Anyone know about compressors?

[tvrolet]

In the absence of a 'compressors' forum, I guessed the folks on here would be the most likely candidates to have a compressor in their garage!

So, the good news....after months of searching for a decent compressor in my price range I came up with an ex-display unit. Seems the business - unused, belt drive, twin cylinder compressor, 150L etc.

Priblem is there's no instructions/manuals. There's a sight glass on the 'sump' of the compressor 'engine', and as it seems to have oil in it I started it up. Air escaped from underneath the tank....spotted a 'bleed valve', tightened it up and away we go again. Now I have air escaping from underneath a sightglass thingy (under the regulator?). I can stop it if I pull down a valve at the bottom of the 'bowl' against a light spring pressure - but are you meant to have to do this?



The 'valve' that the air is coming out is at the bottom of the clear plastic bowl in the picture. Also, there's obviously some adjustment on the 'regulator?' on top of the bowl thingy - so what is this for? Presumably pressure, but where does it say what pressure it's set to as it isn't calibrated.

And as you can see, there's 2 pressure gauges. Why?

There we have it. Nice shiny new compressor, and no idea how to set it up!

Plus, in the adverts I've seen 'oil free' compressors advertised. Presumably as mine has a 'sump' below the 'engine/compressor' bit it isn't 'oil free'? Most of the time it will be for air tools, but is this an issue if I want to spray paint? And I've also seen ads for in-line oil units. Do I need one of these to lube the air tools?

Questions....questions....questions....

WB

[aprisa]

The gauge on the left will be pressure in the tank, the one on the right is output pressure (to tools) and is regulated with the knob on the top (you will get a reading when drawing air for use so set it when the tools are being used if you see what I mean, it will drop in use so to speak).

I think that the clear bowl below should be a water separator (may be wrong) but it should have a bleed valve that can be shut if this is so?

In-line oilers are as you state for most tools except spraying as this needs clean/dry air. you should have more than one outlet so usually an oiler is put on one side and the spray line on the other.

May help a little
Nick

>> Edited by aprisa on Tuesday 17th May 12:04

[anonymous-user]

I reckon that the guage on the left is the pressure within the tank, the guage on the right is the pressure that is being fed out of the air line - you can change this pressure with the black knob on the top. There's no need for calibration on this as when you turn it, the pressure guage will change to reflect what pressure you've adjusted it to.

It looks as though the clear plastic bit might be a drier - water condenses out of air when compressed - and the valve at the bottom will be a drain so you just need to nip it up.

The oil in the compressor cyclinders and so on will not be a problem with spray painting as it's just lubricating the mechanism, not getting into the air supply. The drier (if that's what it is) should help keep the condensation out but you might want an additional drier.

For air tools, they will need oiling. You can either drop a bit of oil into the tool each day, or whack an inline oiler into the airline that will constantly oil any tools for you. But you'll then probably want to have a different airline for spraying as oil will end up in the hose.

For any air tools or accessories, I'd suggest you give Patrick Weightman a call, details on his website www.toolsnstuff.co.uk and a PHer to boot.

[aprisa]

Jeez, couldn't get much closer eh Lexsport!

[tvrolet]

aprisa said:

you should have more than one outlet so usually an oiler is put on one side and the spray line on the other.

and that answers another query - I did wonder why it had 2 outlets.

Thanks for the help folks.

Oh, and do you keep the tank pressurised between uses, or is it better to release the pressure if its not going to be used for a few days?

Thanks

WB

[anonymous-user]

aprisa said:

Jeez, couldn't get much closer eh Lexsport!

Jeez, couldn't get much... Oh, you said that already.

[CorseChris]

The spring loaded valve on the output side should close itself once pressure has built up to a few psi. The idea is that at the end of the day, you release the stored pressure in the system, then the wee valve opens and allows any water that has collected to drain away.

Personally, I always bleed off any pressure after a days use.

[hot wheels]

tvrolet said:

aprisa said: you should have more than one outlet so usually an oiler is put on one side and the spray line on the other. and that answers another query - I did wonder why it had 2 outlets. Thanks for the help folks. Oh, and do you keep the tank pressurised between uses, or is it better to release the pressure if its not going to be used for a few days? Thanks you can do either with no ill effects but try to regularly open the valve you will have in the bottom of the receiver(main tank) as the air is commpressed the natural moisture content is also compressed and pools in the bottom of the tank thats what the drain is for saves water an inevitable oil mist from the commpressor pistons getting in the lines dont rely on the smal separator you have on the compressor in a pro setup you would have a much larger air drier usually a refrigeration unit then on the line near the outleta larger version of the separator you have then a similar looking coalescing filter to remove oil mist then a pressure regulator and finally a carbon filter if its intended as breathable air any probs feel free to mail me i'm a painter of many years and have had numerous adventures with recalcitrant compressors WB

[tvrolet]

Thanks for all the advice. Sorted! The wee valve does close when the pressure rises So, a fine night's compressing, impact driving and grinding was had

Not sure the wife and neighbours were quite so impressed though

WB

[aprisa]

tvrolet said:

The wee valve does close when the pressure rises : WB

That must be a deluxe compressor, they seem to have covered all manor of events!

[CorseChris]

tvrolet said:

Thanks for all the advice. Sorted! The wee valve does close when the pressure rises So, a fine night's compressing, impact driving and grinding was had Not sure the wife and neighbours were quite so impressed though WB

Excellent!

I put my compressor in one of those 'Garden Store' thingies. It's a plastic store, for your garden Does actually reduce noise levels quite a lot and it's totally weatherproof. The sides and top are mostly hollow plastic, so you could even foam-fill them to help even more I suppose.

[franv8]

You should bleed the air from the main tank ('receiver') regularly, daily being good. The problem being compressing air condenses the moisture in the air, which collects in said tank. Being steel, it will corrode. Mode of failure would be a rupture of the tank at some point in the future, possibly in the esult of an explosion...

Hope this helps.