air compressor oil

[cj]

My small air compressor got knocked over and the oil in it leaked out. Do i need a special type of oil to refill it?

thanks, cj

[Ed Pawlowski]

Usually, straight non-detergent 30 weight. You will find oil labeled as "Compressor Oil" also. Some is synthetic and lasts about forever in home use.

[The Daring Dufas]

Anything in the manual or manufacturers website about it. I have a tank mounted compressor I bought from WW Grainger in 1990 that's still going strong because I've only used the compressor oil sold by them formulated for air compressor use. I also replaced the little felt air filter with a manifold and Solberg air filter assembly when I bought the compressor. It's probably the one thing I did to extend the life of my compressor. The Grainger site is down for maintenance right now or I would post a link.

TDD

[Ed Pawlowski]

You found something on the Grainger web site? It has to be one of the crappiest search engines I've ever seen. McMaster is one of the best and Grainger loses most of my business for that reason.

[Jon Danniken]

I picked up a quart at my locally owned auto parts store; says "compressor oil" on the label.

Jon

[The Daring Dufas]

I've been a customer of WW for 40 years and the only thing that disappoints me is their Web presence. As large an outfit the company is, it seems it could afford the best in Web design.

The compressor I bought from them years ago was made in USA, now they come from China. :-(

The oil is on the same page. The compressor was a Campbell Hausfeld and Grainger sold a manifold to bolt over the intake area where the little oiled felt filter was located. The manifold had a 3/4 NPT port for a screw in Solberg air filter.

Campbell Hausfeld still sells a cast iron compressor like the one I have but I don't know the country of origin which could now be China. The oil Campbell Hausfeld sells is a 30W non-detergent. There is no mention of additives in their oil.

I hope this information helps you because I learned it of the years working on pneumatic systems. One of my talents was repairing Stanley "Star Trek" air doors once the ubiquitous automatic doors in most grocery stores, retailers and hospitals. I came up with ways to keep relatively small air compressors running 24/7 in those applications. Most folks have no idea of the air compressors running all around them and what they're used for like operating the air conditioning in large buildings and keeping the presses and equipment running at the dry cleaners. Everyone should take a tour of the tunnel system under a large hospital complex to better understand the hidden technology at the other end of that simple switch. ^_^

TDD