Compressor Failure

189.95 at Price in 1993. My Cambell Hausfeld roll around finally failed. Not catastrophically. In fact I might not even know if I hadn't finally put an elbow and a ball valve on the tank a couple months ago that made it easier to bleed the moisture out. It's still putting out plenty of air. It just has a problem.

I've been using it a lot for the last couple months, To be safe every day I was cracking my valve to blow out any liquid in the tank. Its Arizona, so their usually isn't much. Yesterday I got a surprised. I crack the valve slowly with hand in front of the tube, and I got a handful of oil. My first guess is the rings are bad. Probably finally went after a couple months of nearly continuous duty trying various experiments with air. I certainly have the ability to put a new pump on it or maybe even open the pump, find the problem and fix it. I probably will since having a roll around can be handy even if you have distributed shop air.

Right now though I think its time to finally get that larger shop compressor I have been wanting for a while. I can't afford one of those super duper things from IR or Osborne so those aren't even on the table. I'm looking more at one of the box store compressors. Something like a single phase

230V 60 or 80 gallon compressor. Something with more volume than my roll around. Something in the $500-800 range that I can be pretty sure of getting a decade out of.

Given those kind of constraints and price range, which one is going to give me the least problems?

I notice there are a couple on the floor at Depot missing parts. That indicates to me they may not have the best QC. Depot, Lowes, and HF all have a 60 gallon that looks like it was made in the same factory and they are all about the same price.

HF also sells Cambell Hausfeld, which I have had good luck with obviously, but I don't think they stock any in the size I want. I also don't know if Cambell is as good as they used to be now that you can find them on the floor at Wal-Mart.

Back when I did warranty work on compressors for Tool & Supply Roll Aire and Devilbiss where the better ones we handled, and Sanborne was OK, but not quite on the same par. Sanborne was excellent on warranty though. They never denied a claim if I told them I thought it was legit even if it was out of warranty.

However... I have since felt that other Devilbiss air tools have lacked in performance and found better performance out of Rigid and Hitachi air tools. It causes me some concern that Devilbiss may have reduced their standards overall in the last 20 years. I don't know who sells any of those three brands locally today.

... and I kinda want to just go buy a compressor today...

Reply to
Bob La Londe
Loading thread data ...

Sorry to hear your compressor is losing oil into the tank. Sounds like you got your value out of it.

formatting link
$800 at HF, on sale of course.

I've never used or owned a compressor this large. Consumer Reports might have comments on reliability, etc. HF Reviews has no field reports.

formatting link
If you are a tinkerer, and don't need a lot of air power, you may be able to plumb a refrigeration or HVAC compressor into a water heater.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

formatting link
.

189.95 at Price in 1993. My Cambell Hausfeld roll around finally failed.

Right now though I think its time to finally get that larger shop compressor I have been wanting for a while. I can't afford one of those super duper things from IR or Osborne so those aren't even on the table. I'm looking more at one of the box store compressors. Something like a single phase

230V 60 or 80 gallon compressor. Something with more volume than my roll around. Something in the $500-800 range that I can be pretty sure of getting a decade out of.
Reply to
Stormin Mormon

formatting link
** Availability: On Backorder.

I've seen a lot of sale items on backorder from HF in the last few years.

I decided to just buy a cheap pump for now and fix my compressor, and then order in a decent compressor. Depot has a 5HP Ingersol for 949 on-line. A little over my planned budget, but it might be worth it. Of course I will do some shopping now that I should have air again atleast for a little while using this cheap pump on my old compressor.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

formatting link
> about $800 at HF, on sale of course.

IR may definitely be back on the table. 899 from Northern Tool with free freight.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I have a 60 Gal HD compressor that was missing the whole pump, long story & looow price. After rebuilding it with 'project' stuff I had kicking around the shop I asked their Customer Service if I could have ordered the parts I had substituted.

Not one piece was available through them, not even the exposed and fragile switch box cover that was missing from every floor sample. I had hacked a blue plastic wall outlet box to fit, then installed a better switch and unloader from Northern.

I refuse to grovel before the things I supposedly own and control so I extended the drain with an elbow and short air hose whip, while the tank was hanging in the air at a dignified working height.

It was suspended to slosh LPS3 all around the inside and then drain it. Doing that has kept the condensate rust-free on a 12 Gal compressor I built from Grainger parts in the 1970's

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Losing oil into the air stream is perfectly normal...where else do you expect it would go ?

If you only use your compressor once in a blue moon, then it will only need oil once in a blue moon...but if all a sudden you start into using it all day long several days a week then you dam well better check the oil level at least every day at startup or else you're going to throw a rod.

===

Now, I generally avoid buying Chinese made products, but about 7 years ago I put a harbor freight pump like this:

formatting link
onto an old speedaire tank that I picked up off craigslost--it leaked oil real bad at first....till finally I re-tightened all the bolts but other than that, it's been a rock solid performer, and if it ever does take a dump all I have to do is drive to harbor freight and get another....I'll be back up and running again in an hour tops...

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

Well, since the compressor had been checked each day it was used over the last several weeks and nothing had come out except a very small amount of condensed moisture, and then suddenly a large amount of oil upon the next day it was check I would assume that something had changed. Perhaps your compressors suddenly change how they perform from day to day as a normal part of operation, but mine never has. In fact in 18 years it has never even put out a large amount of condensation before. Heck, its never used any noticeable amount of oil between oil changes and I am sure I didn't change the oil as often as I should over the years. It has always showed right in the middle of the sight glass. Had it simply been a little oily water I would not have been alarmed even the slightest. This was a fairly large quantity of clear brown compressor oil. Large being defined as enough to half cover my hand and make me say, "ick!" Something that has never happened at any time when draining condensation with the petcock since I purchased the compressor in 1993. I don't pontificate upon this just because I like to see myself type, but rather because you seem to think I have zero ability to recognize something that might be a substantial variation from one day to the next.

Yes, and no. This is, as was spelled out in painful detail, a substantial difference in oil passing into the tank. Also, while a miniscule amount of oil may go past the rings into the air stream regularly it would not be normal for a properly broken in compressor to use a noticable amount of oil in a day or even in a week until it has started to wear out or something has broken. With a reciprocating pump just like with a reciprocating engine if your oil usage becomes noticeable you need to plan for the fact your pump is wearing out. If you get liquid oil running out the exhaust pipe, you already have a substantial problem, and you are lucky its still running.

formatting link
I looked at that pump. The price is reasonable enough. However since this is a roll around compressor, and I would like to keep it that way I opted for this pump which is sized a little more suitably for the application.

formatting link
I should be able to run it with the 110 motor on the compressor and use it the way I always have. My thought was it was a quick cheap fix I could do today leaving me the option of ordering a shop compressor for daily use a little better suited to running my work shop. Currently I am looking at this one.

formatting link

Yep. Similar thoughts there, except I find myself needing more air than my current compressor can provide these days.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

formatting link

formatting link

... and then after having some time to read the reviews, maybe not. I though the pump looked suspiciously similar to the pump on some of the cheaper compressors around.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Where was the oil level on that particular day ?

The only thing that matters here is the amount of oil that's being used per hour of operation...

-if you're not adding any any more than the usual amount if oil into the crankcase then the glob that came out of the drain very well could have taken several years to accumulate.

Well my own experience at least with the Hausfeld vt series pumps is that they will most certainly run out of oil within just a few days if run at ~75% duty cycle for 8 hours daily.

Been there done it even got a vidmar drawer full of spare parts to prove it.

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

formatting link
>

formatting link
>

There is only a handful of different pumps being used by the vast majority homeowner grade compressor manufacturers these days.

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

formatting link
>>

formatting link
>>

Well perhaps. I have a problem with calling a compressor with a list price of about a $1K "home owner grade." (Its 899 at the best price places) Apparently IR recognizes this because they don't call it home owner grade either, although based on the reviews it certainly is.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

The oil level has dropped about an 1/8 inch. That's a lot for this compressor. It has never dropped before. I went ahead and pulled the head, and can't find anything wrong except the cylinder has a lot more oil in it than I expected. (I used to do warranty work on compressors, but I admit most things I fixed were obviously part failures.) The rings are still sharp, and the cylinder walls look good. No lip. No scoring. I'll need to replace an o-ring between the reed block and the top of the jug before I can put it back together. I'll add a little oil and run it and see. I may have to back off my position and say you could be right. If not I have a spare pump on the shelf now.

The only thing I could find was the two top compression rings had the gap very close to lined up. The oil ring was only a little off from those. If it were assembled that way you would think I would have used oil since day one though. I spun the rings around so the gaps are spaced around the pistons, and put the jug back over them. Maybe that fixed it. LOL.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

"Bob La Londe" fired this volley in news:ak6gr.22138$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe04.iad:

That alone will do it, Bob. The only other thing I would have checked (but you did it by rotating the rings) was to make sure no ring was frozen in its groove.

Pumping a little oil is a malady, but it doesn't condemn the unit. Even if it's "on its last legs", there's probably a lot of miles in them thar legs.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Jim , the 20 gal IR tank I got with a dead motor is now wearing an oilless pump that I got with a leaking tank . The pump from that unit is on top of a

60 gal tank that I got with a dead pump ... and a good motor .
Reply to
Snag

A word of caution, the smaller piston type compressors are often finnickey about how many rpms you're running them at, and also about oil viscosity...

--if you run them too fast, the oil doesn't stick to the dipper, too slow and it doesnt get slung all the way up onto the cylinder walls etc.

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

Maybe the crankcase is getting pressurized? Blocked vent, plugged or crimped line coming from there?

Reply to
Denis G.

The part about the unit still producing plenty of air is a bit subjective, IMO, but you would likely be accustomed to it's normal/usual performance.

If this is the C-H cast iron 2-cylinder single stage pump, they're very durable and repairable with complete parts availability (unlike many generic units).

The issue of missing parts on retail store ACs might be due to parts theft, particularly since buyers are generally unaware that the sellers can't provide replacement parts when they buy them.

I've read the follow-up posts and don't see an obvious reason for the sudden oil discharge, although a possibility could be that the intake air filters may have become restrictive/clogged and possibly resulting in a negative pressure causing the pistons to suck oil past the rings. A close examination of the area around/inside the crankcase vent would likely show an accumulation of shop air dirt. If this is found, a crankcase flush and oil change would definitely be worthwhile.

The blocked crankcase vent cause suggested by Denis would be worth investigating.

The intake air filters on home shop units are typically small wool/synthetic felt pads, and definitely inferior filters when exposed to usual shop dust levels. A better arrangement can be utilized by adding a plate/housing which can support a real filter, such as a pleated paper element. For stationary installations, the better solution is to use a remote filter and snorkel tube to feed air from outside the shop environment.

Reply to
Wild_Bill

formatting link
>> about $800 at HF, on sale of course.

Any thoughts on the 80gal 2-stage IR at 1099 from Tractor Supply (was

999 until just recently)?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

I dont worry until they start sounding like a locomotive.

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

formatting link
>>> about $800 at HF, on sale of course.

After reading some of the recent reviews on the compressor I WAS looking at the beginning 2 stage models seem to be the only ones actually made for continuous use. I always forget about checking Tractor Supply . Thank you.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.