Air Compressor Oil

Are your compressors piston or screw types? It makes a huge difference.

Gunner

"The Democratic Party is the party of this popular corruption. The heart of the Democratic Party and its activist core is made up of government unions, government dependent professions (teachers, social workers, civil servants); special interest and special benefits groups (abortion rights, is a good example) that feed off the government trough; and ethnic constituencies, African Americans being the most prominent, who are disproportionately invested in government jobs and in programs that government provides.

" The Democratic Party credo is 'Take as much of the people's money as politically feasible, and use that money to buy as many of the people's votes as possible'. Tax cuts are a threat to this Democratic agenda. Consequently, Democrats loathe and despise them." -Semi-reformed Leftist David Horowitz

I have two V-4 Saylor Beale units at work, and the book calls for SAE 30 non detergent. At home I just use Castrol 30 motor oil in all three units.

RJ

My guess would be a few factors cause the oil to be expensive. $234/ 5 gallons is about $11.70 per quart. These are just guesses.

1) It's a synthetic oil meaning it is more highly refined, or there is more going in to the production of this oil compared to "normal" oils. 2) Cost of crude oil is going up to $49 / barrel. The portion of crude which this oil comes from may be only a small part of a barrel. 3) There may be many chemical additives for corrosion resistance, anti-foaming, anti-sludging, detergents, etc. These itesm may be very expensive. 4) Whoever developed the oil may have a high amount of research dollars in it.

5) There may be a considerable markup on the oil. You don't mention who you purchase from. Could it be the OEM, or a rep, or someone else? If you shop around for the material you might find a supplier willing to sell it for less.

6) It might be a monopoly of sorts, and the oil manufacturer might be keeping the price high because he can do it.

If your compressor requires that you use this exact oil I would recommend staying with the manufacturer's recommendation. A different oil might be less (let's guess $100) but in the long run will cost a lot more if the compressor fails becasue the wrong oil is used.

For the long run perhaps you could monitor how many hours run time on the compressor to prevent changing oil sooner than needed, and, look into predictive maintenance, where a sample of oil is taken and analyzed for metal, etc. in the oil. Once you have a little history on the compressor you might be in a better position to change the oil less often (assuming the manufacturer's warranty won't be voided).

At our foundry we will be intalling (3) 150 HP compressors in a few weeks. We intend to follow the manufacturer's quidelines quite closely. Even though a foundry environment is dusty, dirty, etc. I feel that in following the recommended PM we will have the greatest life on the equipment.

Mark

...chuckling to self

we have a devilbiss compressor at work. was originally gasoline powered retired from a machine shop, put to work in dad's shop for years, used to paint cars in a hobby shop for years back to dad's shop sometime in the 80's

electric motor reached the end of it's service life.

new motor

nobody seems to be able to remeber who last changed the oil.

it gets checked from time to time, but never seems to consume any

Then you only need regular compressor oil and regular changes per the manufactures suggested hours.

The synthetic stuff is very very good and may allow you to go much longer between changes. Often this pays for the high priced stuff in comparison with how much regular you would have had to purchase.

Shrug..but there is no NEED for the high dollar stuff. It does work well. Shrug

Gunner

"The Democratic Party is the party of this popular corruption. The heart of the Democratic Party and its activist core is made up of government unions, government dependent professions (teachers, social workers, civil servants); special interest and special benefits groups (abortion rights, is a good example) that feed off the government trough; and ethnic constituencies, African Americans being the most prominent, who are disproportionately invested in government jobs and in programs that government provides.

" The Democratic Party credo is 'Take as much of the people's money as politically feasible, and use that money to buy as many of the people's votes as possible'. Tax cuts are a threat to this Democratic agenda. Consequently, Democrats loathe and despise them." -Semi-reformed Leftist David Horowitz

"Quinsyn" sounds much like it may be a product of one of the many air compressor manufactur's located in Quincy, IL. Might I guess that it is a Gardner Denver product?

Who is the compressor manufacture and I can probably get the whole story for you.

Hugh Quincy resident

Hey Jim,

KBC Tools (USA) 2000-2001catalogue says from 12 (cheap stuff) to 18US (good stuff) per gallon, and also available in 5 and 55 gallon sizes. The KBC Canadian 2003-2004 catalogue says 21 & 28 Cdn for same products. Are your quotes including delivery??

Lotsa luck, with crude hitting nearly 50US per barrel recently.

Take care.

Brian Laws>We are buying "Quinsyn Lubricant" for commercial air compressors and I can't

Quinsyn, otherwise known as "Blue Juice" because of it's blue color, which just happens to match Quincy's color-scheme, is Quincy compressors version of synthetic air compressor oil.

Believe it or not, in the long run it's well worth the cost. It lasts twice as long as normal, mineral-based oil and is specially formulated for Quincy compressors.

And if you think that's expensive, Ingersoll-Rand's Ultra-Coolant was going for over $300 for a 5-gallon pail. And that was two years ago when I used to work on IR compressors for a living. I'm sure that it's more than that now.

It's not as critical if you have a reciprocating compressor, but it will double the time between oil changes. I've reverted to being a Maintenance Ape, and that's important to me now.

For screw compressors I wouldn't think of using anything other than synthetic. It will definitely prolong the life of your compressor. And with Ingersoll-Rand, if you use anything other than their Ultra-Coolant for the 1st two years, it will void the warranty.

Any questions, feel free to cantact me.

Giarc The Compressor Nazi