Please advise - How to clean oil out of air cylinder?

[FunGun]

Ok, I'm on my way out the door and have not read all the strings, so I appologize up front if I'm repeating something you already know.

Tanks should be washed with DAWN DISH WASHING SOAP. Not just any brand it must be dawn. I have prepared many scuba tanks for Nitrox and mixed gasses, as well as oxygen filling. Dawn will remove any synthetic or petroleum based oil and do it safely.

Hope this helps.

 

[acs]

Make sure not to over fill your oil. Disregard the translated YH instructions, they lost something in the translation.

I've worked with hundreds of pumps/compressors with identical sigh glass over the decades, and all of them are suppose to be max filled to center of sight glass. Any where from visible on bottom of sight glass to center of sight glass is considered 'full'. Thats how I've run my YH for many many hours now, no problem ,no oil blow-by.... Blow by is very common when over filled.

Detergent without physical surface agitation is a difficult way to remove oil.

Like others have recommended use Brake Clean, it is a solvent that will not attack or damage in any way, paint/rubber/plastic,orings, anything on our guns, and evaporates quickly leaving no residue, its good stuff.

Do not use carb clean, or any caustic strong solvent that will ruin plastic/rubber. Brake clean dissolves oil very well and quick without the damage of other solvents.

If you spray brake clean in with a strong stream using the straw that came with it trying to hit all inner surfaces, and shake it around then pour it out then immediately follow blowing it out with a long extended tube nozzle on your blow gun with compressed air at 100+psi, all before the solvent has a chance to evaporate(less than 20 seconds).You'll blow all the oil right out with maybe 1 or 2 of these brake clean wash cycles...

jmo

 

[UncleHoot]

ACETONE...a light, aromatic solvent that can barely remain in a liquid state. Generally found in paint departments of stores.

It immediately dissolves petroleum based oils, should be sloshed around the tank a few times, then dumped right away. The remaining Acetone will immediately begin to evaporate, wait until all traces of its smell is gone. Afterwards, a quick rinse with water is a good idea, let dry and use.

Acetone is an interesting oil solvent that can barely remain in a liquid state. Once exposed to air, it's natural tendency is to become a gas almost immediately...so keep the lid tight on the can, so the high concentration of acetone gas will prevent the rest in a liquid state from evaporating.



Hoot 

PS: Did I mention it's explosive in its vapor state???  Don't check your air tank with a cigarette lighter, or propane torch. In fact, don't use it near any flames at all...use with the same care as you would with gasoline, dynamite, or a house filled with natural gas leakage! On second thought, just use the damn soap and water....

 

[SeeOhTwo]

Over simplistic I know but...have you tried a nylon or foam bottle brush chucked in a hand drill, steaming hot water and Dawn dishwashing liquid?

It works on baby ducks,

Glenn in Texas

 

[FunGun]

This is a typical looking scuba brush you can mount in a drill motor. Using Dawn dish soap and warm water, you can clean up any oil. Google scuba tank cleaning supplies.

 

[Blackpaw]

Hey everyone thanks for the input. I did the cleaning of the Leshiy 2 parts and reinstalled the original air cylinder.

I have done the initial cleaning with dish soap on the 300 cc bottle, how many times I did it not sure , but I don’t smell anything anymore. Also, I used a LOT of wet wipes on the Leshiy 2 parts, didn’t do soap and water with them. 

When I reach the US next week and do one more cleaning with acetone / grease cleaner. I will get what I need from because most everything is closed here.

@unclehoot, thanks for the acetone idea. And don’t worry used the alcohol .

What about nail polish remover? A key component of nail polish remover is acetone, and I can buy it.

 

[grandadmorgan]

just my 2 cents, the 46 oil that you are using is a AW46 hydraulic oil and is only a 15 weight oil used in hydraulic and wet clutch systems. Also my chinese sources contend that their pcp compressors will always pass some lubricant and therefore need extra large filtration and should use the synyhetic oil.

 

[tracker1955]

By the way, the manual for new Yong Heng compressors built-in 2020 no longer recommends the use of #46 hydraulic oil, they have learned from their mistake and are now recommending Mobil Rarus 827 high pressure full synthetic compressor oil. It's expensive, as a five-gallon bucket costs about the same as a new Yong Heng. It's not the same as what is used in Breathable air compressors, although I believe they would work well also. They realized the cheap oil caused high temps, carbon fouling, and detonation in the system. There is a guy on ebay selling 12oz bottles for $20 shipped. Although the full synthetic compressor oil I've been using has been working well, In my compressor, I may upgrade to this higher quality oil the next time I need more.

 

[Blackpaw]

@tracker1995 thanks for the update and you are right, I went off the recommended oil from YouTube and listed when I ordered the compressor. Thing is I just ordered another 1 L of the AW46 from Amazon, but I don’t need to use the compressor for a few weeks. I will order the Mobil 827/829 oil before I return to the Netherlands.

However, yesterday my buddy who I sold the brocock to decided to join up and go halves on a Yong Heng. Today I will order the secondary filter and the Mobil 827/829 oil off Amazon or similar for the Yong Heng heading to Idaho. Thuswhen I am in Idaho I won’t have to hand pump, which he ordered yesterday. I will bring my 1 L buddy bottle to fill from the compressor then use the bottle to fill the guns.

Before heading to the field make sure the bottle and guns are topped off, and that should last me for an afternoon at the dairy or field.

 

[Blackpaw]

Yippee with help got the valve stem off the 1 L buddy bottle. So now I can clean it and take it to the US.

 

[Humdinger]

It's counter intuitive to buy a $250 compressor and pay for $60 a quart lubricant to keep it running.

Yong Heng manuals have switched from recommending improper lubricants like detergent based motor oil and #46 hydraulic fluid to now recommending Mobil Rarus 847 for $60 a quart! That's just as bad advice on the overpriced side as the cheap oil was on the economy price side. There are lots of quality high pressure compressor oils that sell for less than $20 a quart. At that price using Rarus is like buying jet fuel for a Volkswagen. Twelve ounces for $20 is insane. It's like buying pellets made out of silver. Or paying 15 cents per pellet for FX hybrid slugs. I'm not exaggerating there either.

Buy Anderol 750, Bauer 0024, Secolube 500 from Filtertechs.com, Royal Purple Synfilm 100, or any high quality oil. Don't use detergent based motor oils, and don't use #46 hydraulic fluid. There is no need to over spend Oil changes for $20 each onr a Yong Heng? That's overkill. It only costs $30 for a 5 quart oil change for an automobile, including the oil filter!

 

[octavius]

I'm still saying people let's use common sense!!! I'm 100% agree with Humdinger!!