New or Used Air Compressor?

[facility1]

Some of the older compressors are better built, rebuild if you can get parts/kit and just run them. can depend on brand and size though.

 

[nealberke]

Buying used poses a risk if they did not properly maintain it and drain it, if it rusted internally and explodes it will go off like a bomb destroying much near it.

Buy new, maintain it and keep it for decades instead of buying a risk.

Thank you. I've wondered about this for years. I was visiting a tool forum many years ago when someone wanted to put a new motor and compressor on an old air tank. Even if you drain moisture regularly, rust occurs. At what point is a tank too rusty to save? I would only bet on say a 5 year old lightly used compessor for my needs. I'd stay away from anything used for years in a commercial / industrial environment or a "barn find".

 

[oil pan 4]

Thank you. I've wondered about this for years. I was visiting a tool forum many years ago when someone wanted to put a new motor and compressor on an old air tank. Even if you drain moisture regularly, rust occurs. At what point is a tank too rusty to save? I would only bet on say a 5 year old lightly used compessor for my needs. I'd stay away from anything used for years in a commercial / industrial environment or a "barn find".

I run them till they rust through and start leaking.

 

[OM617YOTA]

I've had several compressors rust through. None ever went BANG and took out a building like a grenade, they just start leaking.

 

[billt460]

I've had several compressors rust through. None ever went BANG and took out a building like a grenade, they just start leaking.

In that regard they're a lot like water heaters when they start to crap out.

 

[brandon9715]

I've had several compressors rust through. None ever went BANG and took out a building like a grenade, they just start leaking.

Yup, corrosion/rust will make small leaks first 99% of the time. Even if a big area somehow all rusted through at the same exact rate, it would let out a big puff of air and be done. The only way I can think of an air compressor exploding like a grenade is if the pressure switch failed so it kept running indefinitely. Even then, there will be a point that the motor can’t overcome the back pressure from the tank.

 

[oil pan 4]

Yup, corrosion/rust will make small leaks first 99% of the time. Even if a big area somehow all rusted through at the same exact rate, it would let out a big puff of air and be done. The only way I can think of an air compressor exploding like a grenade is if the pressure switch failed so it kept running indefinitely. Even then, there will be a point that the motor can’t overcome the back pressure from the tank.

Most of the air compressors I find at the scrap yard have no relief valve and have the pressure switch bypassed.

 

[MrBubba]

I've had several compressors rust through. None ever went BANG and took out a building like a grenade, they just start leaking.

 

[brandon9715]

“Almost 200 years of collective experience and none of us have ever seen this”

 

[MrBubba]

“Almost 200 years of collective experience and none of us have ever seen this”

Point being you and another on here are acting like it can't happen when it in fact can, and this is not the only documented case.

Buy new, maintain it, keep it for decades.

 

[oil pan 4]

Cool story. How do we know it wasn't rigged to blow like most of the junk air compressors I see at the scrap yard with the relief valve replaced by a plug or qd and have the pressure switch bypassed?

 

[OM617YOTA]

Point being you and another on here are acting like it can't happen when it in fact can, and this is not the only documented case.

Buy new, maintain it, keep it for decades.

Straw man. None of us have said it can't happen.

Several of us have indeed said we haven't personally seen it, and have seen a more gentle failure mode.

The steel on that compressor tank looks fine, yet it ruptured and tore like it did? I'm calling shenanigans. Mechanical overpressure issue. Maybe intentional.

 

[brandon9715]

Straw man. None of us have said it can't happen.

Several of us have indeed said we haven't personally seen it, and have seen a more gentle failure mode.

The steel on that compressor tank looks fine, yet it ruptured and tore like it did? I'm calling shenanigans. Mechanical overpressure issue. Maybe intentional.

Exactly. My point is not that it can’t happen, anything can happen. The chances of it happening are near zero. It’s the equivalent of saying “don’t go outside ever in your life because you never know, you could be struck by lightning.” I would argue the likelihood of being struck by lighting is substantially higher than an air compressor tank blowing up like a bomb.