Can't win some times

Today (Saturday Sept 14, 2013) a friend gave me an air compressor. Says when he ran it six months or so ago, ran fine. Sears oilless, 12 gal tank. Said to deliver 3.3 SCFM (think that's right) at 90 PSI.

I got home, the air all blew out the safety pressure device. Spent a bunch of time on the Sears web site. The web site has a BIG pdf that takes most of the computer screen, can only read the parts list on the tiny edge of the screen. Sears wants $31 and change, for the safety valve. Amazon $22 or so. Went to the auto parts, they said to go to the farm and garden store 20 miles away. Just for grins, went to Lowe's, about two miles away. They had one for eight bucks.

Got home, install the safety device. Compressor still hisses, and won't come up to pressure. Some looking, find the drain valve under the tank is open, and a lot of very black water on my floor. Mop the black, close the valve.

Decided to run the compressor through a cycle. Ran for a while, and then sounded like fire crackers popping about once a second. Look at the gauge, find it's up to 120 PSI. So, the electric cut out needs adjusting.

I turned off the power, and bled the air down to about

  1. Turn it back on. The compressor growled, but didn't start.

Oh, bother, the unloader is bad too.

I tried to take the cover off, to get at the unloader. But one of the screws is rotted and stripped, and after an hour I can't get it to come loose. I guess I'll load the compressor in my van, and take it back tomorrow. I can use a larger compressor, but this one is a loser. And the guy who gave it to me cleaned out the unloader on his other compressor. Maybe he can get this one working.

I guess this just hasn't been my good week. Wheel fell off the truck (for real) and missed the church picnic. What next?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon
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Stormin Mormon fired this volley in news:pK7Zt.56706$ snipped-for-privacy@fx07.iad:

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

I bought one at a yard sale for $5 or $10 at least ten years ago. It fired right up and has worked reliably every time I've tried to use it since. Got a smaller one for almost nothing at Harbor Freight. It's always worked too. Even the mail order one I carry in the Jeep.

Put it with your corroded batteries. Must be the Mormon "spirit" that talks to you is really an evil ghost and your trailer is haunted.

pdf files can be sized to fit any screen. You really are pretty clueless.

Reply to
Winston_Smith

You are so right. It's in the van, and going back to the donor, tomorrow. Maybe he can get it going again. I've had enough.

. Christ> Stormin Mormon fired this volley in

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Just put it in your scrap hopper. Save enough scrap, take to scrap yard.

i

Reply to
Ignoramus8750

Nice friend, and a liar at that! You're such a gullible putz.

Reply to
colbert

I absolutely hate those oilless compressors... in my opinion their only claim to fame is separating people from their money, and the conversion of otherwise useful energy to a loathsome din.

Let it go; don't look back... run, don't walk... and never forget the old saying:

"It's far better to have a horrible ending, than to have horrors without end"

--Unknown

Erik

Reply to
Erik

Glad the wheel missed the church picnic. That could have had terrible consequences!

Reply to
Scromlette

That may also be a fitting end for such a machine. It surely isn't playing nice, at this moment.

With domestic refrigerators, I figure that if the compressor works, the rest is repairable. But this one, the cylinder and motor work, but the rest is turning out to be a mess.

. Christ> >> You are so right. It's in the van, and going

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

That's not the impression I get.

. Christ>> Today (Saturday Sept 14, 2013) a friend gave me an

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I appreciate the wisdom. I have a couple oilless

12 volt compressors for emergencies. They do OK. This one was probably OK for consumers who use the unit once every couple months.

. Christ>

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Stormin Mormon fired this volley in news:NMfZt.58967$ snipped-for-privacy@fx06.iad:

conversion

I have to agree with Erik on that point. I have one little 12V buzz-box in the boot of wifey's van for the emergency low tire. She's too weak to change one, but not to top it off just to avoid waiting for AAA.

I have only two compressors right now: One nice 'man portable' double- sausage Emglo (about 120lb), and a true 5HP upright with a 150-gallon tank. The Emglo goes on indoor jobs like spray painting, mud-gunning, air-nailing, and stuff like that. It's not an oil-less, but it still makes the unpleasant "small piston, fast motor" buzz. The big one is a shop fixture with slow RPMs, so very quiet.

I do have a nice 3HP servo motor that will run at about the right speed on 12VDC to power the Emglo, and the face footprint is about right for adapting it to the Emglo motor mount. That might be a worthy experiment, if I can make the motor quick-change.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Well it could have been worse -- the wheel could have fallen off and _hit_ the church picnic!

Reply to
Tim Wescott

'Don't know the friendship's history, so he gets the benefit of doubt. Otherwise, someone who gives you an oilless compressor is not a friend.

So now you know better: never take an oilless - they are not worth the "owing" that the giver attaches to them.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Or, I could have the wheel fell off at the church picnic, and I have no air. Suffocate to death with a flat tire.

. Christ>>

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

This one got up to 120 PSI, and started to pop the relief valve. At the present moment, it seems to compress air.

I brought it back this afternoon (Sunday Sept

15, 2013) and he'll work on it, see if he can fix it. We've been friends for a year or so, and he's always treated me well. I have no reason to doubt that he thought it was working.

Tonight we got together to test discharge a

20 or so year old fire extinguisher, which had been in storage.

I sense you don't like oiless units?

. Christ> >> ... a friend gave me an

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

They have one major flaw that is _so_ bad that any advantage, e.g., low cost, is totally outweighed. That flaw: they're noisy, REALLY NOISY; OFFENSIVELY NOISY; GET-THAT-THING-OUTA-HERE NOISY. If I was compressor-less, I would not take an oilless as a gift.

Maybe(!), if you had a lotta' hose and could site the compressor >=100' away ... maybe it would be OK.

Yeah, I don't like oilless.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

From what I've seen of them, they're short lived as well.

An example; a misguided neighbor bought one, and promptly built a nice carpet lined sound 'enclosure' for it in his garage... it was still obnoxious.

Didn't mater much as it's diaphragm ruptured within a week or so.

However, his replacement (conventional lubricated) compressor turned out to be nearly silent in the enclosure, and has been now for years!

Erik

Reply to
Erik

The compressor guy in town told me the Teflon seals they use instead of rings has a short lifespan.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

"Jim Wilkins" fired this volley in news:l16oh8$goh $ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

I've never seen the advantage, anyway, except for tiny portable thingys to blow up tires while on the road. Who needs a compressor who's not willing to check/change the oil once in a while?

Even for medical uses, you still have to fully filter the downstream to keep out wear particulates and condensed vapors from the environment.

For air brushing and other low-volume apps, they have (relatively) quiet diaphram pumps. For HVLP, regenerative fans work fine.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

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