Well I Said I wanted a BIG compressor !

[awemawson]

My Hydrovane compressor had a little issue the other day - just the pressure cut off switch (now fixed) - but I mentioned it to a friend who told me that they had a Compair Hydrovane installation at work that had been retired and would I like it?

Well, silly question really It's a bit large he said. That OK said this fool, I do large 

So he turned up with it on Friday afternoon in a trailer. A Compair UK 818P:SA08. A mere 18.5 kW three phase, so 35 amps per phase 

Now it just so happened that I had spent several exhausting days completely clearing out the Tractor Shed as 'bad weather contingency' for a party we are having in early September (my 70th birthday) , and if it rains I don't fancy 65 guests tramping through the house with associated dogs and children - hence the clear up. But ironically this meant that every bit of space elsewhere was already packed - so guess where the monster compressor has been parked for the mean time 

Now I do have a 50 amp three phase supply to the tractor shed, but I want to learn a bit more about this beast before I throw it across the mains. It has all sorts of bells and whistles like remote starting and serial coms to a SCADA system the connections for which have just been cut off, so I want to proceed carefully before wiping out the local electricity grid (I shudder to think what the instantaneous starting current is!)

If you look on the bench behind the compressor in the last two pictures, you can see that it came with a complete acoustic hood arrangement - the panels need a bit of TLC as they got a bit knocked about when it was decommissioned, but probably nothing that a hammer won't sort out !

Anyone know about big Hydrovanes?

[tom osselton]

You do get interesting toys!

[hermetic]

Methinks that would run a cracking sandblaster rig!

[awemawson]

Methinks that would run a cracking sandblaster rig!

That thought passed through my mind - it's 105 CFM apparently 

Today's job, fit the acoustic covers to:

A/ Make sure that they are all there
B/ Get it all together so that it takes less room up

But first I had to do a bit of tin bashing on one panel. The hinged lid had obviously been allowed to free fall rear wards quite badly bending the panel where the hinges fit. There is a restraint arm to stop this happening but someone in the past had unscrewed it 

So - rather a lot of noise in an echo'y tractor shed and a reasonable result was achieved. At some time I must sort out the hank bushes for the hinges as at least two of them have been pulled out by the force of the lid falling outwards.

Despite it having previously been at a sewage treatment plant (aerating sludge) those brown marks I assure you are only light rust 

[hermetic]

105cfm is ample, the two tool road compressors are about 125cfm, most mobile blaster seem to use single tool models! makes my 22 cfm 5hp look like a baby!

[Deko]

I had the very same broom wade compressor as that one many years ago. It was in constant use in my car body repair shop for over 10 years without a break. When I did decide to give it a once over it only needed new valves, but it was still working fine with the old ones before I did the overhaul.