Portable Air Tank Question

[johnwayne]

I need to ask a stupid question. I have a portable air tank that I have not used for 5 or so years, and I have forgotten how to use it. Chalk it up to old age.

Anyway - it has no labelling on it whatsoever, so I have no idea who made the thing. It resembles this one:

I can load it with what its gauge says is 100PSI, but I can get nothing out of it. Obviously I am forgetting what to turn or otherwise operate to make it release its air. I have a hose connected (with a quick disconnect) and a trigger-controlled nozzle. I have two nozzles, and have tried both. I have tried the hose with no nozzle. I have backed off a little on a 1" knob, thinking that would release the air. Nothing.

I told you it was dumb. I can't find my old manual nor can I find same on the web.

Whar have I forgotten?

Thanks

JW

[Stormin Mormon]

Might take four or five complete turns (counter clockwise) to release the air.

[trader_4]

There isn't much to them. Just a hose/pipe connected to a tank with a valve and pressure gauge. One thing, is he sure he's really filling it? If you had a gauge before a closed valve, it would read whatever pressure it's connected up to, but no air would go in the tank. If it's really filling, he should see the pressure slowly climb. And if air goes in, it can't be clogged.

Also don't know what me means by tried it with the hose, but no nozzle. The typical air disconnects, if there is no attachement, the hose connector stays shut, no air will come out.

[CRNG]

On Wed, 27 Aug 2014 10:40:17 -0400, [e-mail] wrote in

You need to turn the red collar (which encircles the fill valve) counter-clockwise to open it. If that doesn't work, then something is clogged.

[johnwayne]

I'll try to be more speific. The tank has a gauge on it which read

80PSI before I successfullly added air to a 120PSI. I accomplished that through a air fitting in the valve assembly on the top of the tank which allowed the air to be added after I rotated a small knob a bit. When I then closed that knob i could not add any more air. That was simple.

Now then, I have a 20' air hose to take air from the tank. I added a 'blow gun' to the hose similar to that at:

to a coupler similar to :

I get no air out of the gun, nor out of the coupler when I remove the gun. The latter I expected.

The valve assembly on the top of the tank has a second knob under the gauge on the outlet hose side of the assembly, which I expect controls air going out. I have rotated that knob counter clockwise, first a little bit, then a lot, to see if air would then come out. It does not.

Is the hose clogged? I thknk not. I have a second large compressor, and tried the hose on it. Works fine.

Obviously I have missed something trivial here.

John

[Pico Rico]

I don't know what that second knob is, but I am pretty sure you have to have the valve that you used to fill the tank OPEN when you want to take air out of the tank too.

[Stormin Mormon]

Plumbing question. We don't know if the valve shuts the tank from the gage. Be nice if one of us was boots on the ground, there.

[johnwayne]

You are so right. There are two knobs, one associated wth the input, one with the output. Not only do they both have to be open, but for some reason they must be open to a specific point, no more, no less. Anyway it works now/ I still feel stupid. Thanks for help John

[Pico Rico]

you are welcome. Now write up some instructions for your future reference. :) seems like a pretty odd design.

[Stormin Mormon]

Yep, likely some thing simple. Wish I was there in person, sounds like a brain challenge.

[nestork]

In that link to a similar air tank sold by Home Depot that the OP posted, there's the statement:

"Item cannot be shipped to the following state(s): AK,GU,HI,PR,VI"

...which I presume means Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

I can't think of any safety related reason why they couldn't ship an empty steel tank to any of these places.

Would it simply be that Home Depot only has a license with the manufacturer to sell these tanks within the 48 contiguous states, and so shipping them outside of that geographic territory would encroach on some other retailer's license to sell that product?

[CRNG]

On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 03:55:59 +0200, nestork wrote in

Maybe shipping cost (air or sea) to non continental locations?

[nestork]

No, I kinda doubt that would be it since the shipping costs are normally borne by the customer. That might be the case if they offered FREE shipping, but in that case they could just say "free shipping to the contiguous 48 states". Then, someone in Alaska would have to reimburse Home Depot for the higher shipping cost by simply paying more for the item (with the shipping costs included in the bill).

[trader_4]

Say the shipping more than doubles the cost of the tank and HD knows that local stores, etc have the product at reasonable prices, so shipping them is ridiculous. So maybe they wanted to save customers the time of screwing around, figuring out the shipping cost and then never buying it anyway.

[Fred McKenzie]

John-

If that is true, your valve assembly is different from the one shown in the Home Depot photo.

I have a tank that is nearly identical to the one from Home Depot. The red wheel is one of three valves. It is the valve for the attached hose. On mine, it is open when turned fully counter-clockwise, and shut when turned fully clockwise.

A second valve is only for pressure relief in case you were to over-pressurize the tank. In the Home Depot photo, it has a small ring attached. You pull that ring to manually open the spring-loaded valve.

The third is a Schrader valve in the center of the red wheel, just like the ones in your auto tires. On mine you can manually add air to the tank via that valve whether the red wheel is open or closed. Pressing on the pin in its center will let the air escape.

Fred

[Ron]

He tried the quick connect w/o any attachment?