Most Important Thing For Compressor Longevity!!

[PasadenaMike]

These are things that I like to do.

1. Heat is the killer of all compressors. The most important thing to do that I’ve learned is after a fill keep those cooling fans running a few minutes.

2. Another is moisture purging of the compressor itself to dry it out as much as possible. After a long fill I plug the hose and open the drain and just run the compressor so it gets rid of moisture. I also like to close the drain and let it build pressure (like 1500 psi or so) and release it several times while the pump is running to purge moisture. It’s amazing how much comes out. Doing this always has helped me keep things dry. When filling large tanks I do run an inline desiccant filter (big blue one) and also a particle filter (AV inline filter).

3. Hour meter- depending on your compressor some need an oil or lube change of some sort so keep records of run times. I time my runs and write them down. I’ll be honest i don’t keep track of runs on my GX cs 2 , GX el2 compressors they’re cheap enough to toss and technically there’s no interval for lube. I keep track of my Omega Air Charger and Trail Charger only because they have greasing intervals.

4. Keep the bleed knob open , start the compressor and let it build momentum and then close the bleed knob to not strain the motor.

 

[A_Shomer]

Mike those be the four commandants of a long serving compressor relationship.

 

[PasadenaMike]

Mike those be the four commandants of a long serving compressor relationship.

I guess lol it works for me

 

[American Air Arms]

Yeah choose one that does not use silicon oil as a lubricant.

 

[PasadenaMike]

Yeah choose one that does not use silicon oil as a lubricant.

My Nomad 2 didn’t last very long calling for silicone oil so yeah good point.

 

[bchannell]

One thing I've never understood, and I'm not being a jerk here, is what does it matter if you start the compressor with the bleed closed, as long as there's no pressure in the fill hose? I mean, it's still starting from 1bar either way. Just curious.
Another question I've had is someone on here has mentioned how detrimental it is to the compressors to pump with the inlet blocked or closed if you're pumping nitrogen. I dunno, I've done it a time or two by accident and have seen no detriment. You can tell immediately when it's starved by the sound, and I go over and open the inlet. Just curious.

 

[PasadenaMike]

One thing I've never understood, and I'm not being a jerk here, is what does it matter if you start the compressor with the bleed closed, as long as there's no pressure in the fill hose? I mean, it's still starting from 1bar either way. Just curious.
Another question I've had is someone on here has mentioned how detrimental it is to the compressors to pump with the inlet blocked or closed if you're pumping nitrogen. I dunno, I've done it a time or two by accident and have seen no detriment. You can tell immediately when it's starved by the sound, and I go over and open the inlet. Just curious.

Honestly it may not matter if the bleed is open or not but to me when working with high pressures I want the motor spinning at its designed rpm until I basically dump the clutch (bleed valve). Anything that’ll prolong motor life I’ll take and it takes the same time as closing before running. To each their own it’s your money and compressor break it as you wish clueless about the nitrogen

 

[bchannell]

I lately have been feeding my GX compressors n2 at their inlet to omit the need for filters to eliminate moisture. You can feed them 5-10psi on the inlet and never worry about moisture in your guns again.
I do HVAC work and always have nitrogen cylinders on hand, and even if I didn't they're cheap and easy to handle and use.

 

[PasadenaMike]

I lately have been feeding my GX compressors n2 at their inlet to omit the need for filters to eliminate moisture. You can feed them 5-10psi on the inlet and never worry about moisture in your guns again.
I do HVAC work and always have nitrogen cylinders on hand, and even if I didn't they're cheap and easy to handle and use.

I’ve heard of that before. If you can get it cheap than yeah makes sense

 

[Luis Leon]

For me with my Hatsan Lightning, which is rated to 4500 PSI? I never strain it to that fill level, only fill my SCBAs to 4000 PSI…

 

[bchannell]

While you can rest assured your Hatsan is designed to handle that pressure, I d the same thing. I rarely fill to max on a regulated gun and never on a non reg'd.
On n2 you can expect to pay around 18-$20 for a exchange on a 40 ft3 cyl. For me, I can easily get more than a month IF I'm not tuning and simply topping off guns. If I'm tuning then I'd say three weeks. I hand a leaky r10 buddy bottle on a gun I was trying to tune and had to drain & refill after every reg adj ( trying to find minimum setting) and the bottle still lasted almost a month. Not tuning I might go two months I dunno. I've gone thru 3 bottles since I started a couple months ago, but one was half empty when I started and I've been tuning guns almost the whole time.

 

[jps2486]

Heat kills. Don't think that running a higher capacity water pump is a solution. Running colder water faster through the system doesn't allow the water to dwell long enough to extract the heat.

 

[Lowndes]

Heat kills. Don't think that running a higher capacity water pump is a solution. Running colder water faster through the system doesn't allow the water to dwell long enough to extract the heat.

uhhh, What??

Ever heard of "wind chill" factor?? Same thing with fluids. The faster the flow the more heat removed.

 

[jps2486]

uhhh, What??

Ever heard of "wind chill" factor?? Same thing with fluids. The faster the flow the more heat removed.

This is water, not air. Wind chill is a media devised term to instill more fear into people. If it's 50 degrees outside with calm air, it's still 50 degrees with 100 mph winds.

 

[Lowndes]

Water, air, they are both fluids, but only one is incompressible (for all practical purposes). And one is more dense than the other. I'll be glad to help you with that one later.

It looks like it will be in the mid 50's here in Atlanta tomorrow and PC. How about we go for a little motorcycle ride. You can have first choice, 4 BMW's, two Hondas, and a Suzuki. "Wind chill" might be "a media devised term" but it is a very real phenomena.

Heat is removed from open skin (and everything else) much faster in a breeze making it feel colder than it actually is. You will die faster sitting in front of a fan a 0°F that you will sitting in still air at -10°F. Let's go for a ride and I'll prove it to you.

The science of this is there is a boundary layer of warmer air next to your skin insulating you from the colder air further away. Remove that boundary layer and it feels colder because you are losing heat faster. The faster the speed of the air, the faster you are losing heat. You can safely change the word "air" to "water", "gasoline", "tobacco juice" or "owl snot". That's why if you fall into frigid water you ball up (to reduce surface area) and don't stir around. IF you want to live longer, hopefully until the USCG can get there.

 

[Danman]

Water, air, they are both fluids, but only one is incompressible (for all practical purposes). And one is more dense than the other. I'll be glad to help you with that one later.

It looks like it will be in the mid 50's here in Atlanta tomorrow and PC. How about we go for a little motorcycle ride. You can have first choice, 4 BMW's, two Hondas, and a Suzuki. "Wind chill" might be "a media devised term" but it is a very real phenomena.

Heat is removed from open skin (and everything else) much faster in a breeze making it feel colder than it actually is. You will die faster sitting in front of a fan a 0°F that you will sitting in still air at -10°F. Let's go for a ride and I'll prove it to you.

The science of this is there is a boundary layer of warmer air next to your skin insulating you from the colder air further away. Remove that boundary layer and it feels colder because you are losing heat faster. The faster the speed of the air, the faster you are losing heat. You can safely change the word "air" to "water", "gasoline", "tobacco juice" or "owl snot". That's why if you fall into frigid water you ball up (to reduce surface area) and don't stir around. IF you want to live longer, hopefully until the USCG can get there.

Yup your right, good example is headgaskets on engines have tiiinnnyyy holes in them between coolant passages to SLOW down the coolant flow to make it less efficient at cooling the block. Cool is good but you want the engine to hit the sweet spot quick and then stay there. Not to hot not to cold. Compressor science would be similar but obviously in there case cooler is just better.

 

[Lowndes]

Reminds me of the time back in the 1700's when steam engines and railroads were invented and developed. Some "experts" at the time said that the maximum speed of trains would never exceed 35 mph because above that speed the air would be going past your nose and mouth so fast it would be impossible to breathe.

But the OP is spot-on with the statement, "Heat is the killer of all compressors." I sell portable commercial compressors to the construction market and see it every day. Compressing air (or ANY gas) causes the compressed gas to release heat. A LOT of heat. You have to get rid of the heat or it WILL cook the compressor (any type) and eventually the motor (elec or gasoline).

The opposite thing happens when compressed air is released, the air (any gas) will drop in temperature. It's called the refrigeration cycle and is the basis for 99% of the cooling and refrigeration (A/C) we use.

Short cycles and MUCH cooling will make any compressor last longer.

 

[Danman]

100% true...I've have dreamed of buying a good compressor right out of the gate if I go compressor down the road. The one I would get would be the Hill second generation version. Plain and simply low or high quality, heat will murder the compressor early if its excessive. Now about that Hill: watch the Gen 2 videos and focus on the improvements over the first gen. It's super cool they have the auto cool down, temp sense, and they will drain down the pressure EVERY time if it auto stops/starts. You can fill big guns, high pressures, small tanks with these. The improvements aren't really better internals per se it's mostly improvements to make it last and take out human error. Very cool! Kinda pricey though but I believe you get what you pay for in this case.

 

[AlDubya]

Water, air, they are both fluids, but only one is incompressible (for all practical purposes). And one is more dense than the other. I'll be glad to help you with that one later.

It looks like it will be in the mid 50's here in Atlanta tomorrow and PC. How about we go for a little motorcycle ride. You can have first choice, 4 BMW's, two Hondas, and a Suzuki. "Wind chill" might be "a media devised term" but it is a very real phenomena.

Heat is removed from open skin (and everything else) much faster in a breeze making it feel colder than it actually is. You will die faster sitting in front of a fan a 0°F that you will sitting in still air at -10°F. Let's go for a ride and I'll prove it to you.

The science of this is there is a boundary layer of warmer air next to your skin insulating you from the colder air further away. Remove that boundary layer and it feels colder because you are losing heat faster. The faster the speed of the air, the faster you are losing heat. You can safely change the word "air" to "water", "gasoline", "tobacco juice" or "owl snot". That's why if you fall into frigid water you ball up (to reduce surface area) and don't stir around. IF you want to live longer, hopefully until the USCG can get there.

@Lowndes...hi there, a fellow peach here. I live in the northeast metro Atl area (Duluth/Buford). Where & what guns do you have/shoot?. I've got a stable of pcp's, springers, pumpers,co2, etc that don't see too much action, except for the occasional pesky chipmunk, ...and a Honda shadow spirit that I haven't ridden in like, forever! .

Now, on to a more general/ open question:...I'd love to put my airguns to good work culling farm/pasture pests or waste dump rats like our compatriots across the pond do.

Found a local Waste Management transfer station that I think would yield a good harvest of rats, from the looks of things. Went and got the site manager's contact info, but not quite sure how to cold-call/pitch them my proposition;..."er, got gun, would love to feed your rats lead pellets" .

I'm pretty sure being a corporate owned facility, there would most likely be this legal/liability firewall. Any suggestions from you guys with experience securing permissions? I know Dana @ Mountainsports has a few.

Cheers!
Al

 

[Eckhearth]

Yeah choose one that does not use silicon oil as a lubricant.

Which compressor do you recommend? Until now I am filling my Evol’s only with air which I got from dive shops. ( where I fill up my 9 liter tanks ) this because I want the air to be perfectly clean and dry. I don’t want to ruin my beloved Evol’s with moisture. But maybe recent compressor made such a flight in quality that I don’t have to worry about this anymore? How do other AAA owners fill there guns?