Air Compressor reserve tanks

[fredintoon]

Well my concern is the power supply. I don't have any extra panel box capacity to wire it in and the closest plug in power supply is the dryer which is properly wired in. I was thinking that if I made up a cord of the next larger size wire then is used for things like stoves and dryers I would be OK. The only difference I would see is that there is a plug / connection along the way. The dryer is already wired with one size larger then standard because it is 30 feet from the panel box. I don't want to have to worry about an electrical fire but there are no 110 volt units that will deliver acceptable CFM. If making up a heavy duty cord is safe I will buy one of these units ... if not , there's not much sense in getting it.
Rob

Hi Rob,
well, I ran my Lincoln buzz-box welder in the garage for years with an extension cord plugged into the dryer outlet in the basement. Use the proper plugs and a sufficiently rated and flexible cord and it's completely safe. However, it ain't convenient. There's this mental thing goes on where striking up the welder sparks the need to run the dryer and that makes it hard to keep peace in the house. Once I got the 220V compressor I had a friendly electrician put an extra 220V breaker in my panel box and run a 220V line into the garage. You sure there's no room in your panel box for another breaker?

[79XS11F]

Hi Rob,
well, I ran my Lincoln buzz-box welder in the garage for years with an extension cord plugged into the dryer outlet in the basement. Use the proper plugs and a sufficiently rated and flexible cord and it's completely safe. However, it ain't convenient. There's this mental thing goes on where striking up the welder sparks the need to run the dryer and that makes it hard to keep peace in the house. Once I got the 220V compressor I had a friendly electrician put an extra 220V breaker in my panel box and run a 220V line into the garage. You sure there's no room in your panel box for another breaker?

No there's no more room on my panel. Since moving in I have finished the basement, added AC and a power supply for a kitchenette in the 2nd floor apt. However, if a proper cord is safe I will go that way. I would just like to be able to start a project and do it far quicker with a compressor that can allow the job to be done uninterrupted and would like to do the job once. With the smaller compressor i currently have it's blast for 2 or 3 minutes and then wait so jobs can be done but not very quickly.
Usually I have to make several passes with the blaster to get down to the bare metal due to low air pressure at the gun. I think i will go for it. I just hope it will fit in my Jeep patriot ??? going to be tight.
Rob

[yadada]

This one is an Iron horse brand and i don't even know if that's good or bad? The unit is 6.5 HP and delvers 11.2 CFM at 90 PSI. It has 2 cylinders but does not state if that's just 2 cylinders or 2 stage. Also says cast iron construction.That's enough to run anything I have including a sand blaster. It uses a 60 gal tank. It runs on 230 volt so I would have to make a heavy duty 15 to 20 foot cord for it so i can plug it in to the dryer power supply when I am using it.
So ... is Iron horse a good brand, can I get away with the heavy duty plug made out of heavy house wiring. At $599.00 It's appears to be a sharp buy.
Rob

I believe this is the exact one I have, brand and capacity. It is a single stage unit. Generally single stage units are rated at 125 psi, and two stage units always say 175ish I have had it since last fall. I am very happy with it. Can't help on the power cord length issue with expertise.

DRAIN THE OIL BEFORE YOU TIP IT ON IT'S SIDE FOR TRANSPORT!!!!! DAMHIK!!!

[79XS11F]

I believe this is the exact one I have, brand and capacity. It is a single stage unit. Generally single stage units are rated at 125 psi, and two stage units always say 175ish I have had it since last fall. I am very happy with it. Can't help on the power cord length issue with expertise.

DRAIN THE OIL BEFORE YOU TIP IT ON IT'S SIDE FOR TRANSPORT!!!!! DAMHIK!!!

Will it spill oil out into my jeep if i don't drain it? Another post started it would be OK on its side as long as i did not use it for several hours after setting upright.
Rob

[yadada]

It might depend on which side you put facing down, IIRC mine was transported front side facing up in the back of a truck under a camper shell. The oil nearly all leaked out. I think I waited a while (few hours???)to unload the compressor when I got home, so that could be part of it. Luckily it stayed mostly in the plastic wrap, but I wouldn't trust that, especially putting it in the interior of a vehicle.

If I was you I'd buy a little brass pipe nipple and elbow to go in the drain when I bought the compressor. Install it right there at the store, drain the oil into a clean container, then put it back in when I got home. Of course I'd reinstall the drain plug first! Mine drain plug is right on the front of the compressor, so it wouldn't be hard.

I'm going to get the pipe and fittings anyway just to make oil changes cleaner...just haven't done it yet.

[DiverRay]

Rob,
The compressor uses engine oil to lube the pistons, just like a car. As it needs a "breather" to the outside, it WILL leak oil if laid on it's side. You should be able to bring a clean one gallon pail, and drain the oil into it. Then just keep the pail upright, and add the oil back in once you have the compressor installed at your house.
For the cord, you should be able to buy 10 gauge 4 wire at an electrical or home supply store. Just look for "oil proof" covering. get about 5 feet more than you think you need, wire one side to the compressor and the other side to a dryer plug. Ten gauge is probably what your electrician put in your wall, so it should hold easily for the compressor. The 220V. draw should be about 15 to 20 Amps, and that is a 12 gauge wire for that length.

[79XS11F]

WOW .. that was a close call... talk about LUCK

I just called Princess auto to find out if they have a delivery service. The guy who answered the phone happened to be standing about 6 feet from the LAST ONE THEY HAD. I had to buy it over the phone and will pick it up tomorrow :-) If I had procrastinated any longer I would be S**T out of luck.
Rob

[JMF]

Water drain for compressor

If your compressor is a verticle one, you should bolt it to the floor. My compressor has the water drain at the very bottom and it was just a plug. had to buy brass pipe fittings and a valve so I could drain the water out periodicly. To do this I then had to make wooden blocks 3" high to get the clearance for the parts. Drain it often.

[79XS11F]

Yes it is an upright unit and i will have to set it up accordingly after I get it here and check it out. I will not likely even be using it for about another month but it was on sale now. Looks like they normally sell for between 699 and 1000 depending on where you buy it. This unit will allow me to round up any and all items to be blasted and do them all at once in a single operation. I used to do even small jobs over several days because of the amount of time involved with WAITING for pressure to rebuild. It became such a pain in the ass that I was not even using my air tools often. It was too inconvenient with the small unit.



Rob

[fredintoon]

If your compressor is a vertical one, you should bolt it to the floor. My compressor has the water drain at the very bottom and it was just a plug. had to buy brass pipe fittings and a valve so I could drain the water out periodicly. To do this I then had to make wooden blocks 3" high to get the clearance for the parts. Drain it often.

Hi JMF,
thanks for the reminder.
My homebuild has a salvaged industrial propane tank air receiver mounted horizontally above the compressor head and motor.
I built it that way because that's where the tank's existing feet were and it's way simpler to bolt existing feet on top of a frame than it is to mount a compressor head & motor on top of a cylindrical tank.
With the heavy compressor head and motor at the bottom the unit is stable enough to be on casters so it can be moved about more easily in my overcrowded garage.
But I was in such haste to get it operational that I forgot to weld on a drain connector at the receiver's low point and as you say, the receiver really should be drainable.
I really must tear the thing down again to do that and this time I WILL make the effort to give it a paint job.

[planedick]

Power cord

To be safe you should get a 10-3 SO cord for your compressor. For sure it will have to be single phase as there is no 3 phase power in houses. Two live power wires and a ground is what is needed. 12-3 size would be alright but for longer distances and no heating of the wire 10-3 is better.

[Ivan]

Easiest way to tell a two stage compressor is one piston and jug will be larger than the other. The large piston pushes air into the small piston which squeezes it further. If your compressor has two jugs the same size, it isn't a two stage. Some claim they are, but it isn't so. If you push a certain volume of air into a container with the same volume, you have no gain in pressure. Usually if the compressor has two cylinders the same size, the outlet line will T into the tank. This ups the volume or CFM, but doesn't produce the pressure of a two stage. I have seen some three cylinder hybrids, but they are rare, and expensive.

Now, if you are looking for GOBS of volume and pressure, go with a rotory screw compressor. Basically they are an oversized blower (think Weiand roots blower on a Chevy V8) powered by an electric motor. Noisy, very noisy. They don't cycle either. If you need to start your own severe weather pattern, these are the thing to have. Beware though, they are priced accordingly.

FWIW, the equipment company I used to work for repaired shop equipment ranging from used oil furnaces to underground lifts, air compressors included. So if I sound like a know it all, I earned it. Plus my XS has a Cherry Bomb muffler on it. So there.

[79XS11F]

Wiring it in will be easy enough and I always go to the next larger size when in doubt. The compressor can be ether set up in the front corner of the garage which would put it pretty much directly over the dryers basement location, or at the back of the garage which would put it within 15 feet of the panel box. I am thinking that if a heavy duty selector type switch is available I could wire the compressor and the dryer to this switch so both could never be on at the same time. But then again if I just drop a feed to the dryer plug the same sort of thing would apply. only one of the 2 could ever be plugged in at the same time.
Does anyone know if selector type switches are even made for this type of application? Doing it that way would be a better set non "Mickey mouse" set up.
Rob

[fredintoon]

Hi Rob,
I'd say either run a big fat 220V extension cord that can be unplugged and put away when not in use from your dryer plug to your compressor
or bite the bullet and fit a bigger breaker panel so you can run a permanent code approved 220V power line into your garage.
I'd suppose that any half-way semi-permanent hookup you make would not be code approved and may well invalidate your fire insurance
even if it was the deep fryer in the kitchen that started the blaze.

[prometheus578]

JMF makes a very good point about the drain at the bottom used to remove the condensed water.
Most compressors have a petcock valve thingie, similar to the ones on a car's radiator. A wingnut like piece of garbage.
Go to the hardware store and get some brass fittings and replace that thing.
Get an elbow, maybe a four inch extension pipe and a petcock valve with a lever handle. Makes draining the compressor less of a chore.
And make sure the compressor is "OFF" when not in use. If one of your air lines bursts while you're not home, the compressor will run continuously till it burns up.