Ingersoll Rand Type 30 questions...

[GRW]

Can anyone advise please?
I've spotted an IR type 30 advertised quite a few miles away that I'm thinking of seeing with a view to buying this Saturday.
I've had a chat with the seller, and he got it from his (I suspect no longer with us) Father-in-Law, and he's had it many years. Pretty sure it's a 1970's compressor.
It's a dual cyl unit, with 2hp 1ph electric motor fitted and is rated (& working) to 10 Bar.
It's size, is rated as a "15". Does anyone know what capacity this equates to? 150 Litre maybe?
It looks in good nick, and images suggest it's in good condition (which the owner says it is).
Any idea what one should be paying fir such a beast please?
TIA, G.

 

[Seadog]

I paid £20 (or was it £40?) for my 1969 to save it going for scrap.
There's a rebuild thread if you do a search.

 

[GRW]

I paid £20 (or was it £40?) for my 1969 to save it going for scrap.
There's a rebuild thread if you do a search.

I'm never likely to get lucky enough to get anything like that kind of a bargain!
But... I'm aware that these old compressors have the kind of solid build quality and robust serviceability (OK they are damned heavy to go with it) that is no longer available on modern equivalents which themselves aren't cheap (a basic direct- drive 50L Chinesium Badge Brand will cost a couple of hundred quid, and isn't a patch on something like the IR T30)?

 

[Seadog]

They're a nice low revving and quiet compressor. Mine's rated to 160psi working pressure. The receiver has to be 5/16" thick steel.

 

[GRW]

They're a nice low revving and quiet compressor. Mine's rated to 160psi working pressure. The receiver has to be 5/16" thick steel.

The one I'm looking at says the Receiver and concave ends are 3/16" thick.
It's a Type 30, model 234, with the 2hp 1ph motor.
Can't see all of the data plate, but yr of mfr is sometime in the 1970s, only 40-something years-old

 

[GRW]

Scouting about it seems for the above compressor you can still get new spares - made in India!

 

[Popcorn]

Just to give you a idea of how long they last, my tanks dated 1937. I've had it since the mid nineties before that it was in the local Bus Depot, only ever had to replace the motor and that was only down to my stupidity. I'd not wiring in a thermal overload and forgetting to switch it off.

 

[roblane65]

I've one the same as seadog albeit with a type A single cylinder pump ,picked it up for £55 of market place . Parts are still availible for I.R i picked up a full gasket set for a type A pump of the shelf at my local compressor place .

 

[GRW]

Seller wants £200 () for this one. However it does look tidy and like it has been looked after, plus its not been used (at least for a very long time) in a commercial garage / workshop) - guy had it off his Father-in-law, and he's used it for odd jobs and mtce as his main occupation is a lorry owner-driver..... so there's some chance it hasn't had a hard life or been abused.
Maybe the money is too steep and I'ma potential mug?... but also it still looks like a lot of decent engineering compared to a modern one, so perhaps it's worth it?
I'm in need of sage advice & old compressor wisdom

 

[brightspark]

cant help on the price they used to fetch 150 quid so 200 dont seem, out of the way for a good one

 

[Seadog]

If it has been looked after with the correct oil used, and kept full, then it should be ok. Do check that the receiver has been drained. Mine had about two pints of thick, oily sludge.

 

[Bornfree]

I picked up a type 30 model 253 for £50 pump only no tank or motor 15 years ago. They are incredibly well made.

 

[Redsailor]

I bought a model 234 pump about fifty years ago now, had been run without oil and broke both con rods. Cylinder/pistons ok, so made up some new alloy rods with bronze bearings and it has run faultlessly ever since. The 234 is a two stage unit with low and high pressure cylinders and a mechanical unloader. Look after it and it will still be running in the next century.

 

[mtt.tr]

I paid £150 for mine, about same age as the one you enquire about they are lovely compressors low revving quiet but supply a fair amount of air.

The modern Italian pump compressors are awful by comparison.


If I needed serious CFM id go for a screw or vane.

 

[GRW]

I paid £150 for mine, about same age as the one you enquire about they are lovely compressors low revving quiet but supply a fair amount of air.

The modern Italian pump compressors are awful by comparison.


If I needed serious CFM id go for a screw or vane.

No, I don't need huge CFM. I'm only playing really with occasional need for air tools etc.... maybe (only maybe) perhaps some very simple paint spraying (cos I have no idea about other 2-pack paints etc but might have a go with simple tractor/raptor/rustoleum type paints and fence spraying), maybe a very small go at a hobby sand/bead parts blaster.
Mainly...I just kinda want a proper old school lump of practical, dependable, fixable quality engineering - I could get by without one - but I fancy one

 

[graffian]

The size of them is usually stated as bore and stroke on the pump plate.
I think my three belter was 5"&3"x3-1/2"

 

[GRW]

I bought a model 234 pump about fifty years ago now, had been run without oil and broke both con rods. Cylinder/pistons ok, so made up some new alloy rods with bronze bearings and it has run faultlessly ever since. The 234 is a two stage unit with low and high pressure cylinders and a mechanical unloader. Look after it and it will still be running in the next century.

That's useful info, thanks! Due to its age (& my ignorance) I wasn't sure if it was a 2-stage unit or not (but I believe that a 2-stage is more efficient?).

I dunno what a "mechanical unloader" is for sure... but guessing its a way of relieving the pressure on the pump pistons to make startup a lot easier on the electric motor?

As for "looking after it" - well I'm not au fait with how the pressure switches and so forth work beyond the basics of what they do - but figure a compressor cannot be that complex, and I'm sad enough to quite enjoy tinkering with one.

I'm hoping that (once I've acquired one) that I will onlly need to change the oil and a general check-over (i.e.not major invasive surgery) cos making con-rods is way beyond my meagre talents

 

[graffian]

The bigger of my compressors came with con rods that looked like they had been stretched.
A mate serviced and repaired them so compressors and spares were free. He gave the compressor to me and
handed me a pair of new bronze rods, saying something like "sounds like it needs new rods" and he was right.
Apart from the one that came with little ends gone I have had finger and one way valves break.

The unloader is centrifual, look at the thing poking out the back of the crankcase inline with the crank.
It vents the cylinders when the pump is turning slowly. You can hear it when it starts, but the hiss is most obvious when the motor shuts off.

The switch is probably the same as the ones that were on mine.
Not much to them. Air pushes on a diapharam, a spring clicks the contacts open and motor stops.
You can adjust max psi and cut in.
I have fixed several parts of the switch, it's a switch I would expect to last a lifetime.

 

[GRW]

The bigger of my compressors came with con rods that looked like they had been stretched.
A mate serviced and repaired them so compressors and spares were free. He gave the compressor to me and
handed me a pair of new bronze rods, saying something like "sounds like it needs new rods" and he was right.
Apart from the one that came with little ends gone I have had finger and one way valves break.

The unloader is centrifual, look at the thing poking out the back of the crankcase inline with the crank.
It vents the cylinders when the pump is turning slowly. You can hear it when it starts, but the hiss is most obvious when the motor shuts off.

The switch is probably the same as the ones that were on mine.
Not much to them. Air pushes on a diapharam, a spring clicks the contacts open and motor stops.
You can adjust max psi and cut in.
I have fixed several parts of the switch, it's a switch I would expect to last a lifetime.

Great! Simple & robust is music to my ears.
Centrifugal eh? Sounds a bit like the Mechanical Governors on genset engines, so I'm guessing bob-weights and springs n stuff? OK, these things can wear, but sounds far better than any electronics and solenoids doing the job .
I've not got the thing yet mind, so I mustn't count my chickens yet. (Someone off this forum suggested an IR Type30 to me when I was looking at an old Bristol Compressor, and I've been keeping an eye out for one since).

 

[wyn]

This is the inside of my 30.
As you say weights operate the unloader valve.
The valve can be screwed in and out of the cover for adjustment