On 6/26/2010 10:13 AM, Jack Stein wrote:
Swingman wrote:
On 6/24/2010 7:16 AM, Steve Turner wrote:

That's a good idea. Do you get any air leakage with this rig that causes
the compressor to cycle periodically? If so, how often?

Year ago I moved the bottom drain plug to the end of a 3' length of
air hose on my small vertical, where it is much more accessible.

The air hose holds quite a bit of water that would otherwise be in the
tank, and, unlike the tank, is rustproof ... and gravity does the work.

It is a simple matter to open the cock slightly every other day or so
and let the water in the hose squirt out, and draining the tank this
way doesn't even cause the compressor to cycle on.

I like the idea of having an air gun on the hose so you just squeeze for
a sec as you walk by.

I know I've discussed this here before, but, getting old, I don't
remember how it ended up. Your point on draining the water out of the
tank, into a rustproof hose reminded me of something I've thought of,
considering I never, or almost never bother to drain my tank.

I wonder if having the bottom of a metal tank void of water at any
depth, just being damp, or just wet all the time is all that good? My
thought is metal rusts faster being wet with lots of oxygen getting to
it vs being submerged, underwater with little oxygen getting at it. I
know everyone everywhere says drain your tank routinely, but after 30
years of mostly ignoring this advice, I wonder why it's made no
discernible difference to my tank?

Personally, I'm less concerned with standing water rusting out the bottom of my
tank than I am with it accumulating to the point where it makes it past my
water filter and into the main lines, possibly ruining the spray job I'm right
in the middle of. This *rarely* (if ever) happens to me here in Austin (where
the humidity isn't usually very high), and I have a very good filter (an old
Motor Guard M-30, like this one: http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/jlmm30.html),
but I think Sonoma's idea is a good one nonetheless, and I would be *much* more
inclined to keep the tank drained if I didn't have to climb underneath it with
a little bucket to catch the water, tearing up my fingers on that stubborn
cutoff valve in the process...

--
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