malibu101
Well-known member
This is a 2002 Champion VR5-8 80 gallon compressor with an R-15B pump and a 5 horse 3Ø motor.
I aquired it from a job I was on for $50 and my labor to remove. It had some issues and the owner just wanted it gone, $50 is what he guessed he would get if he had his guys take it to the junkyard.
What I gathered from him was that it came as part of the package of equipment to support some sort of piece of magnetic labrotory equipment. He claimed it didn't run often and instead of fixing this he just plumbed the air supply from the buildings existing 4 cylinder 120 gallon duplex compressor. Plus this gave him one less item to maintain.
The 3 problems I was told it had were all I found-
1- The belt guard came loose and rubbed a hole through the finned copper tube between stages. I brazed the hole shut. A new tube is ~$70.
It works fine, for now. I guess time will tell.
2- The automatic tank drain leaked air. Taking it apart revealed a rubber seal that was shot.
No matter. It has brass pipes and a ball valve in the bottom like "normal".
3- The low oil level would trip once in awhile. Not all compressors have this option. Oil level was fine and clean but still tripped once maybe every 10 starts.
Compressor runs great so instead of opening this up I just jumped the wires together and lost this option.
After I repaired it I drug it on a trailer to a buddy who runs an auto repair shop that has 3 phase to test run it.
Right now it is just sitting in my garage at home. It will have to live in the shed next to the garage as it is just too big for my small space and it's kinda noisy.
I still don't know what I want to do for power. I hear that rotary phase converters and compressors don't get along but I have a 10HP 3 phase motor and a variety of caps that I may play with. Or spend ~500 on a single phase 5HP motor.
Here it is
My brazing of the tube
The low oil level switch I'm no longer using
Side shot showing the auto drain that I'm not using either
Radiator just looks like it means business
Made In USA
I aquired it from a job I was on for $50 and my labor to remove. It had some issues and the owner just wanted it gone, $50 is what he guessed he would get if he had his guys take it to the junkyard.
What I gathered from him was that it came as part of the package of equipment to support some sort of piece of magnetic labrotory equipment. He claimed it didn't run often and instead of fixing this he just plumbed the air supply from the buildings existing 4 cylinder 120 gallon duplex compressor. Plus this gave him one less item to maintain.
The 3 problems I was told it had were all I found-
1- The belt guard came loose and rubbed a hole through the finned copper tube between stages. I brazed the hole shut. A new tube is ~$70.
It works fine, for now. I guess time will tell.
2- The automatic tank drain leaked air. Taking it apart revealed a rubber seal that was shot.
No matter. It has brass pipes and a ball valve in the bottom like "normal".
3- The low oil level would trip once in awhile. Not all compressors have this option. Oil level was fine and clean but still tripped once maybe every 10 starts.
Compressor runs great so instead of opening this up I just jumped the wires together and lost this option.
After I repaired it I drug it on a trailer to a buddy who runs an auto repair shop that has 3 phase to test run it.
Right now it is just sitting in my garage at home. It will have to live in the shed next to the garage as it is just too big for my small space and it's kinda noisy.
I still don't know what I want to do for power. I hear that rotary phase converters and compressors don't get along but I have a 10HP 3 phase motor and a variety of caps that I may play with. Or spend ~500 on a single phase 5HP motor.
Here it is
My brazing of the tube
The low oil level switch I'm no longer using
Side shot showing the auto drain that I'm not using either
Radiator just looks like it means business
Made In USA
