Got The Old Compressor From My Work

Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper

You say the tank is old. That makes me nervous about anyone wanting to use it as a compressor again unless they pressure test it. No idea what that would cost but compressors these days are reasonable. I picked up a Puma 60 gallon 2 years ago for $480 plus tax or somewhere in there. Runs almost every day and keeps going. I had never heard of Puma before this but I figured for the price I'd give it a try. It's paid for itself.

I hard wired it myself. Was pretty easy.

It's a little off topic but you really don't have to worry too much about compressed air storage tanks. One should ALWAYS treat them with respect but they're pretty well made. Most shops aren't running over 120 psi working pressure. The tanks are engineered with a safety factor of two or three times that amount.

Propane tanks are designed with a working pressure of around 200 psi so the can be re-purposed as long as the don't have extensive rust on the bottom. Also ... reject any with dents in em'.

A water heater tank is designed for a working pressure of 100 psi so they are okay too as long as they're in reasonably good condition.

The big thing where storage tanks need to be sent out & tested is the oxygen & acetylene because they're working at much higher pressures. ( over 1000 psi. ) They drop em' in a tank full of water and pump em' up to very high pressure to test them. If they do rupture it just makes a big splash and nobody gets hurt.

Again ... always be respectful of the pressures you're working with but the rest is mostly common sense.