How much oil?

[grim_d]

Afternoon chaps,

My shedmate and I have recently acquired an old compressor for our unit, it's 100L, 2hp belt driven number and is apparently an old SIP although all stickers have been removed so cannot confirm, it's about 16 years old.

All seems to work well etc although we are not sure how much oil it takes, it has a transparent nut on the front which I assume is to visually check the level, although there are no markings on or around it.

There is a fill port further up with a plastic handle that states oil on the top of it, If this is meant to be a dip stick then the dip stick has gone AWOL at some point.

So any ideas on how much oil to put in this jalopy? We are considering going for the fill up until it comes out the drain point and then add a bit more approach but surely it is transparent for a reason?

Cheers
Graham.

 

[rtbcomp]

If it's like my Clarke the "max" level is to the top of the window, "min" against a red spot in the middle of the window.

There is no dipstick, and unscrew the whole of the filler assy from the crankcase before trying to add oil as there is a ball-bearing breather valve incorporated in it between the two sections which will stop oil entering the crankcase.

 

[grim_d]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

There are no markings at all on the window, nor is there a filler assembly I don't think, unscrewing the "cap" from the filler hole and it really is nothing more than a hole directly into the crankcase. Perhaps this is why we managed to drain over a litre of gunk (oil+water) from the tank

Will fill it to the top of the window and add a min onto it with a sharpie, can't be too far wrong surely!

 

[rtbcomp]

Mine has a filler/breather assembley, yours sounds less complicated.

I would still take the correct level to be the top of the sightglass. Don't overfill it too much otherwise you could get oil in the air.

Once running, check it every day or so until you get some idea how much, if any, oil it loses or leaks.

 

[grim_d]

It's quite basic, she is an old gal, we will go with that though, see how we get on!

Thanks.