Pneumatic tool organizer

**Eloy Workshop** · Apr 7, 2018, 10:13 AM

**DEEPNHOCK** · Apr 10, 2018, 08:54 AM

Are you using a water heater tank as an air storage tank?

**DIYer** · Apr 11, 2018, 08:02 AM

Thanks Eloy Workshop! We've added your Pneumatic Tool Organizer to our Toolboxes category,
as well as to your builder page: Eloy Workshop's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Pneumatic Tool Organizer by Eloy Workshop

tags: tool storage

**Fluffle-Valve** · Nov 12, 2022, 03:15 AM

Originally Posted by DEEPNHOCK

Are you using a water heater tank as an air storage tank?

I'm not so sure it is a hot water tank. They're normally made from copper and this one didn't sound like copper when tapped. It didn't look like copper either and if it was, why paint it? Maybe it is some sort of water vessel as it's lagged to keep the heat in? I'm not sure, so I could be wrong either way.

**clavius** · Nov 12, 2022, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by Fluffle-Valve

I'm not so sure it is a hot water tank. They're normally made from copper and this one didn't sound like copper when tapped. It didn't look like copper either and if it was, why paint it? Maybe it is some sort of water vessel as it's lagged to keep the heat in? I'm not sure, so I could be wrong either way.

I'm not sure where the original poster is located, but here in the US, steel tanks (rather than copper) for domestic hot water are the norm. They are typically lined on the inside with some sort of enamel coating to prevent them from rusting from the inside out. The ones here would be pretty unsuitable as storage for compressed air, I think, as they are not sufficiently strong to be safe for a compressed gas.

**Fluffle-Valve** · Nov 12, 2022, 10:49 AM

And there was me thinking Copper was the norm worldwide. One learns something new every day.

So what sort of internal air pressures would a water steel tank withhold? I would hate to think of it running up to 180psi as my purpose-built compressor is at.

**clavius** · Nov 12, 2022, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Fluffle-Valve

And there was me thinking Copper was the norm worldwide. One learns something new every day.

So what sort of internal air pressures would a water steel tank withhold? I would hate to think of it running up to 180psi as my purpose-built compressor is at.

And I had no idea that copper was the norm in the UK, so we both learned something! There are also Fiberglass tanks used here as well, but obviously only for indirect or electrically heated water tanks.

As for the steel tanks, in my part of the country they all have a safety relief valve that opens if the pressure exceeds (typically) 150 PSI or the water temperature reaches 210 degrees F. I'd assume it's pretty typical anyplace in this country. Of course a tank full of 150 PSI water is a much tamer animal than a tank full of 150 PSI air, which is pretty close to a bomb. Tanks rated for compressed air are much heavier walled than these hot water tanks are. I would not willingly be anywhere close to one of these water tanks used for compressed air.

It may be an entirely different thing where the guy in the video is from, so I would not presume to comment on his useage.