Air compressor: new head or old

[zak77]

I have an old Kellogg-American air compressor; about 40-50 gallons and a 1hp motor turning 1725 rpms. The 1hp is a newer motor as the old one was shot when I bought it and I'm limited to 110v for now. It took a while for the compressor to fill up and I thought the head was worn since it was so old so I've been on the lookout for a new head. I happen upon a Campbell Hausfeld vt4723 head for $100 at Tractor Supply so I grabbed it. Now I'm wondering if it was a wise choice or not.

With the stock head in place I figure I'm turning about 560rpm and it takes about 10-15 minutes to fill the tank to 150psi. The 4723 heads only has a max psi of 135psi and if I used the current pulley sizes it'd be turning at 690 rpm. So should I put the new head on or keep the old head on there but change gearing to increase rpms? What would be the best rpm to run this at since I've read anywhere from 600-800rpms.

The odd part is I can not find any info on the current head which has a label on it stating it's model E-210. I'd prefer to rebuild the old head but no parts can be found and I know if I disassemble it i'll tear some gaskets or damage other parts and have no way to replace them. Then I'm stuck with a useless head.

 

[redmondjp]

I have an old Kellogg-American air compressor; about 40-50 gallons and a 1hp motor turning 1725 rpms. The 1hp is a newer motor as the old one was shot when I bought it and I'm limited to 110v for now. It took a while for the compressor to fill up and I thought the head was worn since it was so old so I've been on the lookout for a new head. I happen upon a Campbell Hausfeld vt4723 head for $100 at Tractor Supply so I grabbed it. Now I'm wondering if it was a wise choice or not.

With the stock head in place I figure I'm turning about 560rpm and it takes about 10-15 minutes to fill the tank to 150psi. The 4723 heads only has a max psi of 135psi and if I used the current pulley sizes it'd be turning at 690 rpm. So should I put the new head on or keep the old head on there but change gearing to increase rpms? What would be the best rpm to run this at since I've read anywhere from 600-800rpms.

The odd part is I can not find any info on the current head which has a label on it stating it's model E-210. I'd prefer to rebuild the old head but no parts can be found and I know if I disassemble it i'll tear some gaskets or damage other parts and have no way to replace them. Then I'm stuck with a useless head.

The best way to determine what to do is to measure your running motor current at the point where the pressure switch turns off the motor. If you are at or slightly below full-load nameplate motor amps, then you do not want to increase pump speed.

Another recommendation that I would make is to lower your cutoff pressure to 120psi instead of 150. That will make the motor a lot happier and reduce both your running time (as it takes a lot longer for a single-stage pump to go from 120 to 150psi than from 90 to 120) and the running amps.

So if you can come up with an AC clamp-on ammeter (even if you have to borrow one), that is one approach. You can then install your new head (pump) with the same-sized pulleys and belt you have now and check the running amps at cutoff. That will tell you if you need to get a smaller motor pulley or not.

 

[zak77]

Let me add that this compressor isn't my primary compressor. This one is used for larger jobs such as impact gun, die grinder, etc. I use my oil-less for jobs such as airing up tires and blowing off dust. I'll lower the psi to about 120-130 and see how it does but my issue isn't about voltage and if the current motor can keep up but more on which head would make more volume, which I can see being related to amperage draw since you can't make more air without more power.

Ideally I'd get a much bigger 220v motor and a larger head to match but that's further down the road. I'd be nice if I could find ANYTHING about this head online but I've search for a long time and found nothing.