new compressors

shine

shine

Member
well my old compressor took a dump and started oiling so i ordered a new pump. replaced all my lines and flushed out the tank. finally got the new pump installed and it went to oiling right off. new one will be here monday.
but i thought i would share a little trick i learned from my compressor guy back in the 70's . if your painting this is important. when you buy a new compressor or replace a pump always loosen the supply line from the pump to the tank. if the pump is oiling it will seep at the fitting and save your air lines. had i ruined 140 ft of new lines i would have been really pissed off
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ingersol rand sent a new one out no questions asked. good folks .

just food for thought and worth just what you paid for it ....
 
Shine, doesn't every piston pump pass some amount of oil? Every tank I've ever drained has had some amount of oil in the water. I agree a worn out pump will start passing a lot more oil past the rings but I've seen some amount of oil in all of them.
 
if you've got oil in the tank you have oil vapors in the lines . my champion pump never used any oil over the years. level always stayed the same. easy check is to remove the supply line and swab it .barry talked me into an oil separator this time. i have new lines and more filters than carter has liver pills now.
 
Hi Shine,

I assume the loose fitting trick is what you used to determine the head was passing oil? Was the fitting left loose all the time even when not painting? I can only imagine frequent pump cycling.

Thanks,
Mike
 
when i bought my compressors for the van shop my concern was contamination. doing 10 a day a bad pump can cost you a fortune. the guy i bought them from told me how to check them periodically . just crack the line. you may see a little but if you get a drip it's toast . the new pump came with synthetic oil . non petroleum base.
 
I would also suggest an after cooler they really help get the temp from 300+ degrees at the head down to ambient air temperature before entering the tank dropping suspended water to the bottom of the tank for easy draining keeping it out of the air lines. You could also put a drain in line before the tank and drain it there. Either way would work fine and your filters would last longer too.
 
shine;n82877 said:
if you've got oil in the tank you have oil vapors in the lines . my champion pump never used any oil over the years. level always stayed the same. easy check is to remove the supply line and swab it .barry talked me into an oil separator this time. i have new lines and more filters than carter has liver pills now.
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My pump doesn't use any oil, the level stays up and I only change it every 6 months. But there's always a little oil on top of the water when I drain it into a bucket. I added a flexible hose to the bottom of the tank drain so I can direct the water into a bucket. Every tank I've ever drained on every compressor has always showed a little oil on top of the water.
 
evidence of a little oil in the water is ok but if i crack the line and it drips i'm replacing my pump. i just talked with the ingersol rand tech last week . he said pretty much the same. a little will get by the rings from lubrication but it should be very little. not enough to be dripping .i will put the oil filter inline between the pump and tank. from there i have 4 other filters.
 
Good confirmation from that technician, seeing a little oil film on top of the drain water is normal. Before my last rebuild my pump was draining slugs of grease LOL. I've been impressed with Amsoil synthetic compressor oil, it has the highest temp rating of any I've found.
 
i can tell you one thing for sure. my old champion pump compared to this ir is like a big block to a 305. i plan to rebuild my champion and move this one to the farm truck.
 
i have an oil separator filter right off my compressor before it goes into the dryer. its not something i check often as it self drains but maybe every 2 years i will open it up and check or change the element. there isnt anything ever in the water that may collect in there in there but the filter is always yellow and slimy from it collecting the oil mist that may be in the air. def not enough to drip but enough where i can clearly see the benefit of having this filter in place. i would never run a compressor without one....in a paint shop atleast
 
… when I rebuilt my circa 1957 WAYNE compressor a couple of years ago, just before I installed the head yet with everything ready to go and oil in the block, plugged it in and let it run for about 35 minutes as advised by my mentoring compressor folks. This is what they do to see if the oil rings and everything in between is sealing right. Upon completion I had no oil on top of either piston, that is the large breather intake piston nor the smaller high compression exhaust piston. To this day it runs clean.
 
I have been over to screws, when they are right they are great. When they are wrong they have every fault of a leaky piston compressor.
 
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