Adding extra capacity to compressor?

[Projects14a]

Hello all,

I bought a power craft 2.5HP compressor from Aldi over a year ago and as its only 24ltr, i could do with increasing the capacity. Obviously im not going to weld a section into the tank, but was thinking of plumbing in another tank either from a dead compressor or a calor gas bottle.

Would this be ok? Obviously im abit unsure whether the motor/pump could manage to cope, at 2.5HP, i figured it may be ok, max duty cycle states 50% in the manual for a maximun of 15 minutes.

Think it fills the 24ltr tank in approx 3 minutes, so can i assume that i could effectively multiply the capacity by less than 5 to stay within the max duty?

Other spec's are:

Max Working Pressure: 8 bar/ 115psi
Pump Air Displacement: 9.5CFM
Motor Capacity: 1.87KW
Motor Rotation Speed: 2850rpm

Thanks in advance!

 

[paulmowers]

If your pump can produce 9.5cfm I would seriously consider fitting a 100% duty motor rather than messing about with extra tanks.
If the motor is only rated at a 15min run time then 15 minutes is your safe useable window wether you have 50l or 25l reserve, you won't gain a great deal of useability as the motor will start as soon as your tanks pressure drops to cut in pressure, then the motor will run longer to pump them both up again.
hope that makes sense, it did to me before I started typing!!

paul..

 

[andypocock]

I'm going to be adding an extra tank to my small compressor for one simple reason - noise!

In general workshop use where I don't need a constrant flow at xpsi I'll be able to turn the motor off once the tanks are full and have silent air for a good bit longer. For cleaning and blowing duties it doesn't matter too much that the pressure is falling off. Better than having that bl**dy motor start every time I use bore than a cup of air.

Andy

 

[eil]

Yes it would help to have more of a reservior, more spare reserve as long as you dont exeed the duty cycle, suspect its a direct drive type uve got. all depends how much air you need in volume and at what pressure

 

[Projects14a]

Yep, thats one of the problems i have, the motor is very noisy and as its in my very small corrigated garage, im abit worried about annoying the neighbours with it going on and off every 2 minutes (not to mention the fact it deafen's me!). Its not often i need it on full pressure, so as mentioned, once its filled, it would just be switched off.

How do i know whether i can fit another motor? Are they all interchangeable?

 

[Luke]

300L tank and a fridge compressor works very well for me, and there's another very good write up about a similar system too.

 

[eil]

Not sure if its the motor itself that needs the 15 min rest or the compressor as the direct drive might run at a higher rpm thus changing the motor would make no difference to the pump overheating/wearing out im under the impression that these direct drive comps are only designed to use air nailers/blowing up tyres and the sort

 

[Projects14a]

Yeah, think you right there. Its a difficult one, probably should just buy a bigger compressor when i can afford it.

 

[rtbcomp]

Rather than replace your compressor, buy another one to go with it and connect them both together.

 

[hareng]

I have a smaller compressor similar to mentioned, yep they are noisy and about the same as separate pump and motor. Think that was around 25ltr, ok for blowing in short sharp bursts. Powering a bead blaster, its permanently on reg at 7 bar. Took it to work out the way years ago and bought another just about man enough for powering a bead blaster and to fit in to a certain space.

Interesting two of the same compressor.

Noise you could house it in a cupboard or similar, in the same boat here except i forget to switch mine off and constantly hear it running (slight leak) all night and in early hours when i dont close the workshop door to the outside Ooops

 

[drjim]

I have a couple of Wolf compressors connected via two whip hoses (like you're meant to connect to the air tool instead of the line coupler direct to it though no-one bothers), a Y quick release air hose connector and my 30M airline off the other side of the Y. Runs impact wrenches etc nicely for long enough to be useful. Noisy as hell when they both fire up to refill, but I have the advantage of being a bit deaf so it tends not to bother me too much. the guys in the workshop liked it so much they didn't just nick the idea, they nicked my hoses/connectors while I was away and did the same with their compressors!