Machine Please critique my crazy compressor idea.

[slow-poke]

95% of the time my compressor is simply used with a blow gun to clean out swarf or air up tires. Once a year I use it to blow the sprinkler lines. I don't use air for: impact's, drills, sandblasting or painting. I might get a plasma cutter some day. I don't need high pressure, 100 PSI would be completely adequate.

I have been using my now quite old 20 gallon C.H. that delivers about 5CFM@90 for many years now. When blowing the sprinkler lines, it's barely up to the task and I need to do one circuit at a time (12 circuits) and charge between circuits so quite tedious. 10-15 CFM would make blowing the lines less tedious.

I don't have much space in the basement room, in a pinch I could squeeze in a 60 or 80 gallon tank, but it would further cramp the already small room where it will live. 30 gallon vertical would fit nicely.

So what if........
I get a 30 gallon vertical possibly a return with a dead pump or motor and then find a good used two or three cylinder pump/motor and fit it to the small tank. Fair number of quite old big compressors available for fairly cheap As source for pump.

The mounting plate on these small 30's tend to be fairly small so I will likely need to mount a larger plate to the small one to accommodate the beefier pump.

Crazy idea or good idea?

 

[phaxtris]

i dont think you will save yourself much space, the bigger pump and motor will probably eat up a lot of the saved horizontal distance that using a 30g tank saved you

it would save you space vertically if you intended to build cabinets above it

another option is to separate the tank from the compressor, the compressor/motor doesn't have to be on top, it may open more placement options if you dont have everything in one space

 

[DavidR8]

I did something along the lines of what you’re describing.
I had a 20 gallon Speedaire compressor that put out 6.2 cfm @90 psi. Pretty good but wasn’t going to do what I needed.
Found another 20 gallon Speedaire and then I came across a motor and pump from a Campbell Hausfeld 60 gallon unit. Basically new but the motor had broken off the mount so the owner pulled the motor and tank and kept the tank.
I pressure tested both tanks, mounted the motor and pump on my original tank, ran a pigtail to the other 20 gallon tank.

It fills the 40 gallon capacity in about four minutes and recharges in about two minutes.
It can make a 3ft long plasma cut at 35psi before it kicks in to recharge.
Now having said all that, two, 20 gallon tanks takes up nearly the same space as a vertical 60 gallon tank so I haven’t gained anything except that this setup only cost me the price of the new motor and pump as I resold the old ones.

 

[Dan Dubeau]

I don't think it's a crazy idea, but might be more trouble in the long run. Phaxtris idea of separating the two is a good one

I had thought about having a big pump and motor setup under the stairs in my garage feeding a tank in the attic, but a few years ago built some material storage racks for under there so that killed that idea. Right now my 60gal oiless screamer is hiding behind my mill, but I hate that location too, and my shop isn't big enough to stick it anywhere else. My only other option for upgrading my air supply with a bigger compressor is pouring a slab and building a compressor shed off the back of the garage. Something I'll probably do next year, as I want a better compressor, and I can't believe mine hasn't died yet.

 

[slow-poke]

another option is to separate the tank from the compressor, the compressor/motor doesn't have to be on top, it may open more placement options if you dont have everything in one space

I had thought about having a big pump and motor setup under the stairs in my garage feeding a tank in the attic.

Phaxtris, thats a really good point.

Dan, you just gave me a great idea

I also have stairs in the garage leading down to the basement and they happen to be running next to the electrical room (designated space for the compressor) . This would be a great location for the pump and motor, isolated by concrete walls. Enough space for cooling, also very close to power panel in the garage. I'm going to make two or three of the stair treads easily removable for easier access hopefully I won't have to slip in there very often. Tank can live on the other side of the wall in the electrical room.

The only down sides I can see:
A) checking and changing oil bit of a PITA because of access
B) output pipe from pump will run up about 6' to hole in joists towards electrical room and tank, so during coldest days of winter condensate might freeze near exhaust port of pump. Might need to make a short heating wire to wrap around say the bottom 12" of the output tube Probably 10W would be enough to prevent freezing.

Total output tube length will be about 15+ feet of copper so should be a fairly effective after cooler even without a fan.

I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow;-)