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Air compressor shot?

dyeager535

dyeager535

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Have a Kobalt brand upright compressor.

Unfortunately I forgot to turn off the breaker while I was away, and it blew a hose, so ran continuously for at least 6 hours.

Now leaks oil whether running or not. Walled the thing in, so it's tough to see where exactly, but it's obviously coming from the compressor, and I'm guessing it's the pulley side since I can't see there.

Is there much that can be worked on thats fairly simple on these things, or am I better off figuring to just replace the compressor as an assembly? I'd guess that maybe the seal overheated or blew out. Oil still looks fine, and it still works, just won't hold oil.

For comparison, it was at the proper level in the sight glass a couple of days ago, and it's now quite a bit below the low full mark. Kind of seems to me that's well below the shaft level...
 
I would have to take a guess that the mechanics of it is probably simple. Finding the parts would be the difficult part. I'd prob start w/ seeing if a manual is available, and then use that to see if you can even get suspected parts. If that ends up being a dead-end you have your answer.
 
JoshHefnerX said:
I would have to take a guess that the mechanics of it is probably simple. Finding the parts would be the difficult part. I'd prob start w/ seeing if a manual is available, and then use that to see if you can even get suspected parts. If that ends up being a dead-end you have your answer.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll have to check and see if I kept the paper copy. Probably can find it online, will just have to figure out the model.

I'm assuming it's a chinese compressor, they change stuff so frequently, it will be interesting to see what they show for parts.

I suppose since it leaks even sitting should be relatively easy to pop the compressor off, and watch for the leak.
 
Not sure Northern tool is offering any better quality than horror freight. Though I have no first hand experience with either. maybe a used one and make 1 out of 2 with extra air tank.
 
I did look at harborfreight as they do sell three replacement compressors.

Mine's gotta be a 60 Gallon unit, but hopefully I've got the manual and I can get some more details. Appears there is SOME standardization of the bolt footprint of the compressor bodies, so if replacement is necessary, hopefully that's not another issue.

I don't use it a ton, but if I want to run the plasma cutter, kind of need air. Definitely much less need for a compressor than in the past, but when you need compressed air...
 
Yeah My air tools are probably seized lol, Have a blast cab, and want a plasma cutter,. Then there is my home made cooling system flush kit, air over water, a/c system flush air over solvent. then there are the many tires that require air
 
Personally, I would do some triage on the leaker and see what's possible. There may be some standard type seal that can be fitted to the pump with a little fabgenuity. If you tear it down to find scored pistons or whatnot, you didn't lose much time.
 
If you really use air, Skip the imported popular priced starter compressor heads . . . .

Pull it apart to evaluate the damages...

Consider replacing the compressor pump with an American. Saylor - Beall, Ingersoll Rand . . .

The compressor pump is the most important part of the package.
 
Drip pan under the output shaft with gravity feed back to the sump? ;)

Adding a thermal cut-out switch to the cylinder head is something I think about from time to time.
 
I definitely don't use it enough to justify an expensive unit. Hate to talk like that, but air has just taken a back seat. Every once in awhile I like to use a cutoff wheel, but outside of that it's infrequent plasma and airing up tires for the most part. I've had it for 10+ years, and was still going strong, I probably would have had zero issues for another ten years had the hose not failed. Doesn't help that financials aren't what they have been either.

Maybe I can just build a pan so the oil reservoir is external. :haha:
 
I use so many cordless tools now, I bet I could downsize to a 2.5 gallon compressor and be fine. It’s crazy how little air tools get used anymore
 
You know, for the cost of repair (depending on what that entails of course) maybe I should just look at one of those little oil-free pancake ones. Something else kicking around the floor, but I have to assume at this point they are quite cheap, and would fulfill everything I'd use it for. I mean if I use it once a week for 15 minutes that would be optimistic.

As a for-instance, the cheapest HF single stage compressor pump is $150. You can get a 3 gal pancake unit (or hot dog) for $60.

Kind of dumb to have a 220V 60gal compressor sitting out back all plumbed up unused, and $60 is probably more than a seal, but the amount of effort to repair or replace a Chinese compressor pump, vs. $60 with no effort...hmm.

Sucks since I can't just throw money at it right now, and of course when things break you need them, but I have limped it along a bit now (just check oil, run it for minimal time) I could probably continue that until I can decide what to do. Pulling the compressor pump off won't cost me anything and will need to be done anyway.
 
Yeah, but then I'd have a little air-compressor shed that would be lonely!

Is there any chance that a smaller unit (not oil-less, just a smaller tank) that actually still works could be purchased used for just the pump? I wouldn't need a pump that can push a lot of air, the 60 gallon tank seems to hold plenty for what I do anymore.

Really unaware of the typical failure modes of these things, I'd bet a lot of time it's the electric motor?

I had a very old 20 or 30 Gallon compressor I sold when I got this one, not like I needed to hold onto it for 10 years just in case, but I could use it now!

I just read a thread by someone that had a leak on a random compressor, turned out to be the shaft seal. As fast as this leaks, I should be able to clearly see where its coming from once its on the bench. His post gave me hope that it's a $10 fix lol.
 
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Been awhile, but update. It's a Campbell-Hausfeld compressor, either 2008 or 2010. I thought Kobalt because it's blue lol. Really hard to access it to read everything with the little exterior shed built around it.

I did pull the pump. Found out it's basically garbage. It appears to leak oil around the crank seal, but thats not the real problem. At some point the crank sheared a chunk off at the keyway. The wedged chunk of broken steel and belt tension seemed to be the only thing keeping the pulley on the shaft. The leak doesn't seem to be directly related, but perhaps the messed up crank threw off the balance and caused the seal to fail. Had it not leaked oil I wouldn't have dug into it enough to see the crank problem. Got the pump removed from the tank, into the garage, and wiped down before I realized the pulley had a slight wobble and then fell off with minimal assist.

Of course this pump is disco'd, as are replacement parts for it. I found a place selling a current CH pump for $170, but they so far haven't answered my email so won't get my business unless they do. The later pump appears to have the same fitting location and bolt pattern, so it would seem a simple replacement if that is true.

Really overkill to have this size setup for the majority of what I do, but for what a. replacement compressor setup cost, no matter the size, fixing this compressor seems to make sense.
 
Just an FYI, the vendor I contacted with the cheap pump did respond, said I'd need to ask CH about its fitment. CH customer service was prompt and helpful. The pump I found for $170 was indeed the replacement for my superceded pump, and I ordered it.

Bolted in place with no effort except having to move the motor to get enough belt tension. Interestingly, I noticed the new pulley had two set screws. The old one had the screw directly onto the key on the crankshaft, which is where mine sheared.

The new pulley has the same set screw, but an additional one that hits the crank directly.

For some reason they moved the oil drain from the rear where I could access it easier, to the side. This time however I had a spare ball valve threaded on one end, barbed on the other, so oil changes should be easier than in the past.

Other than that, fired it up and let it run for the recommended 60 minutes unloaded. Closed the drains, let it build pressure, problem solved.

A fair bit more than going with an oil-less pancake compressor, but still felt like the right call.
 
yeah a belt driven pump is the best for me too. I hate listening to a oil/belt less compressor. Plus I am not sure about their longevity
 
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