Air compressor gauges??

[DavesGarage]

I am finally moving tools into the new garage and was wanting to install an hour meter on my still fairly new air compressor, just to help keep track of maintenance. Then of course I started thinking (oh noooo), would it be beneficial to have a temperature gauge on the compressor and would it be better to have oil temp or air temp? I have a long list of far more important things I need to be doing than worrying about air compressor gauges, but maybe one day Ill be able to relax! Any info or pictures would be awesome!

 

[sberry]

You are on the right track,,,, ignore all that and find something else to worry about.

 

[pepi]

Change the oil @ least every year and forget it ...

 

[sberry]

With premium oil it isn't even needed. Mine works every day and is on the 10 year plan.

 

[dkmc]

Put a remotely monitored Altimeter and GPS on it, then don't ever drain the water.
When the tank fails, you'll be able to track it's apogee and location when it 'splashes down'.

 

[pepi]

If someone must be told to empty the tank they are a ***** to begin with ....

 

[BillK]

My ancient Curtis at the shop came with the business when I bought it in 1987. It runs every day. Have never changed the oil. It uses about a pint each month so I just keep it topped off. Drain the tank daily, thats about it. Only gauge is the pressure gauge which I never look at anyway

 

[sberry]

A pint is a lot. Tools will stay oiled. I don't add in a decade.

 

[Lelandwelds]

My ancient Curtis at the shop came with the business when I bought it in 1987. It runs every day. Have never changed the oil. It uses about a pint each month so I just keep it topped off. Drain the tank daily, thats about it. Only gauge is the pressure gauge which I never look at anyway

I have a high school buddy who treated his trucks the same way. He used to get almost 100k miles out of them.

Even I can remember a 12 month service interval for compressor oil service. Temperature checks are performed after 5:00 PM with a laser while drinking beer. Rebuilds are scheduled at quarter century intervals. Tank drains are daily.

 

[coljar]

My ancient Curtis at the shop came with the business when I bought it in 1987. It runs every day. Have never changed the oil. It uses about a pint each month so I just keep it topped off. Drain the tank daily, thats about it. Only gauge is the pressure gauge which I never look at anyway

One of my compressors is a Curtis which a former boss of mine bought for his Gulf station in 1969. The oil was last changed on Sept. 4, 1979. Still clean and clear and never has used any oil. I only have pressure gauges throughout the shop.

 

[engineer2]

I put an hour meter on mine. Pretty cheap from Amazon.
LOL, 10 hours in one year. Been too busy on carpentry stuff.
I have a pressure gauge on the main line in the garage (compressor is in basement).
I have a pressure gauge at my workbench regulator.

 

[Lelandwelds]

One of my compressors is a Curtis which a former boss of mine bought for his Gulf station in 1969. The oil was last changed on Sept. 4, 1979. Still clean and clear and never has used any oil. I only have pressure gauges throughout the shop.

Change your oil. Cheaper than rebuilds. Shame to treat a nice old Curtis so shabily.

I put an hour meter on mine, 10 hours in one year.

I have a pressure gauge on the main line in the garage (compressor is in basement).
I have a pressure gauge at my workbench regulator.

Congrats on repairing your leaks. Regulator or gauge?

 

[DavesGarage]

I definitely will stay on top of oil changes. It’s a new shop and not sure how much side work I will be doing so I wanted to keep track of running hours for maintenance on the compressor. Yep, I’m that guy. I have an excel sheet with info on every vehicle I own going back 10 years or so with all maintenance info. I also do a lot of media blasting and I live in Phoenix so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overheating the pump if that’s possible.

I may be building a small bathroom in the shop and wanted to put the compressor inside the bathroom to keep the noise down. Only ventilation would be the bathroom door to the shop.

Edit: Compressor has an auto timed water/moisture drain. ��

 

[RVDan]

You should put a vacuum guage on the intake.

 

[gungatim]

with all the threads on tank draining and oil changing, wonder how many people actually change the air filter? or just run without one?

and if you want to get really ****, add an air flow meter with MES data gathering system to analyze how much air you are moving.

 

[sberry]

What a meter will tell is how few actuall hours gets put on these small garage home use units. I got a bud wanted a meter on a welder,,, 23 hours in 20 years.

 

[nut_buster2017]

We run a series of compressors for pneumatic controls and dry pipe fire suppression systems.
The newer machines have a built in hour meter and an oil useful remaining life indicator.
We usually see close to one year before the systems indicate need for service, so will stretch it a bit to make it a full year.
Simplest way would be to keep a logbook and take a sample of oil once a year to do a visual inspection.
To take it a step further, put the sample in a clear bottle with a magnet attached to the outside at the bottom. Any metallic material, indicating wear, will be drawn to the magnet to indicate effectiveness of oil remaining.
FYI, the sample need only be an ounce or so.

 

[engineer2]

Congrats on repairing your leaks. Regulator or gauge?

I only run the compressor when I need it. Don't need it to turn on at 2am. Several air couplers leak a little and so does my workbench regulator. I'll have to take it apart when I get a chance and replace some couplers.

If your compressor has a sight glass, the oil may look clean in the sight glass, but be nasty in the crankcase. Pretty sure most industrial 5 HP compressors are 500 hours for oil change intervals. I just did our Champion at work and the oil didn't look too bad.

 

[ItsNemo]

Really easy to just turn the shutoff on the tank at the end of the day...never really worry about pipe leakage.

 

[rattle_snake]

If you instrument you might as well do an automatic data logging system. Then you can pour over the data and post here for us to critique. Don't forget tank humidity, pump rpm, voltage/current/PF, temperature compensated output flow and water level.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

30+ years of seeing to multiple air compressors for pneumatic controls systems that run 24/7. Only gauges are receiver pressure and regulator outlet. Oil is changed annually.

KISS applies here.

Tommy

 

[peter2772000]

I've changed the oil maybe 5 times in 25 years. Compressor's always been in a heated garage and not used hardly at all.

As an aside, the one time it did see continued use was when my then-new neighbor started building his home. There were 3-4 guys working off've a small portable air compressor, it was ridiculous. After watching them struggle trying to "share the air" for a day or two, I got sick of it, threw an air hose out the side of the garage window and told them to make use of it. That made them happy....

Anyways, after a month or so of use, and after they'd finished with my compressor, I noticed that the compressor exhibited a slight mechanical noise, almost like a knock. Not necessarily bad, just not the noise it usually made. I changed the oil, which looked fine, and added some Slick 50 into the crankcase for good measure.

Believe it or not, compressor went back to its old self and has been fine ever since. That was 13 yrs ago and the compressor gets a work-out only whenever I use my sandblaster, about 3-4 times a year.

Compressor is a wanna-be 5hp from Costco and sorry to the OP for wandering off-topic

 

[sberry]

30+ years of seeing to multiple air compressors for pneumatic controls systems that run 24/7. Only gauges are receiver pressure and regulator outlet. Oil is changed annually.

KISS
Tommy

: So, almost 9000 hours on an oil change.
We know what dog years are,,, I wonder what that would be in homeowner years where 100 hours wouls likely be a lot. 90 years or so?
The modern synthetic compressor oil is a step above the conventional non detergent that has been used for decades. For older units this means it is now way better lube than when they were manufactured.
This could be an incentive to change if it's been a quite a while and has old juice in it. There is a lot of oilfield here, I see a drum of comp oil from Shell the other day but didn't look to see exactly what it was but my neighbor a master who works on them doesn't routinely change in his home comp.
This is not to say anyone shouldn't but that the concern over it and how much difference it makes is worth noting. Adding extra equipment to track it may give a warm feeling but won't make it last longer.
I put some of mine together a long time ago, added the extra fittings to make for easy changes etc, never used it, ha

 

[LS6 Tommy]

sberry, the oil change interval on these units is annual as per the manufacturer. Many of them are Quincys. I should clairify the pneumatic controls are in use 24/7, but the compressors do run constantly. They actually see much fewer hours than that as they are not like compressors that supply air tools or production equipment. The systems run at 20#, have pretty low volume of consumption so the compressors cycle relatively infrequently compared to ones that are more production oriented.

Tommy

 

[sberry]

I just assumed when you said 24/7 they were continuous. I know a lot of pumps call for 500 hrs. All this reminds me to look at my pressure washer. As I recall changed it out some time ago and went to full syn in it. It wasn't as clear as comp oil, has cold water running thru it. Its before the burner but the look of the oil prompted me to change. It never gets hot like other pumps would.