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[trevorch]

About 10 years ago I bought a small air compressor, 25L tank and recipe. compressor (Very Noisy) Main purpose was to spray a model Spitfire I was building and of couers occasionally to blow up the tyres on my sons mountain bike, also useful for blowing the model dust off the bench. Any way, today I had a rear tyre puncture on the EFI, so re-inflated and drove round to my local bike shop, only 1km away for investigation. New tube required but no penetration of the tyre. Took the compressor back to my hobby room and decided to drain the tank. At least 1 litre of rusty water poured out. What is the recommendation? Drain more regularly or scrap it? Cheers Trevorch.

[m1ks]

I drain mine after every use and leave the drain tap at least partially open to allow air to circulate, otherwise, as you noted you'll get condensation buildup.
Worth a mention, do you regularly build models?, if so, i'd recommend a 'hobby' silent compressor, you can get them on ebay for about £60, some with a small air tank, about 50psi max for very short bursts, will maintain a 35psi feed (tankless model) through the airbrush, (Iwata, 0.5mm nozzle), more than enough for enamels and way more than enough for Acrylics, which I spray at 25 and 10-15 psi respectively.
So quiet I can spray happily at night with my wee fellas bedroom directly below my attic 'man cave' without worrying the noise will disturb him.

[trevorch]

Still building models, but can't be bothered with spray finishes, so mostly using solar film type finishes, but the noisy compressor is a must for tyres etc. Was thinking of getting a windy hammer with torque control, but thy cost an arm and a leg. Must put a reminder in my diary to drain the tank though. Cheers TrevorCH

[m1ks]

Neglected to mention, as yours was a bit watery, have a good check to see if theres any risk of corrosion seeping through, rust bubbles and the like for safety reasons.
Remember to oil your tools with a light machine oil after each use where relevant, (air drill, ratchet, windy gun etc) and if you use it for spraying use an inline water trap, even if you have one mounted at the tank, a second filter at the airbrush if you use that or somewhere along the line for a stock spraygun as an extra filtering precaution.

[PeteF]

I used to work with compressors a lot. No problem with this - it's quite normal. Just drain down regularly.