Air Compressor automatic drains
- Thread starter slow-poke
- Start date
I have a mechanical drain i bought at PA years ago. supposed to drain air and water when pressure drops below what it was set at, can't remember what that was. Worked good for a number of years but i think it needs to be taken out and cleaned. When i worked on the ferry one of the daily duties was blow the 2 air tanks, just a 1/4 turn valve. Noisy as all get out at full tank pressure.
I think they are much less scary than the ether/starting fluid trick.
Never heard of that one but with a bit of imagination it sounds pretty sketchy!
I had one of the auto drains but replaced it with a valve so I didn’t need to depressurize the tank to drain it.
D
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Doggggboy
Ultra Member
I just ran a pipe out from the bottom drain to about a foot past the tank and put a ball valve with a T handle on it.
Whenever I switch on or off the tank I just step on the top of the valve and give it a short twist with my foot to blast some air out.
Pro tip. Put a sock over the end and then it doesn't blast moisture over to the far wall of the shop.
Whenever I switch on or off the tank I just step on the top of the valve and give it a short twist with my foot to blast some air out.
Pro tip. Put a sock over the end and then it doesn't blast moisture over to the far wall of the shop.
Ya sketchy is how I would describe it, but surprisingly effective and even more surprising is I know of no one personally that has ever been injured by it.
All you do once the tire is on the bead is fill the cavity of the tire with ether/starting fluid/favorite highly flammable spray and then hold a Bic lighter to the area and BOOM it explodes right in front of you and usually seats the tire on the rim. I have seen guys do it as calmly as if they were lighting a smoke between their lips. I just can hardly handle the pop of a bead when airing up a small tire, so I have never had the nerve to do the ether trick myself.
Holy Crap. I thought you meant starting a cold engine with ether. You literally meant seating the bead.
Ya, I have heard about that, but it isn't something I could ever endorse.
I don't much like that compressed air blaster either.
I have been known to put a ratchet strap around the OD of the tire and tighten to press the two beads outward though. Mind you, that wasn't a tractor tire.....
Done it a few hundred times. Only scary the first 20 or so. I always try the ratchet strap trick first.
For a well traveled Susquatch you seem to have been sheltered from some of the more sketchy shop ideas.
For a well traveled Susquatch you seem to have been sheltered from some of the more sketchy shop ideas.
Some stuff you hear about and then try to forget about it the day before you heard it. I would NEVER do that unless it was necessary to save a life.
In other words, if I never do that, it will be too soon.
historicalarms
Ultra Member
Me too. the only thing I can add about safety is keep your damn fingers away from the valve stem....you always take the valve out of the stem so an "over pressure" does not happen inside the tire and the flame coming out of that stem is very hot and centralized.
I quit even trying a ratchet strap and went with the "proven to work" every time method. Those heavy faced trans[prt tires are always stacked one on top of the other to warehouse rafters and a ratchet strap is useless on most so became irrelevant to me....and every trucker carries a can of Quick Start with them 24-7.
We finally have an answer to the question of why you see pieces of truck tires every 200 feet on the highway. All the truckers do their very best to blow them up before they even get driven on.
Even worse, prolly every other truck tire or so is half filled with unburned ether!
Jk guys!
I've always hated any sort of tire work beyond a bicycle tire but have had to wrestle with everything from small tires to big tractor tires and now even my bloody pickup tires are practically too big for me to handle anymore.
My brother in law just recently lost sight in one eye and had facial injuries due to an exploding little hand cart tire exploding in his face when airing up. Part of the blame I put on the cheesy horrible brownish chinese rubber they make some tires out of.
My brother in law just recently lost sight in one eye and had facial injuries due to an exploding little hand cart tire exploding in his face when airing up. Part of the blame I put on the cheesy horrible brownish chinese rubber they make some tires out of.
Dan Dubeau
Ultra Member
I've done the ether bead seater a few times too. Sometimes necessary out in the bush after a trailside atv tire repair, which is where I was introduced to it a long time ago. I'll admit I've done it a few times just for fun too lol. You don't need/want that much spray. See youtube for details why.....I've never done anything bigger than an atv tire, but I imagine the pucker factor goes up the bigger the tire.
As for autodrains, the spring loaded ones will need maintenance every once in a while as they fill with crud. I have no experience with any other type. Would probably be better on a tank from new, but to retrofit into an exisitng tank with already poor maintenance I'd rather just stick with the screw type. Even those can clog.
As for autodrains, the spring loaded ones will need maintenance every once in a while as they fill with crud. I have no experience with any other type. Would probably be better on a tank from new, but to retrofit into an exisitng tank with already poor maintenance I'd rather just stick with the screw type. Even those can clog.