Home Made Air Hose Leaks

[Chris Jenkins]

This weekend I was checking the air compressor (I have been slowly assembling rigid line) and I noticed that from Tuesday to Saturday I went from 135 to just under 90 and I thought that was a big drop in 4 days. I turned the compressor on so it could gain full pressure. It was then that I noticed the flex line I had contructed between the tank and the rigid line was leaking.

As of now I am air comes out the compressor to a ball valve followed by a 3/8" hose barb. I bought 5/8" OD / 3/8" ID High Pressure hose (for sprayers) that I found on clearance. I'm using about 3 ft (max) of this running to another hose barb which is connected to the inlet on the regulator. The hose is fastened to the hose barbs with standard hose clamps.

I guess my problem is that the high pressure of the air is leaking through the hose clamp. Is their any better way to fasten these lines down to the barb?

[Loren Hedahl]

Rather than guess where your leak is (however you are probably right) you should swab it with a soap solution. If the leak is where you think it is, I would expect you are using worm gear clamps. These are almost never completely round enough at the location of the worm.

You could try double clamping and using a sealer, but air is tough to seal. If I had this problem, I would check with an outfit that makes up hydraulic hose ends. Another place to check would be a welding supply company.

Good luck

[Ben Grunow]

Any way to change to a smaller diameter hose or larger barbs and just soap em up and push em on? Double clamps is all I can think of otherwise.

[Matt Meiser]

I agree on checking for leaks using soapy water. However, if it is the hose, you might want to consider using a hydraulic hose. I bought one fairly inexpensively at Tractor Supply that works great for connecting my compressor to the wall plumbing. I don't expect it to fail anytime in the near future either since they are made to take MUCH higher pressure and abraision.

[Chris Jenkins]

I know for a fact that the hose is leaking at the barbs cause I can move it and hear a change in pitch.

I was thinking larger barbs and pushing the hose on harder. Since it is the high pressure sprayer hose it has the thicker rubber walls that may flex a bit more without tearing.