draining tanks after driving

[glcaines]

I drain my tanks of water only at the end of each day. If it's going to be several days before driving again, I drain all air as well. When I was on active duty, the common practice was to drain water only at the end of each day, but I don't remember what the 'official' procedure was. I do remember that during inspections, if a drain cock was opened and water came out, you were in trouble.

One interesting side note: Air tanks under pressure do not rust and corrode as fast as tanks without any pressure. This is a commonly known fact from scuba diving. Steel scuba tanks are always stored with full pressure, to prevent rust and corrosion. However, this is of minimal consideration for Deuce air tanks because they always leak down fairly quickly, unlike scuba tanks. Also, air put into scuba tanks is normally very dry.

 

[Keith_J]

I drain my tanks of water only at the end of each day. If it's going to be several days before driving again, I drain all air as well. When I was on active duty, the common practice was to drain water only at the end of each day, but I don't remember what the 'official' procedure was. I do remember that during inspections, if a drain cock was opened and water came out, you were in trouble.

One interesting side note: Air tanks under pressure do not rust and corrode as fast as tanks without any pressure. This is a commonly known fact from scuba diving. Steel scuba tanks are always stored with full pressure, to prevent rust and corrosion. However, this is of minimal consideration for Deuce air tanks because they always leak down fairly quickly, unlike scuba tanks. Also, air put into scuba tanks is normally very dry.

SCUBA air is clean and dry, usually a -40 dew point. By keeping 100 PSI in the tank, water cannot get in. Furthermore, the over-pressure disk will rupture in case of a fire before the tank will become weakened. Storing near empty and it is possible for heat induced pressure to rupture the tank before the burst disk.

 

[chicklin]

If you do not drain your shop compressor, then why do you say you absolutely MUST drain the tanks of all pressure on your deuce every night when you park it. Are they not exactly the same thing...an air compressor and a steel storage tank?

Because one is running air tools and the other is running the brakes on a 14,000 lb truck?