To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Air compressor help

BT8850

New member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Messages
3
Hello all,

I've been working on a 'custom' pieced together air compressor off and on for past couple months and am having trouble.

The tank is 26gallon husky, compressor unit is from a Devilbiss pro 4200, and the motor is a vintage Westinghouse. The compressor was salvaged from a complete unit that the motor died on some time ago. The motor came off a very old and smaller compressor that I couldn't tell you the make of, but was rigged up to a very small tank ~1 gal max, bought it off of craigslist, guy didn't know much about it.

The way I have it set up 'should' work in my mind, I just don't know what's going wrong.

The problem: When powered up the motor runs strong but after only perhaps 1 minute of running (and no tank pressure) the motor speed starts to slow drastically and I'm certain would cease if I let it. My first thought was the check valve. So I bought a new one, had the same problem, thought maybe it was a defective check valve so I got a replacement and still have the same problem. I even tried taking the braided discharge line off and running the pump into a spare tank I have and got yet again the same result.

In the pictures you can see that the 1/8"npt line out of the check valve is rigged with a pop off valve, I haven't gotten to routing a hardline to the shut off switch yet so I stuck that in there so I could manually unload the line should the unit reach ~100psi tank pressure, obviously this hasn't happened yet.

I can take the braided discharge line off, turn on the motor and it pumps air strong just into the air so I'm assuming the pump is working properly.

That leaves the motor? Perhaps its underpowered? Am I missing something in the way I have it set up?

I've attached a few pictures of the set up and motor. Any help you guys could provide would be great! Thanks!!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0147.JPG
    IMG_0147.JPG
    137.7 KB · Views: 31
  • IMG_0149.JPG
    IMG_0149.JPG
    141.4 KB · Views: 25
  • IMG_0151.JPG
    IMG_0151.JPG
    131 KB · Views: 26
  • IMG_0148.JPG
    IMG_0148.JPG
    134.6 KB · Views: 22
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

MacMcMacmac

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2014
Messages
1,585
Location
canada
1/2 HP isn't nearly enough for that pump. 2hp is more like it, or 3.5 if you could run it off of 220v.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

G_P

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
7,135
Location
Central CT
Way too small of a motor. I have a pump of similar size and its on a 3hp 240v motor. Once pressure in the tank builds up, your motor just does not have the power to keep pushing more air into the tank.

Also, if that braided hose is a faucet supply line, get rid of it. It wont handle the pressure and heat for very long.
 
OP
B

BT8850

New member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Messages
3
Wow, thank you all for the timely replies, i'm sorry mine doesn't follow suit.

I guess i'll be looking for a bigger motor, which is a shame because they're pretty salty. Hopefully something will turn up used for a bargain.

G P, the braided line in the photos isn't a faucet line, it's a leader hose manufactured by Viair for use with their air compressors used in vehicle air bag systems. I don't have a tubing bender to make a hard line so this seemed the easiest route, hence all the extra fittings, *******, etc. just using what i've got
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom