can compressor tanks be bolted together?

[cybergamma]

I bought an oil free sykes pickavant 3 hp for £70 ( wheels missing etc) as a managers special.

I have another 25 l resevouir with no motor. Can the tanks be doubled up? to provide more free air time.

if so, how so ?


my 1st post btw

 

[irondarren]

Ok there is no reason why you can use a second tank as extra capacity. The easist way would be to take the connector from the working machine and T off. One side of the T will go to non motored tank, the second part of the T will go to the air tool. This is assuming where the motor/compressor cylinder used to feed air in is blocked off to stop air escaping. The easy way to do this is using rubber airline hose a T piece, the better way is to do it from 15mm copper fittings. The copper pipe and fittings will be better, but the rubber hose has flexibility of movement.

This is something i intend to do when i get time, and connect the two spare 150ltr tanks i have to another compressor, thus giving me 450ltr storage capacity. One thing to remember is it will take the compressor a little long on start up to reach full pressure because of filling the extra tank

 

[rtbcomp]

Yes perfectly do-able - I have 16 tanks connected together to give me 568 litres.

They are connected by a 15mm copper pipe manifold, effectively teed into the output of the compressor.

I have a valve to isolate the extra ones if I need some air quickly so I don't have to wait to fill them all up.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Yes perfectly do-able - I have 16 tanks connected together to give me 568 litres.

16??? Hence why you're so knowledgable about air consumption and supplies

 

[rtbcomp]

16??? Hence why you're so knowledgable about air consumption and supplies

LOL and another 150 litres waiting to be connected when I get round to it!

 

[Wozzaaah]

Are you what's known as a 'tankaholic'? Just out of interest, what is it you do which requires so much air?

 

[cybergamma]

diagram would be handy

i.e blanlk wot off , and take output from - into which bit and then out to toolz from which tank?

 

[rtbcomp]

Are you what's known as a 'tankaholic'? Just out of interest, what is it you do which requires so much air?

It's a tankless job - gritblasting.

Forgot to mention, if you increase the capacity of your air system make sure you don't exceed the duty cycle of your compressor filling it up.

 

[rtbcomp]

i.e blanlk wot off , and take output from - into which bit and then out to toolz from which tank?

Receivers have a selection of holes such as.

1) Air inlet from the pump
2) Connection to the pressure switch
3) Outlet
4) Drain plug
5) Inspection port

Darren is saying blank all the holes except the outlet and connect this to your existing compressor outlet. Put a T-piece in this pipe and feed that to your tools &c.

How you actually do it may differ, depends on what unions & plugs you have to hand.

 

[irondarren]

Yes perfectly do-able - I have 16 tanks connected together to give me 568 litres.

funny i always thought rtbcomp was full of air, now i know exactly how much 568 ltrs to be precise

A good air resivoir is a great solution to having a small compresser, old broken compressors are relatively easy to get, i know i got 2 160ltr compressors i broke all by myself.

 

[rtbcomp]

i got 2 160ltr compressors i broke all by myself.

You can't convert an oil lubricated compressor to oil-less just by emptying the oil

 

[MrFluffy]

You can, it just makes funny noises after a very short time

 

[irondarren]

Got to look at getting a new compressor, I was looking at Clarkes 3hp 150ltr units from cough machine mart. Might ask mr weldequip as i know he deals with clarke for a price, as long as carrage don't kill it

 

[steve238]

Yes perfectly do-able - I have 16 tanks connected together to give me 568 litres.

They are connected by a 15mm copper pipe manifold, effectively teed into the output of the compressor.

I have a valve to isolate the extra ones if I need some air quickly so I don't have to wait to fill them all up.

Have you got any pictures of your 16 tank set up,i just love things that are over engineered,but i think you may need therapy for you tank obsession though

 

[rtbcomp]

Have you got any pictures of your 16 tank set up,i just love things that are over engineered,but i think you may need therapy for you tank obsession though

Not as such - but the project is documented here....

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=9710&st=80

Go to page 5, post 84

The therapist was taken away by men in white coats.

 

[steve238]

Ok cool i will check it out.

 

[Luke]

As has been mentioned, you must be careful when adding capacity that you don't exceed the duty cycle of your pump.

I have an extra 300L air tank. I shut the valves off between the two periodically to allow the pump to fill the 50L tank to pressure, stop, and cool down, before unloading the air in to the 300L tank.

Once it's on the go, with a bit of practice it's possible to shut the valve at the right time to get an almost perfect duty cycle. Of course, the other way to do this would be to get a computer to do it, but i wrote about that somewhere else!!

 

[MarkMG]

Been thinking about using some butane/propane gas cylinders, apart from purging the them of gas, any problems to look out for?

 

[English Steve]

Been thinking about using some butane/propane gas cylinders,

Apart from the obvious potential safety issues, they only have one port which makes your valving a little more complex. You may be better off getting hold of some lorry brake air tanks which have multiple ports (usually threaded BSP) and are rated for much the same pressure as the average compressor. These are available in various sizes.

 

[rtbcomp]

Been thinking about using some butane/propane gas cylinders, apart from purging the them of gas, any problems to look out for?

I've used them wthout major problems.

The 13/15 Kg butane cylinders with a quick-fit brass valve screwed into the top can be dealt with as follows.

This thread is the same as a BSP thread, but a slightly non-standard diameter.

Fill the bottle with water and unscrew the fitting. Put the fitting in a vice and remove the valves, a drift & hammer are good for this. I the drilled the fitting (from the top) with a 10mm drill so that a 10mm copper pipe is a sliding fit.

Clean it all up and solder a length of pipe through the fitting, making sure that the relief valve on the side is filled with solder.

Two ways of dealing with moisture

1) arrange the pipe so that it sits very close to the bottom of the tank
2) use a short pipe and mount the tank upside down,

Any moisture will then not be able to collect in the tank.

It is possible to arrange a 15mm and 8mm pipes concentrically, the inner pipe going to the bottom of the tank. A valve on this could be used to drain the tank using the air pressure inside.

The propane cylinders with a tap on are easier. Nip down to Towsure and buy a high-pressure flexible pipe with fittings. Cut the pipe an fit your own fittings.

The big tanks are tested to 20 bar, the smaller ones to 30 bar. I'm using mine at 10 bar.