Repairing leaking air tank and air pump

[BKu]

I just want to share this.

When building the auto start air compressor (See here) I discovered that one of my air tanks and two op the air pumps were leaking. As all these parts are not really cheep and I felt lousy.
Looking around for a long time on the internet I finally found a method how to repair them. It's quite simple.

First detect where the leaks are. To do this with air tank, put pressure on it, and during doing this, put into some water. Mine was leaking at a lot of places where two parts seems to be glued together from the factory. 
Detecting on an air pump is bit more difficult. Close the outlet of the pump and put half of the pump in water. You can see it's leaking, but difficult to see where. Take some detergent between you fingers, add water to you fingers and rub around the area where its leaking. Pump again, and you see bubbles coming up. This way you can identify the leaking spots. On my pumps, one had two leaks (small invisible cracks) the other three.
I marked on a piece of paper where to find them.
As everything is wet, dry it carefully and wait overnight to be sure that it will be really dry (especially inside the cracks).

Air tank:
Put electric insolation tape at both side of the tank (see: Tank repair), this to avoid that the glue will be spoiled all over the tank. Then take superglue and carefully dose this between the strips of isolation tape.
Let it dry for an hour, and your tank is fixed.

Air pump:
Put electric insolation tape at both sides of the leaks, and then put a round of tape on the grey, yellow or blue part of the pump. (see: air pump), this to avoid that the glue will be spoiled all over the pump. Then take superglue and carefully dose this between the strips of isolation tape.
Let it dry for an hour, and your pump is fixed.

It worked fine for me, saving me quite a lot of money.

 

[Andman]

I also had issues with the same parts and used this method too. Worked well, no more leaks.

[BKu]

Great to hear, so I hope more people can use this method, as it seems that leaking pumps and tanks are happening quite often.

[astyanax]

Last year I bought a couple of new air tanks from Lego Bricks & Pieces, where they cost 'only' $3 a piece. And only in white. They don't seem to be available at the moment, but might be worth checking every now and then...

[2GodBDGlory]

7 hours ago, astyanax said:

Last year I bought a couple of new air tanks from Lego Bricks & Pieces, where they cost 'only' $3 a piece. And only in white. They don't seem to be available at the moment, but might be worth checking every now and then...

Wow! I am surprised they were available that recently! $3 is a fair price for such a rare part.

I bought an old cylinder a while back, but it leaks on retraction, so I think the upper seal is bad. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to fix that, or on a similar thread?

[BKu]

Good info how to repair cylinders can be found here: Disassemble Cylinders.
Halfway the post a youtube movie how to disassemble a cylinder.

Edited January 18, 2021 by BKu

[2GodBDGlory]

10 hours ago, BKu said:

Good info how to repair cylinders can be found here: Disassemble Cylinders.
Halfway the post a youtube movie how to disassemble a cylinder.

Thanks!