How often to drain your air tank

Seems like I have had an issue with rust on my pressure switch connected to the airtank.
I am wondering how often should the tank be drained? I do it about once a month.
When i do drain it, quite a bit of orange water comes out and then it just drips clear water for a while…

When i say a while I mean like it is a slow drip but it seems to NEVER stop. After about 20 minutes or so of running the compressor with the air tank open to drain I eventually plug the air tank again but the drip of water never completely stops prior to plugging it. Seems like there is always some small amount of water in the tank…
Any thoughts on this?

mine drips or gushes depending on the weather prior to draining hehe but it usually stops after a few seconds. maybe you didn’t open the drain cock fully that the water completely drains?

i take it off completely… not just open it…

I never drained my aluminum tanks. The outgoing airline to the solenoid valve was near the bottom of the tank so most water shot out through the horns. Maybe ok except freezing temps made the valve stick.

Is your pressure switch acting up? Is it connected to a dry port near the top of the tank?

Pressure switch is acting up. When i removed it its all rusted and poop… I cleaned it the best i could and sprayed some WD 40 in it… Its a 115-145 and it was turning off at 120 and then clicking on and off randomly after that so i just unplugged it while i ordered another one from here.

The pressure switch sits horisontally at one of the end of the tanks.

You might want to move the pressure switch to a top port. That way its port is above the water level and facing down so it’s less likely to get clogged with rust.

Im not sure i have any top ports available. i will check tomorrow in the daylight…

I have never drained my tanks either, and the other day when I pulled everything off of my truck ( changing trucks ) My 5 gal tank felt like it was almost half full of rust/water and the way I had it mounted there was NO way to drain it.When I find Room/and time to install everything on my new ride I am going to try and mount them where I can drain them.

No top ports available…

I have never drained mine either

When you get a new truck mark? Whatcha got?

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oh Whats’ up Brooks…traded in the ole F350 FX4 6 LEAKER AND got a 2011 super crew FX4 Ecoboost Ford F150…now the challenge begins…tryin to STUFF THESE NATHAN P5’s under this F150

Oh wow! That’ll be a challenge. Why the drastic downgrade?

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lol I think I UPGRADED…NO more 800 dollar injectors/3k for head studs/hpop/Ficm/ and the list goes on and on…and oh tired of 10 mpg

I hear ya. That 6.0 had to be the worst ford diesel of all time!

I still LoVe my d max!!! LoL!

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agreed…I liked my d-max too

My tank is velcro’d to the carpet, so I can tip the tank if I want to drain the tank. Also I find having the airline adapter handy as I just run the line out lower than the tank and pull the trigger and a whole lot of water fires out for a second or two.

My tank is vertical and the pressure switch is mounted on the side of the tank towards the top. I drain it a few times a year, zero rust comes out and a cup or more of water. Anti-rust coated tank ftw. I would definitely keep the pressure switch and the air valve above the water line unless they are designed to not rust.