Air Compressor Does Not Like the Cold

[Don Emmerling]

I have an HF air compressor (this may be part of the problem), about a 10 or 15 gallon that I keep in my garage to fill the wife's tires, clean dust out of a variety of things, etc. Now all is fine until cold weather sets in (unheated garage) and then the compressor is hard to start, it is an oil compressor. When the temp is not too bad I can tease it into starting by turning it off and on and then it will catch and be fine. From November on (mid Ohio) you cannot tease it into starting until spring. Now is this because of the oil getting thicker in the low temp or are there other factors I am not considering? I would like to find a way to get it to start in the winter because my wife seems to need the tires topped off during that time. She's a bear on tire pressure. OR do I just get a better compressor?

Regards,
Don

[Mike Cutler]

Have you tried synthetic oil?
Rolair sells synthetic oil for their compressors for use in cold climates.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Research "hard start kits" for AC units, and see if one would work for you. Your start capacitor may be "tired " and need replacing.

[Dave Cav]

Have you tried synthetic oil?
Rolair sells synthetic oil for their compressors for use in cold climates.

I have one of the twin tank HF compressors with the same problem. Synthetic oil helped quite a bit.

[julian abram]

Yes, probably cold oil is the problem. This is a common problem in cold weather on construction sites with smaller hp air compressors. The brand doesn't make any difference, happens to all of them.