck at after we found it. The regulator was set to shut off at about 125 psi and the pop off we think was like 165psi but I don't remember. We couldn't test it because it was broken during the flight or landing. Whether all the safety devices were working or not it's debatable because, like I said earlier, maintenance wasn't a high priority.
Still, not an enjoyable experience.
The compressor was a typical big box store, 5 gallon compressor. It has the tank that is laying on it's side with the motor/compressor/handle assembly on top and 2 little feet and 2 wheels underneath. Probably just like the ones most of us have in the garage now.
Anyway, we had just turned the compressor on getting ready to work. We had walked to the other side of the room to grab some tools and such. Just as we turned around to head back it let go.
No warning or leak of any kind.
The tank split about 2 inches above the bottom center line and the compressor took off. Lucky for us the split was pointed toward us and the unit flew away from us.
The compressor slammed into a refrigerator and split the metal on the door. It then bounced off the door and hit the ceiling smashing a fluorescent light before crashing down on the work bench and knocking stuff everywhere.
The damage was contained to about a 6 x 6 area from the floor to the ceiling.
The failure sounded like shooting a .45 at an indoor range and forgetting to put on hearing protection. And there was what looked like a cloud, which was the water blowing out.
We got blasted with the typical grit from a garage shop floor and some water but other than blowing our beers over and needing to change our pants we were ok.
When we looked at the air receiver there was a line of rust pitting at the 1.5" to 2" level and the side of the receiver that split was right along that rust line. Lucky the receiver split and didn't fragment. That would have been bad.
I asked my buddy how often he drained the receiver and he told me... Whenever I start noticing water spraying out of my tools.
Seriously, WTF? Yes he drains it more often now.
We were very lucky that we weren't still at the compressor or standing over it to hook up an air line or something. This failure gave me a new respect for home shop tools that everyone just considers "safe".
This failure was no fault of the equipment. It was a lack of proper maintenance. 100% preventable.
And yes, the fridge was ok. A little spray foam in the gash and it continued cooling beer for another couple years until it died in a hurricane storm surge. I believe it was Hurricane Ivan so the failure would have been about 2000.
Drain your shop compressor after every use.
Edit: To be honest we're guessing it let go at about 115 psi. That's what the gauge was stuck at after we found it. The regulator was set to shut off at about 125 psi and the pop off we think was like 165psi but I don't remember. We couldn't test it because it was broken during the flight or landing. Whether all the safety devices were working or not it's debatable because, like I said earlier, maintenance wasn't a high priority.
Still, not an enjoyable experience.
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