Picked up an old air compressor and need help

How do you do that?

 

Cool. Glad you got it going again.

 

It is my understanding that to hydrostatic test an air tank, it is filled with water with colored dye to the "test" pressure which is higher than the "working" pressure. If no leaks or drop in pressure is observed over time, the tank is considered safe for a specific time period. For safety, the tank under test is usually placed in a larger container in the unlikely event of a catastrophic failure under pressure.

 

Shadetree is pretty much right. You fill the tank with water, right full with no air space. Get a reducer fitting that goes from a tank port, down to a zerk fitting. Hook your grease gun up and pump slowly to reach 1.5x's the tank working pressure that's stamped on it. Some say 1.3x's. You should also have a ball valve to release the pressure when you're done.

 

Thanks for the explanation guys.

 

Don't forget to remove and plug the safety relief port. Test won't work with that in place.