Should I use this air compressor?

It's a cheapie 2hp/8-gallon my ex-in laws bought me ~15 years ago. It's sat unused(and un-drained) in the garage at our old, now rental, house for the last 3-years. When I packed up all my tools to move to the new garage I noticed it sounded like a water-tank...and drained a gallon+ of nasty rusty sludge and water from it - I had to remove the drain plug completely & a screwdriver in the hole to get it to drain.

Obviously I don't want to berkeley around with having a tank explode, but if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, please let me know. So, should I tempt fate & use it, or just go spend $157 for the 20-gallon one Harbor Freight one that's on sale now?

Isn't the harbor freight one more likely to consplode? Lol

Hook it up outside, and let it come up to pressure if you are concerned. I have done this sort of thing with no ill aftermath in the past. Disclaimer this is an opinion.

In reply to wheelsmithy:

That was my initial plan, but I'm not sure the odds of it blowing up on first use are much greater than the odds of it happening soon-ish once I start using it?

Again, opinion, but it is a welded steel tank, right? Were it to rupture, I believe a split is much more likely than shrapnel-think frozen water pipe more than hand grenade. Make a plywood "tent" to contain any wayward bits, or at least, improve your odds.

In reply to wheelsmithy:

The garage has an alcove of sorts with 1/2" OSB on the outside, and my 2 roller toolboxes are against the wall too, so I figured I'll keep it in there. I just wonder if I'll always need to have more caution when using it than normal because it was left with the rusty sludge for an unknown time?

Take a ball peen hammer and beat on the bottom a bit all over. Obviously don't bend it in but thoroughly test its strength. Then plug it up outside, drain and refill again outside.

That's only if I was really paranoid about it, keep in mind compressors older than yours have kept more water in for longer and you don't hear about "rusty compressors blowing up" so don't worry about it. But as I said if you are, try my method, if you want to just buy a new one send me your old one so I can use it haha

In reply to chiodos:

It's on & running now. I'll cycle it a couple times & see how it does. At some point this one will get upgraded, as it's not really big enough for impact wrench use, let alone anything requiring more CFM, but I'd prefer to take a bit more time to find a replacement rather than just buy something barely any better because it's cheap...as long as thin one is safe.

I'd probably just get a new tank for it and use the rest of the compressor if it works fine.

Put it on CL for 3X what it's worth.

Never seen a rusty tank explode, they usually develop a small leak and won't hold air pressure. But I would prefer the 20 gallon one over an 8 gallon. Even my 33 gallon one cycles frequently when I am using a buffer on it.

Leave the drain out run it for a bit the rid it of crud. shut off install drain and run outside for a few cycles of up to max shut off psi for testing. Un plug close all valves and let sit see if it hold pressure for hours.