Re: draining air tanks

[<hofs@domain.elided>]

>I have custom front/rear rock bumpers that hold air.  The discussion
>about blowing them out & rust got me to thinking about condensation
>etc.  How can I keep them from rusting out?  Granted, they are hd and
>stout.  Unfortunately, the valve stems are on the sides instead of the
>bottom, so draining would be difficult.
Rob,
Having built a number of air tank/bumpers, always-way-too-hell-for-stout 
based on the information from the engineers on the digest the other day, 
let me tell you that in my opinion the most important thing you can do 
for your tanks is to put a drain in the bottom on one end or the other. 
So that all the water can get out, I'd make the fitting completely on the 
outside such as welding a nut over a hole in the tank and putting a set 
screw or something that didn't protrude too much in as a seal. Without 
this being a valve of some kind or another, to be safe, you'd have to 
pretty much reduce internal pressure to zero before taking out the drain 
plug, and then you'd want to put some air back in to drive out any water 
that gravity hadn't taken care of. A valve as a drain would work better 
but in my opinion is too susceptible to damage.
John Hofstetter


John Hofstetter  "Ol'Saline's Web Site" www.goldrush.com/~hofs
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