Is this thing still safe?

The air compressor thread made me wonder about my old stand-by.

I got it out an old Phillips 66 station that was being torn down in the early '90s.  That station, in turn, had gotten it from another old station that was being torn down many decades prior to that.  Yeah.  It's old as dirt.  Look at the size of the GE motor....it's big but only 1 hp.  The pressure switch is set to 150 psi cutoff.  
 

I can't find anything on the Googles about Scott Air Compressor 

I'd sure hate for it to go BOOOM!  It'd likely do severe damage to our home.  What say ye?

You can hydro test it at home with a pressure washer or pay to have it tested for better piece of mind. 

Listen for leaks while it's filling up, if you can hear them.

I'd run it as is, but my compressor for a bunch of years was one i found buried in the weeds on the side of a road. 

I've seen a bunch of tanks that have failed.

Usually, a pinhole develops and they leak. Catastrophic events are very rare and happen early in the life of the unit due to a poor weld or bad seam.

I'd run it until it dies.

In reply to A 401 CJ :

If I suddenly found myself in your position, the only thing I would do is keep the cut out switch up to current technology and dial it down to 120 psi and then run it for another 50 years as-is.

As long as the water has been drained once or twice in the last hundred years it should be fine.

150psi of air pressure in a steel tank won't go BOOM, most likely to just leak and need some welding rod patches. I would probably paint it tho to double up on the cool factor in Phillips66 livery.

I'm impressed with your lasso-ing skills.

If the side walls of the tank are as thick as they look in the photos it'll probably fail a few millennia after the heat death of the universe. 

I'm a negative nancy, but I've always been of the opinion if you need to ask if something is safe...............that's your answer. 

adam525i said:

As long as the water has been drained once or twice in the last hundred years it should be fine.

It hasn't.  I will do that right after Christmas 

llysgennad said:

I'm impressed with your lasso-ing skills.

Easy way to increase my tank capacity.  And get rid of an air hose I no longer need 

A 401 CJ said:

adam525i said:

As long as the water has been drained once or twice in the last hundred years it should be fine.

It hasn't.  I will do that right after Christmas 

Make sure you have an easy path to the outside and/or drain.  Shop I worked at years back in North Florida hadn't drained their 200 gallon tank in long enough that it was spraying water out of the nozzles.

On the way to a customer, I said "maybe we need to drain the tank? Get the water out?" And left.

Hour later I get back and the entire shop floor, 10,000sq-ft or so, is covered in brown rusty water.

Still not sure why the shop foreman started yelling at me.

Because of its age, it may or may not have a pressure relief valve - make sure there is one that is functional.  And drain the tank.

There's a long discussion over on the Garage Journal forum about vintage air compressors, you may be able to find some information there.  https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-air-compressors.27378/

I recently saw a video where a guy got a fairly new compressor tank (Campbell Hausfield, still had new looking paint) and drained a LOT of rust chunks from it.  He hydro tested it to 240psi and it held, so he ran it.