Oil filled compressor question

[Tony Smith]

Hi All

I have been given a Sim-Air compressor, it is the same as a Sil-Air 50/12, one thing I noticed was the regulator/filter/water trap is the same as I have on my piston type compressor.

I thought it would have an oil/water type filter..? surely this type of compressor produces oily air..? or does the conventional regulator/filter/water trap type cope ok on this type of compressor..?

Thanks

Tony

[sharonsstudio]

Can't help you here.. I just dry my tank every few days of use.. it seems to be fine..

[denstore]

The Sil-Air types produces very clean air in my experience, as long as they are taken care of. No real need to worry about them.

[Tony Smith]

Had a test, very quiet, and air tight......and passes oil into the line...
Blasted air onto tracing paper, sure enough specks of oil, even with a new regulator/filter fitted.........think the pump is it bit passed it......

Tony

[redanner]

My experience tells me to put a good water & oil trap at the compressor! I don't know how to get oil out of the air lines if they have been already exposed!

[Shiva]

This was discussed on a high end woodworking board.. IF you EVER get oil down the air line- assuming the normal rubber/vinyl lines. that line is NO GOOD AT ALL for ANY painting or especially car finishing. you MUST toss the line .
Once contaminated, ALWAYS contaminated.

IF you EVER use an air line with an 'inline oiler' needed for certain air tools, CAREFULLY mark that line for that use ONLY.

IMO, if you are running a DA sander or an air grinder, make 2 SEPARATE connections off the compressor.. and make certain you only use the 'clean' line/connection for any spraying of any finish.

I got a big compressor and put 2 inline filters. 1 at the compressor and the second about 20' from the air gun.
For the little compressor it has an inline filter, plus a 12' airline connected to the AB.
havent had any issues with it YET.

[Tony Smith]

Thanks for the replies, I have not attached any of my air-lines..(phew) even with a new regulator/filter ,it was still passing specks of oil ,I even took off the main air line from pump to tank, run the pump on its own, you can see oil starting to swirl up the line, looks a bit excessive to me, gets worse as it gets warmer and the oil thins out a bit.........worn pump.......

Tony

[denstore]

I´m sure youre right. Sounds like its worn, and the pressure creeps past the piston. I don´t know if this is something that´s repairable, but probably you could find a similar compressor unit at some refrigurator repair.

[Shiva]

depending TOTALLY on the brand/size of the compressor, some CAN BE re ringed, just like you rebuild a car motor and others are not cost effective to do so.
I got a compressor hop half mile away and they get some bigger units in there and rering/re piston as needed, and bore the blocks as well.
these are NOT 2-5 HP units but bigger.
anbother thing to check- is the OIL.. look at it- has it got water in it? I worked for a guy doing repairs and walked by his 80 gallon compressor and saw the oil level glass tube and it looked like dirty water-I asked if he EVER changed the oil?? not in 3-4-5 years? how about drain the tank?
you SUPPOSED to do that? it took 25 minutes+ with the drain valve open to get the water out of the tank..
the oil in the compressor was half water, BTW.

[Tony Smith]

Thanks for the replies, I have had a talk with the ' air instrument boffins' at work ,they concur, the pump is worn and passing oil, will look at getting a new pump unit, or a repair kit if possible.

[ARTSPRAYJ4J]

yep silent compressors run in a bath of oil and there is only one model which has piston rings which is the Bambi medical range used mainly for dentistry ,most others will pass a slight oil mist especialy when getting on in years but when it gets too excessive even traps wont stop contamination so its time to dump it

the compressor unit is based on a common refridgerator compressor so they can be replaced by robbing one out of an old redundant fridge freezer [the bigger the better]

personaly i now prefer the oilless ones which are a little noisier but give constant clean air ,i got myself a simair TC 5000 of ebay for £30 plus postage which was a bit of a deal as this model is £499 full retail

paul