Jim Laumann
09-04-2013, 4:15 PM
I made a stupid move on Monday - I was trying to move my air compressor (a Coleman 27 gal.vertical tank unit) from the building it was in to another. I had to move it over a concrete footing, and I was in to much of a rush to put some plywood down to act as a bridge.
Well - naturally, I wasn't careful enough moving it, and I nailed the 1/4" pipe/elbow which I use to drain/route the water away from the unit - sheared it off. A fully pressurized tank sprayed rusty water everywhere. Blast - you stupid smuck I says to myself.
Moved the compressor back to the shop, then took a look at the state of things. My pipe fitting elbow was screwed in to a hex head
fitting in the base of the tank. Can I get that out? I measured the fitting - 2 1/8". Don't have a wrench that big....
Went over to see my neighbor Steve. Steve is a full time farmer. "Steve - I need a wrench, a big wrench". Steve takes me to his
shop, and grabs the 3/4" drive socket box. Max there is 2". So out comes the 1" drive sockets. He gives me a 2 1/8" socket, and a 22" breaker bar, and for insurance, he sends along a huge adjustable wrench.
Get back home, lay the compressor up against a saw horse, tilted so I can access the plug. Put the socket on the plug, push down on the tank w/ one hand, pulling on the breaker bar w/ the other hand. Nothing moved - adjusted the socket/breaker bar postition, then tryed again, and the plug moved. I had expected the plug to be rusted in place, but the threads were clean.
Once I had the plug out, I was able to put it in the vise, then used a screw extractor and PB Blaster (penetrating oil) on the hunk of pipe elbow still in the plug. The extractor had a 1/4" sqaure head - tryed a 1/4" OE wrench first - but nothing doing. So then I upsized to a 15" adjustable wrench - one that had tight fitting jaws, watching the extractor carefully - didn't want to shear it off. Slowly but surely, the extractor began to turn, and then it was turning freely. These threads were also clean.
I'd have sworn I heard Tim the Tool Man grunting in the shadows....
Jim
Well - naturally, I wasn't careful enough moving it, and I nailed the 1/4" pipe/elbow which I use to drain/route the water away from the unit - sheared it off. A fully pressurized tank sprayed rusty water everywhere. Blast - you stupid smuck I says to myself.
Moved the compressor back to the shop, then took a look at the state of things. My pipe fitting elbow was screwed in to a hex head
fitting in the base of the tank. Can I get that out? I measured the fitting - 2 1/8". Don't have a wrench that big....
Went over to see my neighbor Steve. Steve is a full time farmer. "Steve - I need a wrench, a big wrench". Steve takes me to his
shop, and grabs the 3/4" drive socket box. Max there is 2". So out comes the 1" drive sockets. He gives me a 2 1/8" socket, and a 22" breaker bar, and for insurance, he sends along a huge adjustable wrench.
Get back home, lay the compressor up against a saw horse, tilted so I can access the plug. Put the socket on the plug, push down on the tank w/ one hand, pulling on the breaker bar w/ the other hand. Nothing moved - adjusted the socket/breaker bar postition, then tryed again, and the plug moved. I had expected the plug to be rusted in place, but the threads were clean.
Once I had the plug out, I was able to put it in the vise, then used a screw extractor and PB Blaster (penetrating oil) on the hunk of pipe elbow still in the plug. The extractor had a 1/4" sqaure head - tryed a 1/4" OE wrench first - but nothing doing. So then I upsized to a 15" adjustable wrench - one that had tight fitting jaws, watching the extractor carefully - didn't want to shear it off. Slowly but surely, the extractor began to turn, and then it was turning freely. These threads were also clean.
I'd have sworn I heard Tim the Tool Man grunting in the shadows....
Jim