There is a way to sonic test the tank wall thickness, but it's expensive. As a tire company, we had to have EVERY pressure vessel sonic tested and graded as to deterioration. Found quite a few surprises in the thousands of tanks tested. Good move on taking it out of service.
I don't know. I wasn't criticizing you, just pointing out the luck factor. I didn't know portables had an expiration date on them. Need to take a look at my Sears portable tank. Always kinda bothered me that it doesn't have a drain valve or even a fitting on the bottom. Generally speaking, what have you guys who've been involved with air tank inspections hear, pin holes or blow-ups are the most common mode of failure?
C9, This is why I sometimes hate the typed word over the spoken word! I was certainly not lashing out or attempting to be ****ty with you when I posted my question about telltale signs of potential failure. I was really just asking as after all my years, it dawned on me, that I'd never given this subject of tank life much thought. I was hopeful you might be able to share some insight on a potentially dangerous situation we could all be in, and some might be in right now and not even know it! I'm wondering now if these pinholes ARE the warning sign we should all heed. And the date for the portable tank should be stamped very close to the fitting welded to the top of the tank. At least that's where mine was marked. So I know you weren't being critical and I appreciate your input.
I hear you on the written word bit. If I didn't call someone an ***hole then I'm probably being nice. In a curmudgeonly way anyway....
Shops I used to wrench at had a guy come by once a year to 'inspect' the tank. He looked it over and tapped on it in a few places, then collected a C note. There are a bunch of results on Google, but nothing really good for a DIY checklist.
I'm typing in a reply to this thread for 2 reasons: #1 To take it back to the top in hopes someone will be able to offer some good sense ways to inspect. #2 So that I am subscribed to this thread and don't miss any good advice on this very important topic. It's important to me as the 2 tanks I use,1 80 gal, and 1 60 gal. were both old when I acquired them second hand over 40 years ago! I do drain them fairly often. Dave
I drain the water out of my tank every day I use it. Being a welding shop owner, probably at least once a month someone comes in and wants me to weld a pin hole closed in their air compresser tank. Of course I don't do such a thing and always tell them why. Because I see so many with pin holes and have only seen 1 blown up (the shut off valve stuck), I suspect the pin holes would be the warning sign. The pin holes have always been in the bottom, often near the drain plug, maybe for a reason? Never gave it much thought. I suspect most the guys that have had them blow up probably had some kind of "fix" performed before the boom. Having worked as a maintenance man at a couple factories and at a couple tire stores, I can understand why they make inspections manidatory, and I understand how compresser tanks can just blow up for "no reason". There is always a reason, industrial compresser tanks are expensive. Gene
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