Milemarker Type S Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 I had my suspicions when I joined this ere forum... this thread has fully confirmed it... YOU ARE ALL NUTS... But I like you!!! This is my kind of Engineering!! When does the 'LR4X4' team hit 'Scrapheap Challenge'- love the program- Just hate how many perfectly good Landrovers they appear to has sacrificed over the years! Shrek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted December 14, 2007 Share Posted December 14, 2007 When does the 'LR4X4' team hit 'Scrapheap Challenge'- It's all fake Fridge compressors are good, i've got one feeding a 300L tank, i just need some more to keep up with demand! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 This setup has been great during the cold weather - I have 5 pumps in my office and three in the shed. During the day I have them all running and the office is nice and warm at the end of the day. After work I switch the shed ones off and let the indoor ones fill the receivers up. This means I don't have to run the fan heater to warm the office as much. I reckon 500 watts of compressors gives as much heat as 1 kw fan heater. A definite saving in electricity and "free" compressed air for the next day. I estimate I'll need 10,000 litres of storage to get a days work of air! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 This topic has cropped up here here Some very useful input from "eil" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Still running well after over two years of almost daily use! There was quite a bit of discussion regarding the dump valve in the pressure switch. The problem was that a fridge compressor didn't put enough air out to close the valve. I've since learn't that there are two type of valve; delayed & non-delayed. The latter don't require a buildup of pressure before they close so may be more suitable for this application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Still running well after over two years of almost daily use!<snip> Bloody hell, that does surprise me. Well done Roger. I was a sceptic right from the start, yet you've proven me wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbarton Posted March 23, 2009 Author Share Posted March 23, 2009 Bloody hell, that does surprise me. Well done Roger. I was a sceptic right from the start, yet you've proven me wrong. I've lost two units along the way, one ran out of oil so that was down to me and the overload cutout went on the other, which doesn't suprise me as they're not designed for the amount of switching they do. I think the secret is keeping them cool with a fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 you could wire a smallish start capacitor into the start side of the relay which would help. Off the top of my head I'd be guessing at around 40-50 microfarad would be ample. It's actually fairly easy if you can get and use an aftermarket electronic relay, but irt starts ramping up the costs. And yes, a cooling fan would be mandatory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GL88 Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 I used to work in the 1980s in a workshop that had a variant on this. We used the recovered compressor from a commercial cold room and the biggest propane tank we could find as the receiver (it was about 1.5m high) together with commercial oil and vapour traps. The extra capacity of the bigger compressor made it a practical proposition and still near silent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Just to add, I've a similar setup to Roger, I've currently two pumps, which are filling a 300 L tank. They cope admirably with the air saw, windy gun, air chisel etc, i.e. high demand tools, as long as they're given a head start to build pressure in the first place. The pump with the highest output is from a freezer. it also unsurprisingly runs the hottest, even with two fans on it. I'm currently manually running it on a duty cycle of about 10mins on/20 mins off, with the fans running continuously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_d Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 .....The pump with the highest output is from a freezer. it also unsurprisingly runs the hottest, even with two fans on it. I'm currently manually running it on a duty cycle of about 10mins on/20 mins off, with the fans running continuously. Sounds like you need to run a smaller compressor and pipework to cool the main pumps. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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