looking for info on a 50 year old compressor

[Gazz292]

Looking to buy a compressor.... this one:

It's a 'Hundson Brown Ltd' compressor, 150 litre tank with a test date of 1973.

Has an Ingersoll Rand type 30, model T 65 pump (2 stage V twin i believe)

Driven by a single phase motor that looks to be original, which it says is rated at 1.1 Kw / 1.5 Hp, 1425 rpm. and 8.4 amps on 240 volts (volts times amps, and i get 2Kw1?)
Then it says 4.2 amps on 480 volts. but it definitely says '1' in the phase part of the plate:

And it's plugged into a 13 amp socket and looks to have a big capacitor bulge on that motor's junction box.

Trying to work out how many CFM / FAD it may have, and wondering what the pipes on the pump are... one on the intake cylinder near the intake filter, would that be for the unloader valve?
Then that one that comes straight out of the left hand cylinder and goes to the centre of the crankcase, the bigger pipe i can see is the air to the tank, and the pipe with the fins on between the cylinders is a cooler of some sorts.

Sorry if this sounds daft, i've only owned hobby grade direct drive screamer type compressors so far.

 

[GRW]

Looking to buy a compressor.... this one:

View attachment 409883

It's a 'Hundson Brown Ltd' compressor, 150 litre tank with a test date of 1973.

Has an Ingersoll Rand type 30, model T 65 pump (2 stage V twin i believe)

Driven by a single phase motor that looks to be original, which it says is rated at 1.1 Kw / 1.5 Hp, 1425 rpm. and 8.4 amps on 240 volts (volts times amps, and i get 2Kw1?)
Then it says 4.2 amps on 480 volts. but it definitely says '1' in the phase part of the plate:

View attachment 409882
And it's plugged into a 13 amp socket and looks to have a big capacitor bulge on that motor's junction box.

Trying to work out how many CFM / FAD it may have, and wondering what the pipes on the pump are... one on the intake cylinder near the intake filter, would that be for the unloader valve?
Then that one that comes straight out of the left hand cylinder and goes to the centre of the crankcase, the bigger pipe i can see is the air to the tank, and the pipe with the fins on between the cylinders is a cooler of some sorts.

Sorry if this sounds daft, i've only owned hobby grade direct drive screamer type compressors so far.

I've got one that's virtually identical. Different reciever make, but the IR30, guard & even colour are very similar.
I think (from memory) from dredging about, that it's rsted at 9.2cfm.
Mine charges to about 135psi.
I have a different motor - as mine was originally 3ph, and at some point it was converted to a 2hp 1ph, using a 1420rpm motor of East German origin.

 

[GRW]

Mine when I first brought it home.

 

[wyn]

the pipe into the centre of the crankcase is the unloader.
it has centrifugal weights inside that operate the unloader when the crank stops.

 

[not done it yet]

Driven by a single phase motor that looks to be original, which it says is rated at 1.1 Kw / 1.5 Hp, 1425 rpm. and 8.4 amps on 240 volts (volts times amps, and i get 2Kw1?)

If you were expecting OHM’S Law to apply, think again - it is an induction motor so will not work with the resistive OHM’S Law.

First the Cos theta will apply to take into account the phase angle and secondly motor spec plates provide the motor output, not the input power. Motors have a large fan on the shaft to dissipate the wasted heat produced by the motor - they are not 100% efficient!

 

[Popcorn]

Brilliant compressors mines a 1939 type 30 9cfm still going strong after all these years. Only ever hard to replace the motor, which was the original. Came out of a local Bus Depot in the nineties, so it's probably had a hard life before I got it.

 

[Redsailor]

Bought one of those Ingersoll Rand pumps half a century ago, came out of a big laundry unit and they had run it dry of oil, seized it and broke both con rods. Bores looked ok so made some new rods as the IR ones were mega expensive for me at the time. The pipe from the high pressure cyl' to the centre of the crankcase is connected to a mechanical unloader, driven by some centrifugal weights. The other small pipe going to the air inlet is a breather line, relieves crankcase pressure. Think the free air del' is around 9cfm and mine still pumps to 150psi. I have mine powered by a very ancient 2hp s/ph motor.

 

[Gazz292]

I'm trying to find out a bit more about this compressors CFM / FAD,

This is the pump plate:

Note the 'size' is not stamped, and the 'T 65' for model number, i just can't seem to find anything about that one, the pump looks the same as other 'T30' models, but i imagine this is a lower CFM model... having only a little 1.1 Kw / 1.5 HP motor to drive it.

It's got another tag saying 'Hudson Brown LTD'.... which i assume was a compressor maker that used ingersoll rand parts:

Again google is not showing anything for that either.

 

[GRW]

Mine is an IR type 30, model 234 pump, which I believe is a pretty common one

 

[brightspark]

i have a single phase dual voltage motor it will run on 240v or 415 volt still classed as single on the 415. it will run of 2 phases. a lot of farms had them on milking machines only they were 3hp

 

[GRW]

i have a single phase dual voltage motor it will run on 240v or 415 volt still classed as single on the 415. it will run of 2 phases. a lot of farms had them on milking machines only they were 3hp

You never see split-phase systems with 480v 2-ph motors any more - but they weren't uncommon in rural Wales back in the day

 

[Gazz292]

ahh, i was wondering about the motor, when i saw the 240 and 480 volt bit i thought it was a 3 phase motor that had been made to run on single with a couple of capacitors,

Then i thought 'hang on, 3 phase is 380 to 415 volts, and the plate definitely says '1' in the phase box', and wondered if it was for a 'dual / split phase' input a bit like they use in america with 2 x 115 volt legs 180 degrees apart to give 240 volts between phases, and 115 one phase to neutral.

So if the motor is original to the compressor, it may have been supplied to a farm originally... tho the compressor has been re-sprayed, so the motor could just be one that was hanging about... a lot can happen to a machine over 50 years.

:::

I keep worrying about the 'complexities' of this compressor, all the bits inside that motor starter unit, and the pumps mechanical unloader valve etc,
But then i think.... these things are serviceable, the unloader valve can be adjusted, the contacts in the motor starter can likely be replaced individually if needed, you can still buy gaskets, piston rings and other parts for these, even that big pressure switch is serviceable it seems,

And worst case, a cheapie chinese pressure switch with built in unloader valve can bypass most of that.... not that i want to do that, i want to keep it as original as possible,

I'll clean the tank out when i get it, aldi are selling an inspection endoscope camera this sunday so i have an excuse to buy one now,

I'd like to pressure test the tank just for piece of mind, so i will have to buy a pressure tester / pump for that... they sell really cheap and nasty ones for £30, i can't justify the price of a rothenberger one (unless someone is selling one second hand)

 

[brightspark]

have a look inside it they all go rusty . if youir real;y unsure turn it over and give it a good tap with a ball pein hammer at the bottom. if it dents in its thin if it doesnt its ok. the oldies are a lot thicker than a modern one .if it does ever leak it will only pinhole

 

[Seadog]

The inside of mine looked like the surface of the moon. Hydraulically tested, though, and fine

 

[GRW]

The inside of mine looked like the surface of the moon. Hydraulically tested, though, and fine

Mine was pretty rusty too - & I was initially concerned. I did clean it all out & even put some rust converter on the inside of the Reciever Cylinder..... which was probably a waste of effort, but hey ho.
The Recievers on these old Compressors though are 3/8" thick (which is what, nearly 3.75mm thick in new money), so exploding like an aerosol can just ain't happening

 

[Gazz292]

I now own a 50 year, 1 month and 2 day old compressor (well, that's it's tank pressure test date)



Just a baby with a 150 litre tank, no idea what CFM as i can't find any info on the 'T 65' pump that the plate says it has, maybe i'll pull the heads and measure the stroke and bores, and clean the valves etc up whilst i'm in there.

These things are heavier than they look, 3 guys couldn't lift it into my little trailer, thankfully on the way to pick up the compressor i'd bought an engine crane (stood behind the compressor) which lifted it nicely, was fun getting the compressor on the balance point of my single axle trailer that was not attached to the car at the time.

It's just got a 1.5 horse single phase motor, pulls just shy of 8 amps when running (but i haven't let the pressure build up past 2 BAR yet, i want to stick my inspection camera in the tank tomorrow (good thing aldi were selling them yesterday) and probably do a hydraulic test (when i've bought a pump to do so) before i let it pump to 150 psi.

Opened the cylinder drain and got about a cup of slightly rusty water out of it,

The best thing.... it's fairly quiet... this is it running in the closed garage (phone cameras taking video always make things sound louder than they really are):

I thought the motor wasn't getting upto speed, or it wasn't pumping as i couldnt hear the 'thunka-thunka-thunka' i was expecting, and being used to direct drive screamers i really thought 'that pump isn't doing anything'

So i put my hand over the inlet and it promptly sucked it hard against it, and if i remove the 4 'horse hair?' filters in that intake filter housing, i do get to hear the compressor intake noise... maybe it'll get noisier as the pressure builds?

 

[roofman]

I now own a 50 year, 1 month and 2 day old compressor.

View attachment 410508

Just a baby with a 150 litre tank, no idea what CFM as i can't find any info on the 'T 65' pump that the plate says it has, maybe i'll pull the heads and measure the stroke and bores, and clean the valves etc up whilst i'm in there.

These things are heavier than they look, 3 guys couldn't lift it into my little trailer, thankfully on the way to pick up the compressor i'd bought an engine crane (stood behind the compressor) which lifted it nicely, was fun getting the compressor on the balance point of my single axle trailer that was not attached to the car at the time.

It's just got a 1.5 horse single phase motor, pulls just shy of 8 amps when running (but i haven't let the pressure build up past 2 BAR yet, i want to stick my inspection camera in the tank tomorrow (good thing aldi were selling them yesterday) and probably do a hydraulic test (when i've bought a pump to do so)

Opened the cylinder drain and got about a cup of slightly rusty water out of it,

The best thing.... it's fairly quiet... this is it running in the closed garage, phones always make things sound louder than they really are:

I thought the motor wasn't getting upto speed, or it wasnt pumping as i couldnt hear the 'thunka-thunka-thunka' i was expecting,
i put my hand over the inlet and it promptly sucked it hard against it, and if i remove the 4 'horse hair?' filters in that intake filter housing, i do get to hear the compressor intake noise... maybe it'll get noisier as the pressure builds?

You will now have that for life...quality. It does sound like the motor could use new bearings, run it with the belt off to confirm or it could just be the way the sound is coming through the phone mic.

 

[Gazz292]

will do, i can deffo hear the motor more than the pump.

Going to pop the motor and electrical bits off and pressure wash it sometime, then wondering if i should clean it up and re-paint, then polish up the pipes etc,

I kind of don't want to hide it in my compressor house, the SIP stratus V-twin screamer i'm embarrassed of using needs hiding away, but i almost want to have this on show, but i just don't have the room in my workshop.

 

[Smallfry]

Hudson Brown made the tank. It will be either 5/16ths or 3/8 thick, or was when it was new. Just the tank weighs about 110 kg

I worked at Newman electric motors for a while. Good motors but very heavy. They did cast iron or aluminium bodies.

The whole thing will weigh about 220kg. I have a similar one with a Broomwade pump and a 3 hp English Electric motor. These things were designed to run all day, every day, forever.

 

[Gazz292]

dang, really was a good thing i picked up an engine crane today then.

The motor does look rather large for it's horse power rating, but that's comparing it with modern motors which are much smaller... but not likely to last as long as a nice old heavy motor like this one,