Chris Adams
03-04-2009, 10:54 PM
Last week I picked up an older Ingersoll Rand 5 horsepower compressor, with a 60 gallon tank.
My attempts to get info on parts etc. are in these two threads;
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30720
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30795
My area, Hesperia/Victorville/Apple Valley tri-city has no compressor shops in the phonebook, either online or hard copy . The closest was 50 miles away, through the pass. And they couldn’t identify the unit over the phone. Next closest was 75 miles. They figured out which compressor motor IR put on this machine.
Parts were a bit pricey and since the unit was spitting LOTS of oil it would probably need more than just a re-ring. I could assume a rebore at a minimum. So 70 bucks for a gasket kit, 30 bucks for rings and a trip to Rancho Cucamonga or City of Industry to get the machine bored. :wtf:
So before throwing that much at it I did a little more research.
Seems Ingersoll Rand cheated on this puppy.
The compressor is rated at 3.7 horsepower in its commonest usage. So how do they get to 5 horsepower on this model?
They over revved it.
On the 3.7 horsepower they ran it at 1300 RPM. To get it to be a ‘5’ horsepower they ran it up to 1800 RPM.
But they didn’t change anything inside the compressor, just ran it faster.
Which explains why a compressor with only 18 months use was slinging oil like a Rambler with a half million miles…
Talked to the original owner and he told me it was slinging oil almost from the first, and they were dumping oil in it every week.
And, of course, it was louder than heck.
So I removed the running compressor and tossed it in the leftover pile.
The motor, a 5 horsepower WEG seemed fine after being cleaned up a bit and the wiring straightened out.
So I needed a new compressor.
It had to be able to work with the 5 HP motor, and I wanted the pulley to fit inside the original cage.
So that limited me to a big pulley diameter no bigger than 11.25 inches. All the replacement compressors I could find were limited to 1200 or less RPM. Since I didn’t want this puppy to be too noisy I was comfortable with that limitation.
So I picked up one of the 3 horsepower compressors at Harbor Freight. 80 bucks on sale, then 20% off so 64 bucks for the unit. It came with a 10.25 pulley which is good as the 11 inch on the IR would not fit.
Then I had to gear it down, a lot, as it would have been turning at 1972… Or just about right to explode and scatter compressor parts across the shop.
In seeking a pulley I discovered we HAVE a compressor repair shop in my area!
It appears to be a secret, but GS Repairs is a small (one guy) shop that does compressors, has a decent inventory of used compressors, parts etc. Plus the guy is knowledgeable and, more importantly, helpful.
If anyone else on the High Desert is looking for a compressor place his phone number is 760-596-1526. The only other way to find him is to ask around and hope someone knows about him.
The weak economy has cost him his yellow pages etc.:(
Anyway, he had a pulley, an in-tank check valve and some copper tubing so I could fabricate a new air line. The old one fit the new compressor but was so caked with burnt oil that I wanted to replace it.
His prices were quite competitive.
I used a 3.25 inch pulley on the WEG motor to give me a final speed of 1068, or almost exactly what the compressor called for (1050 with a maximum of 1200).
So I have cleaned up the motor, replaced the compressor, replaced the in-tank check valve, replaced the copper feed line, replaced the pulley with a smaller one, cleaned up the bleed valve, replaced the pressure gauge (worked but read consistently low) cleaned the shield, put on a shorter V-belt, cleaned up the D-Switch, wired up 220 on a 35 foot run of 8 gauge wire from my 50 amp socket, replaced the drain on the tank bottom, cleaned the dried oil from the tank and plumbed it into copper lines to the garage itself.
I also put it up on four inch nylon blocks, both to make it easier to drain the water and to damp a little of the vibration.
I used one inch cork sheeting in the corner to also damp the sound. The cork works great, by the way. I wanted acoustical ceiling tiles but Home Depot didn’t stock them and Lowe’s wanted 32 bucks for a case, smallest amount they had. The Cork was just laying here from a sound proofing job I did years ago so it got used.
I used half inch copper to run the 25 feet to where my regulator and hose reel are located.
Half inch copper line cost WAY less than black steel or galvanized. In fact the copper with half inch pipe fittings, elbows, drain, t-fitting etc. came to about 17 bucks, or about the same as one piece of black pipe.
Soldering it in was easy of course, and the pipe holds 125 lbs of air with no leaks.
So ‘Frankenpressor’ works fine, is quieter than my Campbell Hausfeld 2 horsepower, which will end up on Craig’s List.
Of course I now have over 260 bucks in it but I did learn a LOT about compressors.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj121/Chris_Adams/_DSC0054shadow.jpg
My attempts to get info on parts etc. are in these two threads;
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30720
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30795
My area, Hesperia/Victorville/Apple Valley tri-city has no compressor shops in the phonebook, either online or hard copy . The closest was 50 miles away, through the pass. And they couldn’t identify the unit over the phone. Next closest was 75 miles. They figured out which compressor motor IR put on this machine.
Parts were a bit pricey and since the unit was spitting LOTS of oil it would probably need more than just a re-ring. I could assume a rebore at a minimum. So 70 bucks for a gasket kit, 30 bucks for rings and a trip to Rancho Cucamonga or City of Industry to get the machine bored. :wtf:
So before throwing that much at it I did a little more research.
Seems Ingersoll Rand cheated on this puppy.
The compressor is rated at 3.7 horsepower in its commonest usage. So how do they get to 5 horsepower on this model?
They over revved it.
On the 3.7 horsepower they ran it at 1300 RPM. To get it to be a ‘5’ horsepower they ran it up to 1800 RPM.
But they didn’t change anything inside the compressor, just ran it faster.
Which explains why a compressor with only 18 months use was slinging oil like a Rambler with a half million miles…
Talked to the original owner and he told me it was slinging oil almost from the first, and they were dumping oil in it every week.
And, of course, it was louder than heck.
So I removed the running compressor and tossed it in the leftover pile.
The motor, a 5 horsepower WEG seemed fine after being cleaned up a bit and the wiring straightened out.
So I needed a new compressor.
It had to be able to work with the 5 HP motor, and I wanted the pulley to fit inside the original cage.
So that limited me to a big pulley diameter no bigger than 11.25 inches. All the replacement compressors I could find were limited to 1200 or less RPM. Since I didn’t want this puppy to be too noisy I was comfortable with that limitation.
So I picked up one of the 3 horsepower compressors at Harbor Freight. 80 bucks on sale, then 20% off so 64 bucks for the unit. It came with a 10.25 pulley which is good as the 11 inch on the IR would not fit.
Then I had to gear it down, a lot, as it would have been turning at 1972… Or just about right to explode and scatter compressor parts across the shop.
In seeking a pulley I discovered we HAVE a compressor repair shop in my area!
It appears to be a secret, but GS Repairs is a small (one guy) shop that does compressors, has a decent inventory of used compressors, parts etc. Plus the guy is knowledgeable and, more importantly, helpful.
If anyone else on the High Desert is looking for a compressor place his phone number is 760-596-1526. The only other way to find him is to ask around and hope someone knows about him.
The weak economy has cost him his yellow pages etc.:(
Anyway, he had a pulley, an in-tank check valve and some copper tubing so I could fabricate a new air line. The old one fit the new compressor but was so caked with burnt oil that I wanted to replace it.
His prices were quite competitive.
I used a 3.25 inch pulley on the WEG motor to give me a final speed of 1068, or almost exactly what the compressor called for (1050 with a maximum of 1200).
So I have cleaned up the motor, replaced the compressor, replaced the in-tank check valve, replaced the copper feed line, replaced the pulley with a smaller one, cleaned up the bleed valve, replaced the pressure gauge (worked but read consistently low) cleaned the shield, put on a shorter V-belt, cleaned up the D-Switch, wired up 220 on a 35 foot run of 8 gauge wire from my 50 amp socket, replaced the drain on the tank bottom, cleaned the dried oil from the tank and plumbed it into copper lines to the garage itself.
I also put it up on four inch nylon blocks, both to make it easier to drain the water and to damp a little of the vibration.
I used one inch cork sheeting in the corner to also damp the sound. The cork works great, by the way. I wanted acoustical ceiling tiles but Home Depot didn’t stock them and Lowe’s wanted 32 bucks for a case, smallest amount they had. The Cork was just laying here from a sound proofing job I did years ago so it got used.
I used half inch copper to run the 25 feet to where my regulator and hose reel are located.
Half inch copper line cost WAY less than black steel or galvanized. In fact the copper with half inch pipe fittings, elbows, drain, t-fitting etc. came to about 17 bucks, or about the same as one piece of black pipe.
Soldering it in was easy of course, and the pipe holds 125 lbs of air with no leaks.
So ‘Frankenpressor’ works fine, is quieter than my Campbell Hausfeld 2 horsepower, which will end up on Craig’s List.
Of course I now have over 260 bucks in it but I did learn a LOT about compressors.
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj121/Chris_Adams/_DSC0054shadow.jpg