Oiled Compressor Maintenance?

[Joe Vincent]

I have an oil less PC pancake screaming loud earpopper. I've been thinking about replacing it with a quieter, presumably oiled, compressor. My pancake compressor is the only compressor I've ever used. Would appreciate hearing how much maintenance is involved with an oiled compressor. Are there drawbacks compared to an oil less compressor? Thanks.

[Jim Nardi]

I changed mine out with synthetic oil and haven't changed it since. Pretty sure it's been 5 years or so. We usually change the oil on large air compressors every ten thousand hours. I do keep my compressor in the basement if it was outside I'd change it yearly.

[Joe Vincent]

What exactly is involved? Is there a tank or container of some sort that normally contains oil and which much be drained?

[Jim Nardi]

One nut to undo and it drains out. The drain lies just on the bottom of the compressor. It takes about 3/4 or a quart of oil. Then just fill with a funnel where the dip stick is on the end of the compressor. You also need to take the sponge air filter out every month and brush it off.

[Joe Vincent]

Thanks for the info.

[Jimmie Mayfield]

There's not a whole lot of additional maintenance beyond the obvious. Check the oil level periodically. Change the oil periodically (my compressor recommends an oil change every 100 hours but Dad ran his compressor for years between oil changes). In addition, many oil-lubed compressors are belt-drive and feature replaceable air filters so check the filter and make sure the belts are in good condition. Overall, it's not much different from maintaining a lawn mower.

Drawbacks? Depending on your situation, size might be a drawback. Smallest oil-lubed compressor I'm aware of is the 25-gal Craftsman.

[Pete Clifford]

Drawbacks? Depending on your situation, size might be a drawback. Smallest oil-lubed compressor I'm aware of is the 25-gal Craftsman.
I've got the oil-lubed Makita MAC2400, which is a 4.2 gal compressor. Very quiet, I don't even need hearing protection when it's running. Two outlets so you can run two air tools concurrently. Around $320 up here in Canada, likely a bit less south of the border. Recommended highly.
http://www.makitatools.com/en-us/Modules/Tools/ToolDetails.aspx?ID=33751

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a 26 gallon vertical oiled air compressor. The manufacturer recommends changing oil every 100 hours. I blow out the air filter periodically. I change the oil every couple of years.

[Bob Genovesi]

I've never owned an oil-less compressor. I have a 60 gallon 3HP Devilbiss and have used only synthetic oil since new........22 years ago.. I think I've changed it 7 times since new and it's not something I generally track like my truck, cars, or lawn equipment.

Remove the drain plug and allow it to drain. Replace the plug and fill until it reaches the full mark. Turn on the compressor and use...

That is it!

[David G Baker]

Drain the water/condensation from the tank, change oil occasionally, check the oil level, and check the belts once in a while. Oil type compressors are similar to a lawn mower engine and the oil is in a reservoir under the piston and crankshaft. Most compressors use the splash method to lubricate.

[Mike Goetzke]

Joe - same here, I just bought a slightly used I-R 2-stage 60 gal. compressor after dealing with an airless 25 gal for years. I just c/o the oil when I got it. I purchased the synthetic oil from I-R on-line. One thing to note is I expected the oiled compressor to be much quieter than an oilless. It is quieter and has a lower tone to it but is louder than I expected - maybe because it's 2-stage. Although, since it pumps the air to 175psi it doesn't run anywhere near as often as my old oilless.

Mike

[Greg Hines, MD]

Campbell-Hausfeld has a 15 gallon oiled compressor at Tractor Supply company for $199 that has served me very well for using nailers and such. Probably not big enough for sanders, but I use electric for that.

Doc

[Jimmie Mayfield]

I've got the oil-lubed Makita MAC2400, which is a 4.2 gal compressor. Very quiet, I don't even need hearing protection when it's running. Two outlets so you can run two air tools concurrently. Around $320 up here in Canada, likely a bit less south of the border. Recommended highly.
http://www.makitatools.com/en-us/Modules/Tools/ToolDetails.aspx?ID=33751

Looks like a nice compressor. I stan...err...sit corrected on my size statement.

[Joe Vincent]

Thanks for the replies. I've looked at the Makita MAC2400, which I've read good things about. Because it's 4.2 gal. and my PC pancake is 6 gal., I wonder if it's automatically true that the Makita will cycle on more frequently (albeit more quietly)?

[Pete Clifford]

Joe,

I also have the PC oil-less 6 gallon pancake compressor, which I bought with the 18 gauge nailer kit as my first pneumatic system. Although I haven't timed the duty cycles of the Makita compared to the PC when used for the same tasks, my general "gestalt" is that they cycle in a comparable fashion. The major difference is in how loud the PC is. The downside is that the Makita is significantly heavier, which is why I keep the PC around for those quick tasks when I need to bring the compressor to the work (eg. like blowing the dust out of my sanders or vacuum filter in the backyard).

FWIW, I also looked at an oil-lube Kawasaki compressor that Costco was selling. I expected that it would be relatively quiet, but in fact it was as loud as an oil-less banshee.

[Joe Vincent]

Thanks, Pete. Since I'd only be running nailers off this thing, I think I may take a look at the MAC700 instead of the MAC2400. The MAC700 is a good bit lighter (though not as light as a feather).

[Gene Michael]

After my oiless porter cable compressor died, I bought a Sears oil lubricated (3 gallon, 1 hp, 2.4 SCFM @ 90 psi, 3.7 @ 40). It's still < a year old, so don't know about longevity, but it appears well made. Its stats are lesser than the PC pancake, but its output is more robust. It's small enough to carry wherever I need it and drives my air nailers easily. Got it on sale for $99. I believe full price is $129. It's much quieter than the airless and built far more heavily. :D

[Wayne Cannon]

I have found it handy to add a short length (e.g., 6") of capped pipe to the oil drain hole before adding oil the first time to get the drain further away from the compressor. Otherwise, it has a tendency to get oil on the mounting hardware and tank and make a mess. The wall thickness of the pipe means that you can't drain the last tiny bit of oil, but that hasn't worried me any.