Couple years ago I picked up a cobbled together air compressor with 120 gallon tank at auction for cheap. Had planned to use the tank maybe for used oil and wasn't concerned about the air pump. Well, one day decided maybe to sell it and looked up the specs and realized it's like a $2500 Champion R15 pump. But also realized the tank is 70 years old, has no water drain and been welded on. Just happened to have a Ritchie auction with a nice compressor with tank. I put a $5 bid as a placeholder and forgot about it till I got an email a few weeks later that I was the winner. Well, it's WAY better than the rusty thing I had but problem is the motor is dead. It's a R40 pump. R15 is about 17cfm at 175psi R40 is about 45cfm. R15 would handle most shop duties, but R40 would handle all, including sandblasting. Trying to figure the most logical thing to do. Swap 5hp motor and r15 pump to the good tank would be just lot if time and probably a few hundred in fittings, piping, etc. 15hp motor is around $1500-2000. Shop suggested a 10hp and put a 6" pulley vs the 9". 10hp is a bit cheaper, plus only ~35 amp draw vs 45. 10hp single phase isn't too common though, and 3 phase is better for controlling with a vfd for soft start.
Ill give you 10 for it and you've doubled your money! Nice grab there
I've heard of "smoking deals" But that seems like it was still falling off da truck. I would get the motor it came with megged. I'd bet a nickel it's got a smoked starter cap.
Was $105 with the Ritchie Bros fees. $5 bid and $100 minimum lot fee.
No starter caps, it's 3 phase.
You did mention that, dang! Still, I'd bet a rebuild would be a fraction of new.
New it's about $13,000. But I'd never spend near that on a compressor. Even spending $2k on a new motor and vfd is pushing the edge of this is stupid.
Hydrotest the old tank and keep things together if it passes ?
That was my thought. Fill it with water, bump it up to 200-250psi with a pressure washer and let her sit for 30 minutes. If she doesn't blow with the water, it isn't gonna rip apart with air either.
I think you want to test a fair bit higher than that pressure. But not so much as to damage the tank.
Screaming deal on the RB auction buy. I would love a large, high volume compressor on our farm. We currently have an 80 gallon TSC special that just doesn't keep up with the ¾" air gun. Nobody thinks the gun has any balls, but they hook it to a ⅜" line off a weak compressor. Its never going to let all the ugga-duggas out if you're choking the air supply. My grandfather never accepted pneumatic tools could save him hours of labor if he would have set himself up with them and a good compressor early on.
I had to look this up because I thought the test was to be slightly above Maximum Operating Pressure. ASTM says 1.25-1.5 MOP. So, a big compressor operating at 175psi should be hydrotested between 218-262 psi. I was pretty close. It ranges on the duration of the test depending on what the system being tested is used for. Some tests are short, some are several hours. Either way, hydrotest to 250psi for some time and you'll know the tank can hold air.
It's from the 1950s, no water drain, one of the pipes for an output was welded half assed It's a galvanized 1/2" pipe welded into a torched hole, without even cleaning the paint. Almost wonder if it was in a fire too, the paint in the top and one side sort of looks like it. None of that gives me a warm fuzzy after seeing the aftermath of a tank coming apart under pressure.
Knowing how most people drain their tanks I'd ditch the 50's tank too. I'd put a new motor on the R40, I'd also whack the mount off the old tank and keep the R15 and the 5 hp, can always plumb it into the new tank for now.
What tank ? air ? they don't normally explode.
Yes, set the 5 hp up as a skid with no tank, and as you said, plumb it into the other tank. The skid mounted could be placed anywhere.
Yes
Where? Not like I have all the room in the world. Compressor is going in a 20ft connex along with a used oil boiler and tanks, gen set.
You don't need it anywhere near the tank is the POINT. I can't see thru wires, to what your set-up is. Put it on top the connex box for all I care at this point.
No need to get all moody over your crazy talk.
Your the angry one. Ignorance is bliss eh ?
What does the wiring look like under the loose motor cover and in the electrical box. Might be as simple as blown heaters below the contact.
Thats a steal like the 17" Dayton drill press that had never drilled but 2 holes, that I got for 35 dollars on govdeals from City of Richmond, VA. I just installed a new Speedaire 80 gallon 7 horse horizontal and I purchased the Speedaire auto drain. I highly recommend that, because like most everyone at the end of the day the last thing on my mind is tank draining. And that thing lets it spray out a 1/2" stream as often as you want. Much less water reaches your system also is an added benefit. It was about 150 bucks. Money well spent. Beware of the 30 dollar amazon specials. I have heard of them hanging open and running a compressor all weekend. I try to reach around the shop corner and flip the disconnect every evening anyway, but im far from perfect.
Has one, a $350 option, albeit not installed correctly. Also has a $1700 aftercooler and $350 low oil shut down.
Looks fine, but I haven't poked around to test anything.
My Speedaire has aftercooler but I haven't used it enough to see if its all its cracked up to be. Never had one before with aftercoooler. I bought mine new on Ebay. Noticed a damaged one sitting on a pallet in a listing. They wanted something like 1900.00 for it. Well, I could see there was another one behind it. So I messaged and asked if the other was damaged and they said no. I then asked what will buy the non damaged one. They replied 2,400.00. I paid for it on a Monday, had it Thursday. Truck freight from Atlanta was 150.00. Its 4 hours one way gor me so that was fine with me. That compressor is 7,700.00 from Grainger. I actually purchased the auto drain from Grainger same day as compressor. It doesn't have oil level shutdown I don't think.
If it's setup right, air going in the tank should be near ambient temp vs 200*+ It doesn't have a drain on the cooler which I don't quite understand.
Mine has the air type like a radiator mounted at the pulley. It doesnt have a drain but there is a plug that I can probably connect to the auto drain with a one way valve. If I don't use a one way it will probably just blow water back up. I may have to get another auto drain and stagger them.