| Igosplut |
01-03-2022 12:01 PM |
Polar air (Eaton compressors). I built two out of parts bought from them for my commercial auto shop. Traditional small screw compressors are louder than pump-style compressors. Polar air runs the compressor speed at 600 RPM (pump speed), rather than the 2500 than most every other runs at. That makes a difference with heat (read=water buildup) and noise. If you put it in an insulated room (especially a small one as most do) pipe the intake air outside the room. Any compressor makes heat, and with a 2500 RPM you're going to produce water at a rapid rate. Even with that, if the compressors have aftercoolers (most do) they will never cool the air as designed. A compressor mat (rubber that goes underneath the base) will help with transmitted vibration. Also, remember to put a rubber line from the compressor tank to the hard lines (obviously a hydraulic-style made rubber line, and this should be the only rubber line as they do not shed heat from the air flow) as that is another vibration transfer point (not the least to say the vibration will crack a metal line eventually). If you use a high-volume of air (blast cabinet, etc) make sure the compressor has a run-on valve (all the Polar air have them) That lets the pump free-wheel (compressor keeps running after high air is reached, and cools the pump/motor also). Eaton has automatic water-drain systems also. Scat-blast has a excellent hard pipe air line routing diagram (lines should run up-hill from the compressor, and all be as high on the wall as possible) to fascillitate any water to run back to the tank. I went through quite a few compressors, and Polar air was by far the quietest, and price-wise only sightly higher than the run of the mill stuff. Also made in America, and made to be fully-rebuildable and their parts are easy to get through the company. I still have the two I built (7 1/2 HP motor, 15 HP pump, 43 CFM@175 PSI) and a smaller backup 5HP that would run my whole shop (just two people, but air over hydraulic lifts, etc) The smaller compressor you could talk on the phone next to it running, and the larger one you could at a distance of ten feet or so. After ten years of constant running (I also had a waste-oil heater that required air to run, besides pneumatic lifts) and other than changing oil, I only had to replace one of he four reed-valves in the larger compressor (literally a five minute job) By comparison, I had a new Ingersol-rand that didn't last a year, sounded like a jackhammer, and had to have the tank drained weekly. Even if you just need a small compressor, Eaton/Polar air is the way to go...
https://eatoncompressor.com/ |
