Stuck port on air compressor / sealing leak

[jml74]

I've got a Champion 5hp 80gal compressor that's a few years old that's never held air all that well, but I just lived with it. I finally decided to look into it and found a leak around the exhaust port; I swapped the ports before I started to use it due to clearance issues and apparently didn't get that one tight enough. (By port I mean the large 2"+ plug, not the smaller outlet in the center of it that the valve attaches to.) Anyway, it is of course now frozen completely solid and I'm worried about damaging something if I keep trying to force it. I've soaked it in PB Blaster without luck, but I haven't tried heat yet. Is it worth it to try heat? If I just leave it alone is there something I could put around the outside at the joint that will seal the leak?

 

[jerholz]

I've got essentially the same compressor that had the same leak. After trying heat and a pipe wrench with a 6 foot cheater (I bent the handle on the pipe wrench), I ended up cutting and grinding the fitting out. Mine was a weird straight pipe thread with an O ring seal. The local compressor guy told me to just replace it with a standard 2 inch pipe fitting with some sealant. It's been leak free so far.

 

[jml74]

Yeah, I didn't have a pipe big enough for a cheater, but using the largest pipe wrench I had I was lifting the whole thing off of the ground. I may just continue to live with it for now, but it's good to know there are alternatives. It's a slow leak, more of an annoyance that I know it's happening than anything else.

 

[Bill D]

Let it run to heat it up.
Bill D