How to drain tank/system?

[Metzger]

Greeting, I'm fairly new to bags and this will be my first time draining my system/tank. The tank was bolted to the floor of my trunk (onto the spare tire cover). I don't think the water trap was installed (even though I bought one) because I don't see it attached near the compressor.

How do I depressurize the system? By airing out?

Is there an order in what to unhook/unbolt? Will I need to unhook the battery if the car is turned off?

I assume once everything is unhooked I will need to unbolt the tank from the floor (?) and just tip it over one side to get rid of all the water that has accumulated?

Any tips/tricks/advice is greatly appreciated!

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

If the tank is properly installed, you should have a drain valve installed at the bottom of the tank. Unscrew it slowly and it will vent pressure and drip out all the condensation in the system. Some installers use electric tank drains, though I suspect you'd know it if you had one.

There also should be a safety valve somewhere on the tank or on a manifold coming off it. You can pull the ring on the safety valve and it will dump the pressure in the tank. A safety valve may be installed at the bottom of the tank to double as a drain, in which case just pull the ring and let the condensation drip out.

If your installer neglected to give you these two items, you can also disconnect your compressor's power and air up and down repeatedly to drain the pressure from the system. Your e-Level system will probably throw an error since it won't see the compressor kicking on, but it'll clear if you power cycle the system. Once you've got the pressure low enough, you should be able to pop the line off one of the PTC fittings and it'll dump the rest of the pressure.

If your tank is missing either the drain or the safety valve, you need to go back to your installer, as you are missing critical maintenance and safety equipment.

[Alex@BagRiders]

Hopefully Sam's post helped point you in the right direction. For the future, you may want to look into something like our tank drain kit if you don't already have something like it. This tank drain kit will allow you to drain the water out of your tank without depressurizing it and it also doubles as a fill for your tank if your compressor were to stop working.

[Metzger]

Thank you guys for the time to write me out something! I was able to drain the tank, it hadn't been drained since Late August of last year. I would have thought I'd have a bunch of water in the tank but I didn't even have enough to fill up a Coke Can also nothing was rusty although the water didn't look like you could drink it either.

I will need to buy something to help drain it though as I def. do not have anything installed currently. I had to dismount the tank and tip it over to get the water out.

[hinrichs]

I would suggest adding in a water trap, but Ive had them before and never had water in one vehicle, but then a few others I had to drain more often.

The bagrides drain kit is very nice since you can mount it under the bumper or nearly anywhere you want to make life easier than removing your false floor and stuff.

[JayinMI]

Could you potentially use a solenoid/valve in line with the drain to drain it outside the car without having to get dirty? Draining the compressor at work is one of my least favorite things, I can't imagine the one in my car would be much better. lol

Jay

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

You can. In fact, it's my preferred drain setup these days, since pressing a switch for a second is a lot less bother than messing with a screw drain or a Schrader valve. A standard solenoid valve like an SMC will be what you want. Just keep the slope on the drain line downward the entire way and you're golden.

[JayinMI]

I thought it would work, but I'm in the planning stages right now.
Then I got hooked into your build thread...that kinda grabbed my attention for the past couple hours. lol

Usually, when we drain the compressors at work, we build up the pressure, unplug it, roll it outside and then drain it. It works, but it's messy and I don't want to have to be anywhere near the drain when it's doing it's thing. From what I'm seeing, with air ride, you release the pressure in the tank FIRST, then open the valve?

Jay

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

There's no reason you have to vent pressure in the tank before draining, though it does make the operation a little cleaner. With a proper drain valve, however, the amount of spattering is minimal if you're careful about how far you unthread it. It does take some time for the water to drain, however, so you're going to lose most of the pressure in the system.

This is one advantage that electric valves have - they open to a huge orifice and then close effectively instantaneously. This means you can just "blip" the valve real quick and have all the water out of your system without losing all the air in the tank. Not a huge deal, but it's nice.

[flipstah]

Hopefully Sam's post helped point you in the right direction. For the future, you may want to look into something like our tank drain kit if you don't already have something like it. This tank drain kit will allow you to drain the water out of your tank without depressurizing it and it also doubles as a fill for your tank if your compressor were to stop working.

Oh cool, how does that work? Is it similar to a Schrader valve like in bicycle tires?

I might buy that instead of building a bracket to make the bottom accessible.

[Jeremy@AirLift]

It is exactly like a schrader valve on a bicycle. You can also use it as an emergency fill if your compressor stops working.