Cold Weather compressor

[moon puppy]

Wonder if one of you smart folks will know what my problem is. I got an old compressor that came out of a gas station years ago. It's belt driven one with electric motor to the compressor. Belt is in good condition, not worn and not over tight. maybe a half inch slack when pressed.

Compressor runs fine when temps are over 50f but, like today, temps are down in the 40s and I can not keep it powered on. Keeps tripping the breaker. Guess the motor is pulling too much load and it's tripping. What would cause the extra load? Could it be the oil in the compressor is too thick and causing the motor to work harder?

What's my fix??

 

[Jeeves]

That was my first thought...what type of oil is in there? Has it been changed recently?

 

[Jeeves]

Something else to consider is how old it is? My tractor is from 1947 and being as how it is that old, I have to add lead to the gas since it came from before the era of unleaded gas...I doubt it's that old but something to consider regardless

 

[Bagge]

I think you maybe need to fill it up with a thinner oil, usually it shouldn't be a problem running it even if it's cold but it's like cars when it's cold, they get tougher to start up (the oil gets very thick), and if it's old, maybe it's contaminated with water and then you can figure out what happens...
Hope it is to some help for you, get some good grade compressor oil and i think it will run smoothly again.
//Mats

 

[moon puppy]

Mike, it's old...I mean it's OLD. Gas station it was salvaged out of was torn down in the 1980s. I remember the station, it was right up from the house. The station was old then and I suspect the compressor was installed when they build the place, very well could date back to the 40s.

Changed the oil?? not even sure where the oil would go in or out...never looked at it that close, guess that's on my list today.

Wonder if a higher amp breaker would work?

 

[phantom II]

Hi Bob, find the oil before putting that tin foil in there and burning the place down ...
Speaking of breaker, that one could be weak also. Is it the same vintage as the compressor ?
Can I guess you have drained the moisture trap ?



Cheers, Christian B)

 

[moon puppy]

Is it the same vintage as the compressor ?

Cheers, Christian B)

You know it...my garage is not that old but the ol' fella who built the place, of course, used recycled electrical stuff. I tried to find a breaker for it a while back and they don't make them. This may turn into a bigger project than I thought.

 

[phantom II]

I would say drain moisture and change to a lighter weight oil first Bob.

 

[moon puppy]

Amazing what a little oil will do for ya...

Checked it out, guess these old things like a little attention from time to time. Found oil fill, found oil on the shelf above, 20wt. Looked down the hole and didn't see any in the bottle of the case so I added some. Plugged it in and sounded a lot better! up to 100lbs right now and she's still filling up.

I'll drain it when it gets warm and put fresh oil in.

Chris, funny thing is this compressor doesn't trap water. Got trap on my line inside the building and never seen water in it.

 

[phantom II]

Ha, good deal on the oil. Hard to believe there's no moisture drain. I have never seen one without . None on the tank either ? :huh:

 

[Bagge]

Glad to hear that it's working yes it's amazing what a little bit of oil can do isn't it!
look under the tank if you see a valve, open it, i'm sure there will be some water oil mixture coming out.
//Mats

 

[moon puppy]

There's a value under the tank, I'll check it out in spring cleaning. Here's the deal. The Compressor is in the back room which also serves as the dog house when we're not home. I have a bunch of cedar chips on the floor so I don't want to get any water/oil on the floor till I can clean out the room for sure and get new cedar chips down.

But the trap is always clean. Thanks for the advice.

Here's a shot of the ol' girl..

Seen some years, I may rebuild it this spring just to have something to do. Since it doesnt' have a carburetor on it'll probably run again if I do rebuild it!

 

[Iron Mike]

Oil is our friend. How about adding a vent to let heat into the compressor room?

 

[moon puppy]

Why, just add oil and it works again...lord knows what I did to that thing running that low on oil.

Reminds me I gotta get my oil changed in the truck..

 

[Iron Mike]

Feed it a coupla fingers of white, that will cure it!!

 

[moon puppy]

White?? Flat or semi?

 

[Iron Mike]

Corn.

 

[kryptosdaddy]

There's a value under the tank, I'll check it out in spring cleaning. Here's the deal. The Compressor is in the back room which also serves as the dog house when we're not home. I have a bunch of cedar chips on the floor so I don't want to get any water/oil on the floor till I can clean out the room for sure and get new cedar chips down.

But the trap is always clean. Thanks for the advice.

Here's a shot of the ol' girl..

Seen some years, I may rebuild it this spring just to have something to do. Since it doesnt' have a carburetor on it'll probably run again if I do rebuild it!

Bob I think you may have a better than fair chance fixing that up- it looks like someone resealed the piston head, it's been worked on before! Good luck! I'm still trying to talk my neighbor out of this 40 year old bench grinder he has buried on his porch! :vmad

 

[chukw]

I've got a 60-70 YO DeVilbiss compressor that's run by a Packard electric motor! My Grandfather and Dad used it as a back-up to pressurize the beer kegs in the family bar, Stanley's Tavern, back in the day. Noisy as hell, and has two lube pints on the motor bearing and drive shaft, which I drip sewing machine oil into. I only use it to pump up the car tires nowadays- and I'm going to replace it- it's surely gonna fail one of these days!

 

[moon puppy]

I'm thinking if it a'int broke don't fix it. I'll pull it out this spring and wash it down real good. Replace mounting bolts to make it more secure. After the oil fix it ran smooth and quiet, the motor was the noisy thing.

May strip it and repaint, looks like Ford red to me, maybe Texico Red.