Rust in my air compressor

[Jim Dunn]

Well I did it and forgot to drain my compressor. It only set for a week but when I drained it last night there was discolored water in it. Is there anything I can do to get ahead of a potential problem. I thought of denatured alcohol to dry it out. Would this work to stop the rust though?

[Kyle Kraft]

Just drain it more often. Letting a puddle sit in the tank for 7 days is not going to turn into a hole unless you repeat your mistake weekly for the next 5 years or so.

[Ray Knight]

they are all rusty when drained, that's just the deal, you can dry them out, but as soon as you compress humid air, there you go again, water in there, to be honest most of us don't drain them until water spits out, we think about it , or we are going to be painting something. (my main hobby is vintage car restoration, not wood working, so mainly use it for tools not spraying), and I can't remember when I last drained mine, maybe last spring. and the compressor is 25 years old, with no problem. So there you are. They do make drains with quickdrain plunger, that drain with a push, and don't require you to screw out the plug, makes it easier to drain. Ray Knight

[Mark Hubler]

I bought an automatic drain from Harbor Frieght several years ago and it works great. It was really a pain to lie on the floor and open the drain.

Some other guys have installed a "blow-off" valve, on the bottom of the tank, and connected a chain to it. Drain the tank by pulling the chain.

[Stan Welborn]

I purchased 2 ball valves and stacked them right where the air comes out of the side of the 80gal stand up tank. One of course is the main cutoff. The other runs from the drain underneath via copper tubing, and outlets via more tubing to a hole drilled into the side of my shop. When I shut my compressor down for the day, it's a simple flip of the wrist to drain the tank to the outside. Habit now. Best thing I did for air. Cheap, and beats the crap out of reaching underneath.

[David G Baker]

An auto drain can be added to the base of your compressor if you have room. It has a small float inside of it that automatically drains the water out of your tank when the water in the auto valve reaches a certain height. It looks similar to the glass sediment bulb on older vehicles. The only maintenance required is to remove the valve on occasion and clean the oil off of the moving parts. I used one for ten years on a compressor that ran at least 8 hours a day 6 days a week powering air squeegees on a motion picture film processor.