Had a bit of a leak today. Got home… found it near the inlet side on one of the 480’s. Crimped it up a bit… KABOOM!
Doh!.. got the tank plugged and charged up with shop air compressor so I’m not totally without my horn tomorrow. Will have to go out hunting for a replacement leader and new inlet T. Man my freakin’ ears are ringing! I was right next to that sucker when she let go.
Is that the check valve?
Yeah that’s it. I bought the 3/8 tee junction from a local manufacturer and what I’ve been suspecting for a long time is that they didn’t machine the NPT profile correctly or gave me the wrong unit. The male side threads just ended up seating right up to the shoulder.
Wow, bet that made ya jump!! Amazon. Com has leader hoses and check valves for decent prices.
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Ouch! Luckily those are cheap cheap cheap!
Hmm… except that the postage is the killer (no doubt more than the part itself). Part of the problem about being on the other side of the planet I guess. Luckily I found a local supplier last night who had stock in Melbourne (i.e. free shipping). Already got my new fittings from a local hydraulics place so I was back up and running on a single 480 today. Hopefully the hose will be here in a couple of days and I’ll be back at full steam.
Dang ears still haven’t stopped ringing! Starting to get worried that I’ve copped some permanent damage from this little mishap :(. Let that be a lesson to all the new players out there - always drain your effin tank before working on your fittings!
I hear ya on shipping. Luckily you found it locally!
i feel your pain. I was under the car working on my regulator and solenoid, which is only a foot in front of the horn, and didn’t drain the tank or put on hearing protection. Stupid…yes. To emphasize how close I was to the horn, the back of my head is usually up against one of the bells. So low and behold something happened and just enough air got the horn to blow it. My right ear was shot for 3 days, i couldn’t hear a darn thing out of it. Yah i was afraid i blew my ear drum or this would never go away. But after 3 days it started to come back and i can hardly notice a difference in my ears.
wow! 
Well, I got an ear ache myself when I shot this! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35NzjXPJ5M
The Ear ache lasted for 2 weeks! I couldn’t hear a damn thing!
WoooYeah! Nice vid man. That sure would’ve tingled the ear drums. My left side is still ringing like crazy… Fingers crossed it’ll settle down.
Managed to find some time yesterday to swap out the leader hose and check valve so I’m back up and running on twin 480 compressors again. While I was examining the broken bits, I managed to track down all but one of the parts to the check valve (couldn’t find the spring).
In case anyone’s ever wondered what the internals to a Viair check valve are… here it is:
What surprised me a little was that the retaining cap for the whole mechanism (i.e. the brass ring on the far right) was just a press fit into the male thread end of the valve.
This is the check valve used on my system. It is a Control Devices CA-12 Load Genie Unloading Check Valve. It is a 3/8" NPT valve, rated for 3 to 12 CFM flow.
The printed data sheet included w/ the part lists a maximum working pressure of 250 p.s.i., a maximum temperature of 450°F and a maximum compressor speed of 400 R.P.M.
The internal moving mechanism could be hurt by excessive torque. The instructions specify 10 ft-lbs of tightening torque, maximum.
