Air compressor woes
I paid 500 bucks for a brand new Ingersoll Rand Garagemate 20 gallon air compressor, rated for 5.2CFM @ 90psi. For home use, hobbies, working on the cars, etc. Nothing crazy. I have a blue point impact gun, right angle die grinder, and some other various tools, most of which dont exceed the CFM on this thing at 90. CFM doesnt appear to be my problem with this unit however, it is regulated pressure. The unit comes with a regulator coming right off of the tank to begin with, which i set at 90psi, but when using my air tools, the regulated pressure immediately drops down continuously...80...70...60, meanwhile, the tank pressure is well above 100psi. So i figured, let me go get another regulator, this cannot be right. I went and bought a bostitch regulator, and its doing the same thing, however, not nearly as bad. I have it set to about 105psi right now, and it bottoms out at around 80/85 psi using my right angle grinder, which is rated for 2.2cfm@90psi. I actually recorded a short video clip of the impact gun set for 100psi, which drops right to 80psi on the new regulator. YouTube - kdk_0272.3gp Ive tried multiple combinations of setting the pressure, running the tool and setting the pressure, setting it prior, maxing out the regulator, all seem to drop to about 80psi with the new bostitch regulator....so what the hell is going on here? With my buddys compressor you set it to your pressure you want, and it stays there, until the tank pressure dips below what you set the regulator to. Im running all 1/4 fittings as recommended per the manual, no leaks, and 3/8ID air hose @ 25 foot. When you stop running a tool, does the pressure go back up to the original set or just stays where it was last? If it stays, I think the problem is the regulator. You may be blowing too much moist air and some crud through it - these things don't take a long time to trash and jam. Try installing one downstream of your filter, not upstream like you have it now. Originally Posted by markiz37 When you stop running a tool, does the pressure go back up to the original set or just stays where it was last? If it stays, I think the problem is the regulator. You may be blowing too much moist air and some crud through it - these things don't take a long time to trash and jam. Try installing one downstream of your filter, not upstream like you have it now. it goes back up right away, its almost as if im sucking the air hose empty Nothing's broke, it's regestering dynamic pressure. Because you're using a continous type high volume tool, the pressure in the reg does not get a chance to build up to what you had set it to. Are you satisfied with the performance you get from your tools? If yes - nothing to do. If no - bump up the reg to about 125psi, so it'll be about 90psi at the running tool. You have several problems, the first is in believing those claims about how much air a tool uses. Air tools are rated on the AVERAGE airflow over time. Since an impact wrench is usually run is short bursts averaging only 25% or less of the total time its CFM rating is also 25% of what the tool REALLY is using. In other words, that impact wrench is really pulling anywhere from 12 to 20 CFM while it is running. Second problem is the regulator and filter/separator you are using can't possibly pass the necessary airflow to the tool without also inducing a significant pressure drop. Third problem is that while it doesn't show in your pictures I'll bet that you have a quick-connect coupler on the output of that filter/separator and another one on the end of the air hose. These quick couplers are often a significant restriction causing excessive pressure drops. First suggestion is to re-pipe the outlet from the compressor tank to at least 1/2 inch pipe size. Even if the tank outlet is smaller than 1/2 inch you should immediately increase it to 1/2 inch. Then use a filter/separator with no less than 3/8 inch fittings, 1/2 inch is better. No, you won't find that at a big box homecenter, you will probably need to go to an industrial supplier like Grainger or somewhere off the Internet. Second suggestion is to get a larger regulator, follow the advice for the filter/separator. Third suggestion is to use as few quick couplers as possible. Do not use a hose any longer than necessary and have your hoses of varying lengths so that you don't couple several short hoses together (adding quick couplers with every hose length) to get air to various places. Fourth suggestion is to use larger inside diameter hoses when using longer lengths of hose. A 3/8 inch I.D. hose is going to have a practical limit of about 30-40 feet when used with a high volume tool such as an impact wrench or die grinder. Fifth suggestion is a little extreme for home-shop usage but it might help in some applications. Get an auxiliary air tank that can be placed near the area of work. Have a connection on the compressor tank that allows full tank pressure to feed to the auxiliary tank and use a filter/separator and regulator at the auxiliary tank to drop the pressure to that required by the tool. Use a short hose from the auxiliary tank pressure regulator to the tool. The pressure drop you are seeing is pretty much normal for the set up that you have. The regulator you have on your compressor is not a very high volume type The pressure drop you are seeing is from the regulator itself. If you don't want to spring for a larger regulator the best thing you can do is remove the regulator and install a tee before it. Put the regulator on the end of the tee and install a quick connector on the branch. This way you will get the most flow the tank and hose can deliver. Just make sure the compressor doesn't go above 110 psi and if it does there is not much to gain except wear by having it higher. ah i gotcha now, ill see what i can cook up to increase flow coming out of the tank and through the hose, i want to avoid drilling and tapping larger 1/2 inch connections if at all possible right now seeing as its still under warranty for another 11 months. You can't possibly mean drilling and tapping the tank do you??? You may be over thinking this whole pressure drop thing a bit. Based on what your video shows, what I see is exactly how any compressor like yours would perform. As said, the cfm rating of your impact is not what the gun consumes if you press the trigger and keep holding it. It is actually a convoluted number that only refers to intermittent use. 5 cfm is a reasonable size air compressor for occasional casual use but in all honesty if you are trying to squeeze more air out of it after only owning it a month you might be happier if you could return it. If you could get a full credit you would only need a couple of hundred more and a 220 volt receptacle to get about 8 cfm or so which would likely spin your impact all day. We see an awful lot of posts here on undersized compressors that garner all kinds of creative suggestions that try to squeeze out more air but you can't change the laws of physics. undersized? eh, i dont know how i feel about that, i get what your saying but this is about the biggest compressor you can possible get for a 110v line. And i cant really afford anything much bigger then this, nor can i afford to run a 220v line in my garage (breaker box is completely tapped out, which would require an electrician to upgrade the box and add a line) I wasnt exactly sure what you meant by use 1/2 fittings, all the fittings on this tank are all 1/4 inch, and theres really no way to upgrade the lines coming off of the tank directly. The thing that annoys me the most is, my buddy has a little 4 gallon dewalt 200psi emglo compressor, we set the regulator at 90psi, and it runs...90psi, on all my tools, only the tank pressure will decrease, not the regulated pressure. I get a constant 90psi regardless of which tool im using for how long. Why does that annoy me? Cus i get about a minute and a half longer use out of my tools on this rinky dink little air compressor of his with a 4 gallon tank then i do on my 500 dollar ingersoll rand 20 gallon compressor. And his operates off of the same 110v line as mine. Im half tempted to try an even bigger regulator seeing as how i did see a small improvement with the bostitch regulator. But i really have no idea how much flow im getting out of these small outlets on the tank. I hope no one misunderstood me and thought I was advocating drilling and tapping the tank for a larger connection. Truth is, you can't drill and tap the tank because the metal is just too thin. It would require a proper nozzle (flange) to be welded to the tank and that would require the services of a certified pressure vessel weldor along with a new hydrostatic test of the tank. However, it is the combination of all the 1/4 inch fittings that is part of the problem along with the unduly small regulator. If all you have are 1/4 inch tappings on the tank then you would use a i/4 inch nipple from the tank and immediately increase that size to a 3/8 or 1/2 inch fitting and then go from there. Going to a larger regulator (and filter/separator) is the first thing to try and doing so will probably be the only thing necessary. I can't discuss the differences between your compressor and your buddy's compressor but they I will say that they could be the difference between night and day. If your friend's compressor starts out with a higher tank pressure than yours that alone gives a longer period of time before the pressure after the regulator drops too low. I spent over thirty years in the care and operation of industrial air compressors including the design of some pretty high-tech control systems to maximize compressor efficiencies and compressed air usage, I do know what I am writing about.
Related Posts:
Craftsman 26 gallon air compressor regulator problems
Craftsman 26 gallon air compressor regulator problemsHey yall, I'll try to make this as brief as possible. Craftsman 26 gallon Model 919.167280 Syptom: Output air pressure regulator not holding pr...
Air compressor with bad water problem
Air compressor with bad water problem.I just bought a crasftmans 60 gal 3.1 hp. I ran about 40ft of redcopper pipping across my garage with two drops. Yet at my filter/regulator i get tons of...
Craftsman 3 gal 125 psi air compressor keeps running
Craftsman 3 gal, 125 PSI Air Compressor keeps runningI'm not sure if this is the correct forum - not gas powered - but it is shop equipment. I went to use my120 Volt, electric powered, Craftsman 3...
Air compressor shut off problem and questions
Air compressor shut off problem, and questionsI picked up a Husky 15 gal air compressor (WL651003AJ) at a garage sale for $25. The on/off switch was broken, but it ran when the contacts were made....
Craftsman air compressor bad motor
Craftsman Air compressor Bad motorI have a craftsman air compressor that blows the circut in the electrical panel. I have by-passed the switch and wired the motor directly. One I plug it in, it ru...
