Oh man. I've got a compressor in the garage that I haven't drained in 5 years. How dangerous is draining it now?
cool thanks.Just be prepared for the ugliest rusty water you ever saw. Pull your compressor outside if possible because that rusty water will permanently stain anything in comes in contact with.
OK, I'll order one up. I really only use it for air tools, and I have not added the lubricator. Probably should, as I seem to go thru a lot of impact wrenches. I drop some oil into them every time I use them, but they don't seem to last long. Keep thinking I should spend the bucks and get a really good one, but I'm too cheap!
I have tried the pop valve, and I do drain the petcock.
Thanks guys!
You can also add oil directly to the tool by putting a couple of drops of tool oil into the tool air connector at every use. This will also help keep the tool up and going for a long time. Marvel Mystery oil works good.
I do this every time I use any air tool. I've never had an air tool go bad and I've had the same impact wrench for probably 30 years
Rod is right, Ingersoll-Rand is the best. Not cheap, I wish I had one. I used to have a shipper named Howard Hurd, he tricked out Ingersoll-Rand impact wrenches for Nascar. Everybody has used his pit tools for decades, he never had to advertise them. He and now his grandson just went around to all the races and sold them.
I agree on the ingersoll-rand observation but when you talk about NASCAR and air tools, just remember they don't use air but compressed nitrogen gas because it has 0 moisture content for one. Even the tires in NASCAR are nitrogen filled in order to better assure a more consistent tire diameter at operating temp. I'm also aware of Hurd's tools and your observation is also correct there.
Yeap, I knew they run nitrogen through them just for the reason you stated. I used to watch Howard Hurd at his house using a micrometer on his impact wrenches after his modifications. He did a little extra machining to them so they could spin faster to handle 200 PSI. He may have added ball bearings to the shaft, I can't remember. It got to where he was building so many of them, he had to outsource some of the machine work, but he would take each one apart to check it out. His grandson, Jim Hurd, moved the basement shop to a commercial business in Hampton, Ga. located right before you get to Atlanta Motor Speedway. I have always put oil in my impact drivers too. Sometimes I ran an inline oiler below the handle, or will take out the little hex plug in the tool body and fill it.