will this even work ( air compressor

[blazinzuk]

Was talking with a buddy of mine the other day. He has a couple of items that he was going to make into a compressor.

Items are as listed
1. HF compressor head, single stage.
2. 10 HP single phase motor
3. 500 gallon propane tank.

The tank has been cleaned all the propane stuff removed.

Would this even work. The tank was decertified due to age. Not sure how old it was, but it never leaked propane, never had any issues.

I know its a single stage compressor head, could I grab another one of these and run two compressor heads on it? Is that one compressor head even going to fill the dang thing?

Am I going to create a black hole and destroy the universe?

I know we need to get some more stuff to actually make it work, I am not sure if its even a good idea to spend money on it to try. What say ye?

 

[Captainfab]

I think there is a high possibility that you will burn up that compressor head before you get a 500 gal tank filled. Especially in the summer heat. An extra cooling fan on the compressor head would certainly help. Running multiple heads would help fill the tank with less strain on each head. However, what would that cost versus getting a smaller tank?......much smaller, like 80 gal.

 

[Fordum]

Well, at 130 degrees F Propane has a vapor pressure of 257 PSIG, so the tank should have been rated for enough pressure originally, but it is no longer certified, so that has to be a worry.
I have seen a tank explode, and it was not pretty.

Whether the compressor head will stand up depends on its duty cycle rating. There may be a rating on the info plate.

The most important thing, is there a drain in the tank?
You must have a drain, or bad things will happen. First of all, the tank will gradually fill up with water, plus you will get more and more water in your air.
But the worst part, is that it will start to rust inside.

Sooner or later, it will rust enough................

A 500 gallon tank with 150 PSIG on it rupturing, should take out most any building you have it in.
I suggest putting it outside....

 

[4X4HIGH]

Isn't that a little overkill for OBA?

 

[ryoken]

"why'd you do a pickup? "

"so I could haul my OBA tank of course!"

 

[ssyork]

Since you already have the parts, I would just price some tanks from places like graingers. Or look around shops and farms/ranches for an old blown up compressor. I just can't imagine a single stage head making it more than the first continuous fill.

 

[yellowK20]

I had a 500 Gallon propane tank for my shop in NM it worked great, but I had a Monster 2-stage compressor with a 3-phase motor. theres no way that chinese harbor freight compressor would take that kind of abuse

 

[cybrfire]

Yep, too large of a tank.

The compressor at the shop is 57cfm. It's kind of a big thing. 2 stage, the first stage is two independent pistons feeding a single high pressure piston. All 3 pistons are like a 4" bore or bigger.

It came with an 80 gallon tank. We have a secondary 80 gallon tank hooked to it. Wouldn't want to add any more capacity though.