Air compressor woes

Most do. Compressors not leaf blowers. :oops:
It's more a positive mechanical lockout for occasional and service use than a daily 'thing but many use this for 'off'.
Years ago when I had the 85 in doing it,hadn't been in the Shop for a few days in Winter and opened the door to a building full of Smoke of an Electrical odor. Freaked the flip out. Apparently the contactor for the 2 ele heat strips in the airhandler welded closed keeping them energized with no blower running.
Thank God for Fail safe Safety protocols built in them saving the situation
Being in the hvac business knew what happened after investigating but the 'thought of what could have happened is a reminder that 'Someone Is looking after you arse.
Will I shut the heat off every night ? No. Just 'one of those things' that happens but I will be more mindful of regular maintenance that is often forgotten.
I also once a Year,pull the covers off All ele panels and inspect and tighten Every connection.
My shop ele went screwy years back and pulled the cover on my outside supply box and found the Neutral bar
Completely fried almost causing a fire from the main wire being loose. Things start blinking you better be looking in your box's.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Every Shop I've been at that was always part of the end of day procedures.
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Same here except it was Friday night or Sat. depending if we were working OT. The place I worked at ran 24/5 or 6. Everything was shut down except natural gas, rooftop units and a few isle lights.
Hope the pump turns out ok for ya Dean.
 
My routines when leaving shop:

1. make sure welder gas is shut off
2. make sure light is off in blasting cabinet
3. Shut off air compressor and close the valve.
4. Make sure any paint cans/solvent cans are closed.
5. Hide the bodies.

You just never know what happens in the night!
 
I have had a 5 HP 2 stage Ingersol T30 for 28 years. For about 25 years I left the compressor powered 24-7. Sometimes I forget the turn it off even before I left home for days or even a week. Eventually when things started to leak I got concerned about my dangerous habits. Knowing I rarely will remember to shut the compressor down each night I decided to come up with a more foolproof option. What I came up with was wiring the control side of the motor starter in series with a 12 hour spring wound timer and the light switch to the washroom where the compressor resides. Therefore for the compressor to run the timer must be wound and the washroom light must remain on.
 
orangejuiced86 said:
Last night was day 1 of flipping the switch......im confident ill stop doing that by the end of the week! lol
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Just need a little motivation. Setup a Rube Goldberg type machine that will mist Armor All over the shop if you don't turn the power off :)
Or, put a mini fridge next to the compressor switch, grab a cold one on the way out . . .
 
I wanted to bring this topic back with an incident that happened today. Typical Saturday in the backyard. Plasma going. Cut off wheels and quincy firing away. All of a sudden the compressor starting sounding like it was cooking popcorn. It's 11yr old and never an issue. Starting getting louder and worse. Ran and unplugged it. The shut off valve was pushing over 200 psi!. Let the air out of everything and turned off the switch. Plugged it back in and monitored and it's working now...I guess the shut off valve got stuck and didn't work. If it would have been overnight it would have been toast. Must unplug or shut off compressor from now on...
 
Might need to look at the Relief safety valve which should have opened in such an event..
Unless it was 'used when you got it and "someone" removed/plugged it. :eek:
I tried to up my psi but the relief told me different....
Probably need a new cycle switch reguardless.
 
MikeK said:
Might need to look at the Relief safety valve which should have opened in such an event..
Unless it was 'used when you got it and "someone" removed/plugged it. :eek:
I tried to up my psi but the relief told me different....
Probably need a new cycle switch reguardless.
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Yeah I need to dig around
 
If it doesn't have a pop off it needs to be over sized for the cfm ur compressor is rated at. Oh, and you don't want to test it with out ear plugs....

John
 
RosharonRooster said:
I wanted to bring this topic back with an incident that happened today. Typical Saturday in the backyard. Plasma going. Cut off wheels and quincy firing away. All of a sudden the compressor starting sounding like it was cooking popcorn. It's 11yr old and never an issue. Starting getting louder and worse. Ran and unplugged it. The shut off valve was pushing over 200 psi!. Let the air out of everything and turned off the switch. Plugged it back in and monitored and it's working now...I guess the shut off valve got stuck and didn't work. If it would have been overnight it would have been toast. Must unplug or shut off compressor from now on...
Click to expand...
I would guess that this setup does not have a mag starter (relay). If all the startup current is going through the pressure switch contacts, it's relatively common for them to weld together on occasion. The off switch found on these kinds of setups physically breaks the welded contact which is why cycling the switch "fixed" it for now. At the very least, you'll need to replace the pressure switch and the pop-off, but adding a mag starter would be prudent, imo.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Replace the safety valve irregardless of whether it's working now or not. Cheap insurance.
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What part am I looking to replace? I haven't had to touch this thing for 11yrs since I bought.
 

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crashtech said:
I would guess that this setup does not have a mag starter (relay). If all the startup current is going through the pressure switch contacts, it's relatively common for them to weld together on occasion. The off switch found on these kinds of setups physically breaks the welded contact which is why cycling the switch "fixed" it for now. At the very least, you'll need to replace the pressure switch and the pop-off, but adding a mag starter would be prudent, imo.
Click to expand...
Please advise on the above picture
 
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