This is on my 60 gallon CH compressor. The intake plastic was warped and was doing little or no filtering, so I added on one of those round filters with the paper element. It has a small pipe for the intake (and leaks around circumference of the metal cover, but I figure its still filtering through the element, so no big deal). I noticed that at the inlet pipe there is outward air pressure when the compressor is running. My question is should the reed valves be working so efficiently that there is no outward pressure at the intake? the compressor doesn't take an extraordinarily long time to fill and it does reach its pressure, but I don't want to unduly stress the motor or the piston. I just don't know what is normal.
Compressor Reed Valve Question
- Thread starter jacked_72
- Start date
jallyn
Well-known member
Sounds like a leaky reed valve. Did the intake plastic warp from hot air leaking back?
redmondjp
Well-known member
You're probably exactly right about that! I was trying to figure out how the plastic would have gotten hot enough to melt - I have never seen that on a compressor before.
I'm following up on my own tread as an fyi in case someone is in the same boat in the future.
I pulled off the head, restrictor plates and reed valves last night. The compressor is more than 25 years old and I'm pretty sure the head has never been off. There was a lot of crud in the valves and head. Lots of oil turned to varnish and bits of black carbon on the reed valves and restrictor plates. I gave everything a good bath in brake cleaner and got all the build up off and reinstalled the parts and it took care of the airflow coming out of the air cleaner while the compressor is running. Now, I just get a vacuum. The Chinese air filter housing leaks like a sieve, so there still may be some outgoing airflow, but I can't feel it. So, I'm calling it fixed. The cylinder still had its honing marks after all this time.
I was reading one of the instruction labels on the compressor and in addition to draining the tank daily and changing the oil, it says to inspect the valves every 3 months. Yeah, right. I'll bet less than 1% of air compressor owners ever had the head off and that 0% inspect the valves that often.
I pulled off the head, restrictor plates and reed valves last night. The compressor is more than 25 years old and I'm pretty sure the head has never been off. There was a lot of crud in the valves and head. Lots of oil turned to varnish and bits of black carbon on the reed valves and restrictor plates. I gave everything a good bath in brake cleaner and got all the build up off and reinstalled the parts and it took care of the airflow coming out of the air cleaner while the compressor is running. Now, I just get a vacuum. The Chinese air filter housing leaks like a sieve, so there still may be some outgoing airflow, but I can't feel it. So, I'm calling it fixed. The cylinder still had its honing marks after all this time.
I was reading one of the instruction labels on the compressor and in addition to draining the tank daily and changing the oil, it says to inspect the valves every 3 months. Yeah, right. I'll bet less than 1% of air compressor owners ever had the head off and that 0% inspect the valves that often.
