Stay Away From Those Older Compressors!

[Indycars]

It's almost funny, I just bought a Quincy Compressor from Northern Tool last Monday. They just called me while I was writing this, to let me know that it's in. Mine is small 20 something gallon and at least 30 years old.

Now the funny part...I've been researching piping and filters and came across this thread yesterday. Maybe I should show this to my wife and then act like I want to buy a new compressor this week. Naw......I probably have too much life insurance for her to agree to that.


http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=48232

Stay from those old compressor---
if you don't know their history. The pics will tell more than I can type since I only (fortunately) have the use of my dominant right hand. Our son was given an old craftsman 3 hp 220 v. we got him a brad nailer for christmas, so he bought an air hose to try it out. i was hunkered down beside it watching the gauges. when it hit 130 psi i pulled out on the pressure relief to make sure it worked and it did. when it hit 150 psi i was about to lose my nerve and shut it down. then the tank blew, luckily for me, out the bottom. i feel quite fortunate to have survived this.the injuries were: bad laceration on the back of the left hand,all four bones broken where the fingers attach to the hand. left knee took a severe impact from tank spliitting and broke the tibia and femur.amazingly i never lost consciousness and felt a bad pain in the front of my neck. ran my right hand over that area after seeing my left hand and was actually relieved to see no blood in that area. apparently it blew my left hand into my throat.
the docs pinned the four bones together in my hand, put a plate about 8" long on my tibia and ran 4 screws into my femur.the ol timex took a liiken and is still tickin, just broke the band pin when it hit my neck.
the truly amazing part is my wife,son and his girlfriend and an older friend were in the garage when this happened, nothing happened to them outside of some ringing ears, not a scratch.
the fridge next to the compressor was a liitle worse for wear as evidenced in the pics. the little tv behind the compressor had the cabinet half torn off, but the picture tube was still intact.the 16' garage door got one roller knocked out of the track and about 12 sheetrock screws got the mud knocked off them.
all in all, i feel lucky i survived it. i guess we all have angels watching over us. i'll let the pics tell the rest.
mike

These pics were not the same accident, but were posted later in the same thread.




I was looking on Craig's List for a used one, but kinda glad now I bought new in light of the above info.

 

[grumpyvette]

GOOD POST!

you might want to remember that most tanks rust or fail from the inside out, and if you significantly reduce the moisture content of the air entering the tanks and drain them regularly they will last far longer.
I know several friends that have had zero issues using the same shop compressor tank for over 20 plus years , (usually the compressor motor or mechanical compressors been refurbished or rebuilt every 7-10 years or so
we had a thread on reducing moisture content in compressor air recently Ill post here, I try to get a few pictures of my final air dry set-up posted, and draining the tank before and after each use sure won,t hurt


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[mathd]

My grandfather had a shop with a big compressor(500 psi compressor he said), and once in a while a service man came to service the compressor and he was also testing the tank at 700 psi :O. Can you say scary?

 

[87vette81big]

Wow, I have heard gossip of compressor air tanks failing.
Now I know its a real possibility.
There is an air compressor on the garage roof. :shock:

 

[Indycars]

I did 3D computer graphics for ten years, reconstructing accidents of all kinds. The last one I worked on was a 30" natural gas pipline at 650 psi. It threw pieces of that pipe hundreds of feet. The crater was 86 feet long and the fire was 496 feet high. The accident killed 12 people in one family.

 

[87vette81big]

I better understand why you are very meticulous and dedicated to problem solving Rick.
Its your makeup, in your DNA. I DONT LIKE ACCIDENTS.
MECHANICS FEAR THEM. ESPECIALLY ONES OVER 40 like me.

 

[Altered76]

Well we have very old tanks over 40 yrs that we have cut into and made sand tanks out of. Amazingly we have yet to come across one that I would say was compromised. Of course things were made of real steel and usually of a heavier grade material back then. The worst one I saw had some surface rust but it still had 90+% of its thickness. I guess we will be seeing more of this as the ones produced later with thinner recycled junk metals start aging. :roll:

I sort of know how the guy must have felt as I had a "empty" methanol barrel explode because of a idiot using a plasma cutter thought it would be OK to use it for a workbench. As anyone should know they arent "empty" unless you open the barrel completely and leave it that way for the last inch or so to evaporate and the fumes to disperse. Lucky no one was killed as 3 of us were in the shop. The idiot standing over the barrel cutting got the worst with burns I was leaving along with another fella as I had just read the upside down label and told him he was nuts as he explained he had been cutting on top of it for 2yrs and it was empty. About 10ft away my ear got torched and some bad ringing. The third guy was ahead of me leaving and just got the ringing in his ears.

Rick you signature "Too much is just enough!!!" is a little ironic for this thread. :lol:

 

[Indycars]

Only ten feet away after standing next to it......I guess you have to count yourself as lucky!

Not sure I follow...what's ironic about it? Too much of what?

 

[Altered76]

Not sure I follow...what's ironic about it? Too much of what?

Was just teasing about too much air pressure blowing the tank, it was just enough. :twisted:

 

[87vette81big]

My co worker had a gas tank explode in front of him last year.
The explosion blew him back and his neck hit one of the lift post arms.
Broke his neck.
Accident happened right after lunch. Was with my boss 50 feet away in the dirsel shop.
Heard a 12 gauge shotgun blast. Silence then.
I looked at Jack, I took of running fast.
Found my co worker Brian noon the ground flat on his back.
Not moving.
Thought he was dead.
Now its a small farm community I work in.
The ambulance EMT's are 200 Feet away down the highway.
They were on another accident call.
So I made it my job to stay with BRIAN.
He woke up aitnd tried to stand, I held him down..
Longest 15 minutes ever for help to arrive.

Gas tank was empty. Static discharge ignited gas fumes.
Replaced the in tank electric fuel pump.
Hooking up the gas line connections.

Many thought it was me that blew up.
On the local radio.
The other Brian.

BRIAN R.

 

[Indycars]

When you have to, you can stay calm. Just save the nervousness for later when it doesn't matter.

How is your friend now?

 

[87vette81big]

It was not a calm situation Rick.
Everyone was running around crazy.
I realized maybe 1 minute later Brian was left alone.
So I ran back to him and stayed there.

He was not supposed to walk ever again.
But he beat the odds and walking again.
Right hand not gripping correct yet.
Come June, its been 1 year since the accident.
Time will tell.
Full recovery possible.

He is 43 too.

 

[Indycars]

Was just teasing about too much air pressure blowing the tank, it was just enough. :twisted:

I knew your we teasing, but wasn't quite sure about what. My mother dropped me when I was young, so I'm a liitle slow sometimes.

 

[Crepitus]

I have my compressor in a small dedicated shack attached to the back of the shop. Looks like a out house. I does 3 things. Keeps noise down, doesnt scare the shit out of me at 1am and reduces the danger of a failure.