Air Tank Replacement?

[Calandrod]

I have this rather old Quincy I bought. There are some serious looking patches. You can see the ~5x5 square welded in. Should I just buy a new tank and swap it out? I’ve heard horror stories of these things blowing up where they rust through.

Also I can’t find any information on this online and I called Quincy and they weren’t helpful. I’d like a manual or something.

 

[GrifterGuru]

If it is suspect, replace it.

NEVER worth risking your own or any one else' safety.

Did you spot the Manufacture date of 1952?? not sure I would want that anywhere near me or to be anywhere near it with an unknown (to me) history.

 

[whitmore]

Your label indicates 1952 build date, and 125 psi working pressure. That's enough info to do a pressure
test (fill with water, apply something well over 125 psi; this YouTube'r suggests 150 percent

which would be in the 180 to 200 range.

There's probably an overpressure blowout plug; you want to take that off before testing (and consider replacing it
with something from this century, for accuracy) or at least remove it for the test duration.
House water pressure is in the 60 psi range, you'll need a pump to boost that.

 

[Eddyde]

Yes, When in doubt, Hydro-test it. Do it yourself or pay a compressor service company to do it. At my old shop we had a tank on an ancient compressor dated 1935, it passed the hydro-test ever 5 years, as required by law in NYC.

 

[mmcmdl]

Wish you were closer .

 

[ChazzC]

Wish you were closer .

So how many compressors/tanks do you have???

 

[B2]

Propane tanks are a reasonable source for moderate pressure air systems.

I needed a large ballast tank supply of air to be supplied to an anti-vibration table.... It was at a distance from my compressor. The compressor motor etc makes a lot of noise and the experiment was very sensitive to vibration so I did not want the compressor near by. So there was a long hose from the compressor to the table. So I purchased several used propane tanks for a few dollars each and hooked them up in parallel. I got them from a local place that fills tanks, but you can also buy them new and unfilled for more $. The pressure I used was always < 90 PSI so there no real concern about blow out. Since, they have never had air in them there is no condensation in them and so little concern about internal rusting. The propane seems to permeate the inside of the tank and so as the air comes out it smells a little. This eventually goes away.

I also sometimes use them with a small portable pancake compressor when there is a need for a high pressure burst of air, but do not need it for a long time. Of course the pancake compressor takes a while to fill them back up.

There was one experiment where we were testing sensors for various gases at various concentrations. We needed a low pressure "clean air" supply to mix with the test gases......, so no oils etc. Since we did not need a lot of flow, but needed it for an extended period of time we purchases a new propane bottle and a hand bicycle tire pump to fill it with!

 

[mmcmdl]

So how many compressors/tanks do you have???

3 going up to CF this year .

 

[justin1]

I would replace with 100# propane tank if you didn't want to spend too much money on tank. I can get basically an unlimited supply of expired tanks from local land fill. But not sure what they do with em in states I would try maybe local scrap yard?

Remove the valve fill with soapy water and rise out couple times before modifying. You probly can salvage most of the fittings/mounting braces off old tank with holesaw and grinder.

Propane tanks are rated higher then air tanks are so no worries about running up to 175psi in them.

Just be mindful of were you cut in new fittings and don't use black iron fitting for plumbing if your buying new. Use steel fittings for hydraulics or proper pipe fittings made of steel.

Edit. Don't weld with self shielded flux core 110v welding machine. Use either stick machine that can burn 1/8 7018 or any wire machine that can run on 220v and run gas with er70 wire. Tig is fine too if you can do it.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

I’ll repeat a quote from one of my welding instructors…”Don’t weld on pressure vessels unless you are qualified or brave.”