I just started breaking in the HF 21 gal. compressor I bought the other day and the color of the oil looks pretty dirtiy to me. Should I be concerned about this or is it normal with these compressors? I've never had an oil compressor, so I don't know.
What I've done so far is:
- Filled the oil reservoir (with the supplied HF oil that came with the compressor) and let it run open for 30 minutes.
- Drained the oil and refilled with SAE 30W non detergent (which is recommended). I'm using Ace Hardware brand oil.
- Started it up to build maximum pressure, then blew air through a hose enough for it to cycle 3 times.
- Shut it off and depressurized the tank through the drain valve to purge the water.
- Drained the oil and refilled with the Ace brand again.
- This time I let it build pressure to maximum, shut it off and depressurized the tank through the drain valve. I did this 3 times.
- Then I drained the oil once more.
If you look at the picture, the first bottle is the Ace Hardware oil straight out of the container. I accidently threw away the HF oil from the first drain out, but it looked the same color as bottle 2, if not a little darker. Bottle 2 is the second drain out and bottle 3 is the third drain out.
As you can see, bottle 3 is a little cleaner than bottle 2, but nowhere near as clean as the first bottle. Should I take this compressor back for an exchange or is it fine as it is?
What I've done so far is:
- Filled the oil reservoir (with the supplied HF oil that came with the compressor) and let it run open for 30 minutes.
- Drained the oil and refilled with SAE 30W non detergent (which is recommended). I'm using Ace Hardware brand oil.
- Started it up to build maximum pressure, then blew air through a hose enough for it to cycle 3 times.
- Shut it off and depressurized the tank through the drain valve to purge the water.
- Drained the oil and refilled with the Ace brand again.
- This time I let it build pressure to maximum, shut it off and depressurized the tank through the drain valve. I did this 3 times.
- Then I drained the oil once more.
If you look at the picture, the first bottle is the Ace Hardware oil straight out of the container. I accidently threw away the HF oil from the first drain out, but it looked the same color as bottle 2, if not a little darker. Bottle 2 is the second drain out and bottle 3 is the third drain out.
As you can see, bottle 3 is a little cleaner than bottle 2, but nowhere near as clean as the first bottle. Should I take this compressor back for an exchange or is it fine as it is?
