ASME - Air Tanks

[Tom Godley]

I remember years ago when I bought my compressor from Sears -- they offered them with ASME tanks and without. I think it was ASME -- correct me if I have the wrong name. Anyway, the ASME tanks were more money. I bought this compressor in New Jersey -- and NJ required all tanks to have a ASME stamp.

Last week I picked up one of the portable tanks -- the small ones with the coiled air hose and a gauge -- from HF (China). I already have an old one (USA) but needed another for a second location. The post in the off topic area about repairing a air tank got me thinking about them.

I went out and looked at my current small tank -- No ASME stamp but a now expired stamp -- "discard by date"

The new tank from HF -- has nothing on it at all?

I remember that Propane tanks used to have a discard date -- but you could have them re certified ??

Does anybody know what the current standards are? My Craftsman compressor is a oiled 2hp 20gal -- its old but works fine and has been trouble free -- but I am thinking of getting a larger upright for some sandblasting work that I want to do at the shop. I remember seeing the ASME stamp on the tank -- maybe I should look to see if it has a discard date!!

[Lee Schierer]

That ASME stamp means the tank was built to certain standards and will certainly work at the prescribed operating pressures with a good safety margin. The lack of the stamp is proof that you don't know what standards it was built to. I don't know if ASME deals with smaller tank construction or not. For a small tank the damage would be less catastrophic if it blew up than a larger volume tank.

[Scott Vantine]

From what I know about hydrostatic testing and IMHO most air tanks don't need to be checked like say an Oxygen tank because the pressure on the tank is only about 175PSI at most. If you have an older tank and you worry about it, I would suggest replacing it for a renewed piece of mind!