Air compressors can be a very productive and needful tool, but only if they are working properly. Here are some helpful tips for permissible maintenance and troubleshooting a malfunctioning compressor.
First let's start with some basic advice for maintaining your compressor well and limiting hereafter problems. The most prominent thing to remember is to make sure and drain the water from your compressor tank every few times you use it. There is typically a valve on the bottom of the tank somewhere that allows for easy quick, easy drainage. This will prevent water from accumulating inside the tank, which can cause rust to form and degrade the inside of the tank. Also, if too much water builds up inside the tank there will not be enough room for air and the compressor will not be able to maintain pressure while use.
Air Compressor Troubleshooting
The other major maintenance task is to keep the air compressor clean and in a warm, dry environment. Keeping it clean will prevent dirt from working its way into any valves or gaskets and causing problems. I would advise wiping down dirty areas on the tank every now and then and production sure its stored in a protected place. The intuit for Keeping it in a warm, dry place is to prevent moisture from seeping in to seams or valves and freezing. If your compressor is not working properly and the ambient temperature is very low, then try bringing it inside to warm up for a while.
A query that I see bounced around a lot is if it is Ok to run a compressor off a generator. This Is Not Ok. Basically a generator cannot provide enough power at start up and will damage the motor each time it engages. When you run a compressor off a normal electrical law (like in your house) there is abundance of "extra power" that can be used for this quick surge. The intuit this surge does not trip the breaker is because it happens so fast (meaning thousandths of a second). What will happen if you try to run the compressor off a generator? Each time the motor engages it will wear down a little because of the strain from not having enough power. Since the motor shuts off whenever the pressure reaches the needful threshold and starts up when it falls again, it can tend to turn on and off a lot. This means you will be shaving hours of use off your compressor each time it starts up.
Finally, the last major qoute citizen run into is a leak. Leaks in the tank itself will need to be welded, but leaks resulting from a faulty valve can plainly be supplanted with a new valve. Try the old soapy water recipe to detect if the leak is advent from the tank, since this needs to be ruled out first before you go buying additional valves or hoses. Any major hardware store, like Home Depot can sustain you in buying the right part.
Air Compressor Maintenance and Troubleshooting