AIr compressor repaired

[Smitty Two]

I spent a few hours today working on my air compressor at the shop. This is something I cannot be without, so was tempted to go buy another one, but this is not a cheap throwaway unit.

Symptoms were a tripping breaker, and an air "leak." I had to take more stuff off of it than I wanted to, just to open it up further than I wanted to. First attempt was unsuccessful. So, I did enough googling to figure out that the "unloader valve" (from which the air would not stop bleeding) and the "check valve" are two different things, although they work together. This is an aspect of compressors that I had never bothered to figure out. I did know that the pressure had to be relieved for the motor to restart, but hadn't looked into the mechanics of it.

So after finding that the fault was not with the leaky part itself (the unloader valve) I did figure out where the check valve might be, and it turned out to be there, and it turned out to have a big piece of crud jammed in it. The crud looked like a piece of a fiber washer, but it crumbled like a piece of dried mud from the sole of a boot. I extracted that without leaving pieces of it inside the valve, put it all together again, and now it's fine.

And, I learned some things, which is good. But, the part that I really like about this, is that if fell into a category I call Zero Dollar Repairs. Those are my favorite kind.

[Stormin Mormon]

Thanks, you give us hope.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Symptoms were a tripping breaker, and an air "leak." I had to take more stuff off of it than I wanted to, just to open it up further than I wanted to. First attempt was unsuccessful. So, I did enough googling to figure out that the "unloader valve" (from which the air would not stop bleeding) and the "check valve" are two different things, although they work together. This is an aspect of compressors that I had never bothered to figure out. I did know that the pressure had to be relieved for the motor to restart, but hadn't looked into the mechanics of it.

So after finding that the fault was not with the leaky part itself (the unloader valve) I did figure out where the check valve might be, and it turned out to be there, and it turned out to have a big piece of crud jammed in it. The crud looked like a piece of a fiber washer, but it crumbled like a piece of dried mud from the sole of a boot. I extracted that without leaving pieces of it inside the valve, put it all together again, and now it's fine.

And, I learned some things, which is good. But, the part that I really like about this, is that if fell into a category I call Zero Dollar Repairs. Those are my favorite kind.

[hrhofmann]

I understand the unloader valve so the compressor starts under a no- load situation, but what does the check valve do?

[Jon Danniken]

Mine too. Sometimes when I am building something, and I realize that I have been a slave to the hardware store for too long in the wallet, I will switch to ZD (zero dollar) mode.

The challenge, of course, is that you have to re-design your widget to consist of not only that which is logical, but also of things which you already have.

I find, more often than not, that the results turn out far better than they would have otherwise, and the experience is a far more satisfying affair.

Jon

[Stormin Mormon]

Prevents compressed air from the tank going back to the compressor. Without it, all the tank air would escape through the unloader.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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I understand the unloader valve so the compressor starts under a no- load situation, but what does the check valve do?

[Ashton Crusher]

I was going to replace my dual cyl cast iron Montgomery ward 1HP. Bought it used 15 years ago and it was old then. It had stopped building pressure properly, low PSI and low volume. Took of the cover over the reed valves and found that the rivets holding them in place had come loose and the valves were no longer functioning. Replaced rivets with screws and got the valves nice and tight again and it works like a champ.

[CRNG]

On Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:41:00 -0800, Smitty Two wrote in Re AIr compressor repaired:

Well done.

[clare]

Very simple, it allows the unloader to unload the compressor head without bleeding all the pressure out of the tank,

[clare]

No the exhaust (output) valves do that. The check valve is strictly to allow the unloader to unload the compressor without the tank re-pressurizing the manifold.