I was recently given an 80 gal 7 hrs Campbell-Hausfield compressor by a local body/paint guy who didn't like the milky water coming out when he drained the tank. So after getting the beast moved out of his basement and re-purposing the 220 power from our no longer needed lake pump, running lines to the garage and firing it up I was finally able to see what he was talking about. It was more like yogurt than milk when I finally got to the dregs. So I popped the compressor off, tore it down pulled the head and cylinders and after cleaning and checking the rings which had a very small wear line on the bottom, decided I'd try going with just a hone to the cylinders and see what it looked like. ( I'm a CASO for sure) Now as I get ready to hook it back up I'm thinking of all that 'yogurt' still clinging to the bottom of the tank and wondering how best to remove it... Hot soapy water just doesn't seem aggressive enough and theres no way to get a pressure washer at it so I'm wondering if anyone out there has any experience with something like this or short of that an assortment of ideas to choose from... What say ye?
I cleaned out mine when the rings let go, it filled it with oil. I pulled the plugs on both ends and filled it with degreaser then went to the car wash and stuck the hose in one end and just let it spray. After swapping ends at each cycle, and two dollars later the water was running clear. Should work for yours, Joe.
A non-volatile parts cleaning solvent through a pressure washer will do it. Remove the bung at the top and spray down into the tank. Hopefully your tank has a bung. Mine has one where the air lines come out.
Soak it with a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar, or get some cheap solvent (like gasoline?) and dump it in there and let it soak to break of the crap. Then drain it and wash the hell out of it. What is a CASO
Gasoline a cheap solvent ? Which rock have you been living under ? DO NOT use gasoline for cleaning. You can dump a cleaning product like Simple Green degreaser in there and slosh it around. Then let it sit for a while and then do the pressure washing. It'll be clean and shiny.
Thanks for the quick response guys. Taking it anywhere other than where it sits is not gonna make my final selection... that sucker is heavy and I'm still recovering from getting to where it stands. That said I can access the line out port and maybe get 'some' pressure washer spray directed downward but only at the far side. It's becoming clear I need to pull the motor and compressor back off so I can lay it down and roll it about some... or find something that doesn't cost $4 buck a gallon and dump 20 gals or so in there ( I figure the worst will be in the bottom 1/4 of the tank) and let it soak a while THEN maybe hook up the hose to the hot water tank and flush it with some soapy H2O. Maybe fill it half full, hook up the compressor and pressurize it and then flush it out the drain plug. I like the sound of "till it runs clear". Thanks for the input, I think that's what I need to go do now, input a quart of liquid Dawn maybe a half a gallon of Simple Green and lots of hot water! oh, and CASO? Cheap Ass Studebaker Owner
do the vinegar or molasses de rust. that will get you back to metal. Just roll it 1/4 turn and let it work. do the same with degreaser. flush with water, put the pump back on and let the air pressure blow the tank dry. buy a cheap filter at harbor freight, or step up and get a good one to keep any residual crap out of your lines. Would tank sealer - like whats used for fuel tanks work on a compressor? Nice score on the compressor
I'd think that Dawn or Simple Green would work ok to clean the oil out of it but I'm not sure you need a large quantity at one time. When you get done make sure you put a ball valve drain valve on a drain line coming out the bottom of the tank with a line extending out so you can easily drain the tank on a regular basis. I used to work in a dealer shop in Waco, Tx where they shut the compressor off and drained the tank at 5:00 every evening. No one ever had problems with air tools in that shop. It's best if you can run the drain line out though an outside wall so it blows outside.
That never bothered they body/paint guy I got my compressor from 18 yrs ago. Doesn't lose much oil, and I just don't worry about the glop. Maybe I should?
I got a similar compressor about six years ago, yogert like stuff draining out. I kept draining the gunk out for a few days til it was not a massive amount left, apparently. I put an IR auto drain valve on it and have been using the compressor as-is since. I just looked at the drain pan under the compressor tank before writing this, and there is some oily thick fluid in the pan, not white, and a little bit of water just below the drain outlet. ...but after so many years, the compressor is still doing the job and with regular draining has none of that milky stuff is coming out anymore. Took a while to get used to the short bursts of air being released every hour or so, but I am used to that now. I have another auto valve at the end of my 60 foot main distribution line and it has essentially nothing in it. I stopped worrying about the initial condition of the compressor a few years ago. Should I worry?
If you are spraying paint on a warm day with a warm compressor and don't have a high grade filter, yes, worry immediately.
I was considering using some TSP in solution but remembered something about the conflict between Phosphor Prime and epoxy and got to wondering if the Phosphate in TSP would be a problem too, so I talked with the guys at SPI paints who agreed the SG with plenty of rinsing and blowing out was the way to go. I couldn't get the 2" bung near the top free so I wound up taking the pressure relief valve out (very top center of tank) and using a funnel began with 6 gal of hot water and the Simple Green and detergent. While I was letting that sit I realized if I was getting any oil it in the tank it was coming in at the top and oozing down the sides so just working on the bottom half was a no go.... So out came the garden hose, and using an adapter hooked it up to the 3/4 elbow coming out the bung I couldn't free. The other end fit neatly on the faucet we have set up to drain the H2O heater. That let me open the drain valve at the bottom of the tank and blow water out there as well as the top. Gunk flowed like a episode of South Park, Its soaking while I wait the rain out right now, but I will drain and rinse then pressurize and drain with air a few times to dry it out. I'm not worried about the rust just the oil... and yes filters are the real solution but like I said it is a freebie that is only 9 years old but looks brand new (right down to the shipping pallet it sits on). I 'hope' it will work for painting in the end. I'm really hoping the hone is the answer to the oil in the first place but will do the rings if not. I have a 58 Jimmy I'm doing body work on that I'd like to get primed and moved so I can turn my attention to the Avanti. One things for certain this is way better than the little 1 1/2 h.p. construction compressor I've abused for years.
Whatever you do DO NOT use Gasoline! Compressors create static electricity when running and if you don't get it all out and there is enough vapor left it can Explode! DO NOT use anything that is flammable period. Water soluable cleaners Only! More than likely you won't get it all the first time either,make sure you drain the tank daily when you get it running again. When the unit iss off leave the drain fully open until you use it again. Good Luck!
Check with your favorite machine shop and see if they use a powdered caustic for their hot tank. If so, try to talk them out of about a cup or two...pour it in the tank and then fill with the hottest water you've got. Let stand until the water is near ambient temp and drain. That stuff will cut through whatever is in the tank and in such small quantity can be safely put into the sewer. My caustic of choice is Zep formulae #9878. .
In the end I didn't need to roll or agitate with air as the water pressure was high enough here to do the job. I agree the use of volitiles sounds like a bad idea (and expensive). Hot H2O is the answer I think. Coupled with opening up the top and bottom and running the flow in the line out worked great I could see the residue and particulate bubbing out the top till it was all clear.
Remember to put the correct oil back in the compressor. Usually older compressors take a non-detergent oil or you can buy specific compressor oil, which is the same thing. The white milky stuff could very well be from someone changing the correct oil and using a detergent automotive oil instead. And here's a thread on water separators/traps which should be addressed since it is almost impossible to get the inside of the tank perfectly clean. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121914&highlight=air+compressor+filter
DAWN diswash. It was good enough to clean up the ocean (multiple times) and gentle enough for all the little critters.
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