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Keeping Your Reciprocating Air Compressor Working at its Peak

Here are a few guidelines on how to keep your reciprocating air compressor working optimally. No matter what brand of oil-lubricated reciprocating compressor you own, doing the following three things on a regular basis will extend its working life helping to ensure a trustworthy tool for years to come:

  1. Change lubricant quarterly
  2. Purge water from tank weekly (at least)
  3. Change air filter quarterly

Oil (Lubrication)

Your reciprocating air compressor is basically an engine, and as such it requires constant lubrication to prevent excessive friction from damaging the moving parts and ultimately seizing the piston/s.  Non detergent lubricants are typically preferred for reciprocating air compressors, but make sure you respect the viscosity the manufacturer suggests for your particular compressor.

Regularly check the oil level to make sure you have the right amount of oil in the crankcase.  While the dangers of too little oil are obvious, it’s also important not to overfill a compressor with oil.  If the oil level is too high the oil can get whipped and it will foam up, losing some of its lubricating properties.  In addition, it will gain volume, further increasing your problems.  So keep checking with your dipstick/gauge as you refill with oil and make sure your unit is perfectly level to the ground when you do this.

These are just as easy to read as the dipstick variety.  The red dot represents the “OK” mark (I don’t know why they paint it red, should’ve been green).  Ideally you want to keep the oil level within the center of the dot, but as long as the level is within the dot, you are OK.

On these it’s also easier to judge the state of the oil by looking at it with a flashlight, you can often see whether it’s getting milky (water) or darker (regular wear) without having to remove a sample from the crankcase.

 Tip #1-Oil is regularly lost through the exhaust and the breather hole on the crankcase. Oil also ages and because of this, you should replace the oil after a certain amount of duty hours. A good rule of thumb that will help you comply with most manufacturer’s requirements is to change your reciprocating compressor oil on a quarterly basis.  The actual time depends on many factors and its best if you obtain the manual for your particular compressor for a clear indication on when to replace the oil.

To remove the old oil there’s going to be a bolt at the bottom side or the bottom of the crankcase in all reciprocating air compressors.  Simply remove this bolt to allow the old oil to drain into a bucket for proper disposal.  To speed up the process, make sure you remove the oil when it’s warm and remove the filling cap so you don’t draw a vacuum.=

Removing Condensate from the Receiver Tank

As the compressor’s intake happens to be ambient air, humidity in the air is sucked in on every cycle. The water vapor from ambient humidity will condense and accumulate in the tank/s.  Because of this dynamic, it’s imperative to drain the tank/s at least once a week.

Draining the tank is easy.  Locate the drain valve at the bottom of the tank and open it until moisture and air come out of the valve.  As soon as the flow of water slows to a trickle, close the valve.

If you don’t drain the tank the condensate will rust the tank’s envelope and ultimately corrosion and rust-through will occur.  The more the condensate sits in the tank, the worse it’ll get in time.

To keep condensate from building up in the receiver tank with minimal effort, include the automatic electric timer drain with your purchase of a new compressor. An electric timer drain will open at preset intervals to keep condensate from building up in the tank and finding its way down stream to the shop equipment. Zero-loss drain valves do the same thing, but they lose less compressed air pressure and also reduce the number of short cycles needed to keep the compressed air system at the pre-set level. This saves on your electricity bill.

Tip #2- Because eliminating condensate from the tank is so important to the life of your compressed air system, put a tickler on your calendar to drain the tank at least once a week –more frequently in humid environments.  Better yet, automate this task by investing in an automatic tank drain.

Intake Air Filter

The intake air filter is there to stop the compressor from taking in particles of dust in the ambient air which might cause damage to the metal surfaces inside the air compressor.  If the location of the compressor has a lot of dust and dirt in the air, this filter may need to be kept clean or changed more often than the manufacturer’s recommendations.  Use the manufacturer’s replacement intake air filter for proper fit and filtration.

Tip #3 – Refer to your manufacturer’s recommended intake air filter replacement schedule.  Replacement of your intake filter is important to keeping your air compressor in compliance with the manufacturer’s basic and extended warranty. Even if your air compressor is out of warranty,

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