Can't win some times

[Stormin Mormon]

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?

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

Stormin Mormon fired this volley in news:pK7Zt.56706$ [e-mail]:

[Winston_Smith]

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.

[Stormin Mormon]

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

[Ignoramus8750]

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

i

[colbert]

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

[Erik]

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

[Fat-Dumb and Happy]

Anything can be fixed... let it sit for a day or two while you think about it. The unloader is just a check valve. I put two compressors on the same line and usually just run one, when I need more volume and higher pressure I also turn on the bigger and noisier larger one. There is no such thing as a bad air compressor, it just needs a little help.

[Scromlette]

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

[Stormin Mormon]

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

[Stormin Mormon]

That's not the impression I get.

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

[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>

[Stormin Mormon]

No such thing as a bad compressor, only a bad teacher?

I'm frustrated now, too much gone wrong with the unit. I can use a big compressor now and again, but this one has so much wrong.

That's a wise policy, to run the larger one only when you need the higher volume.

. Christ>

[Lloyd E. Sponenburgh]

Stormin Mormon fired this volley in news:NMfZt.58967$ [e-mail]:

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

[Tim Wescott]

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

[Stormin Mormon]

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>>

[Bruce L. Bergman (munged human]

Good auto parts stores should have them too.

And the butterfly valves are always messy - if you have to roll it outside, it never gets drained. Pull that stupid valve, put on a street elbow, a short nipple to get clear of the tank, and a regular

1/8" or 1/4" ball valve and a barb fitting where you can attach a hose. Then direct the hose into a bucket where you can catch the muck water, or on a semi-permanent under the workbench route the hose outside.

No, you didn't actuate the unloader by having the pressure switch hit the high 'Off' setting - someone set it too high. And when you tried starting it by just plugging it in again, the motor was still fighting against head pressure and stalled.

Now you know what Locked Rotor Amps means, and you might have to find and push a Reset Button on the motor.

Adjust the pressure switch so it kicks off when it's supposed to - about 105 to 110 PSI - and try it again. Follow the cord, you'll hit the pressure switch. Pop the top, there will be an adjustment screw or nut dead center, and usually a notation as to which way is Up and Down.

If the Unloader valve sits there and hisses and the tank slowly bleeds out.... You need a new check valve going into the tank.

Standard item, should be right next to the safety valves at Lowes. But call first, they can tell you. It's either 1/2" NPT in and out, or

5/8 Copper Tubing in and 1/2" NPT out.

When you get it back, if he gets the pressure switch set right and the unloader working, and it still has starting issues, see if the motor has a Start Cap or a Run Cap. Cheap to try, often they get dried out and go bad after 30 years.

[Stormin Mormon]

CY: The one auto parts place I tried, got a blank look.

CY: I'll have to wheel the unit out and drain once a year or so, if it ever comes back.

CY: Hmm. So, the pressure switch set too high, and the unloader didn't activate? Might be a simple adjustment then?

CY: Didn't need to reset.

CY: I'll pass that along to the guy who's got the compressor. Thank you.

CY: OK....

CY: Thank you.

CY: Thank you. It started just fine,first time.

>

[Bruce L. Bergman (munged human]

I said a Good Auto Parts like a NAPA, someplace that sells to real mechanics. A Beauty Parts Store like O'Reilly or Pep Boys will look at you strange.

You'll have a rusted through tank real fast, unless it only gets used once a year. You want to drain it every week or two, once a month max. If it's getting used heavily, at the end of every day. This is why you rig a drain.

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