This teardown was a lot of fun. The more we tore it down the worse it got. I was not expecting to see that much carnage inside. Maybe just a spun bearing, not complete anarchy. Eric thank you for having me I had a blast hanging out with you for a few days. I'm sure there will be more in the future. To everyone else. Thank you for watching have a great day.
I know the feeling. I work in an antiquated recycling facility for a trash company that collections takes priority. We're barely able to get them to complete some urgent repairs, while we handle the rest with plant staff, primarily myself. Preventative maintained has never been a priority. Every gearbox in the place is supposed to have a 6 month oil change interval(some can go 3yrs if you use a specific expensive oil.) Other than 1 gearbox that blew up, none of them have had an oil change since I changed the oil in one in 2017, beyond needed for topping up/major seal leak replacement. There is one I don't even have a way to check the oil level in, due to an out a 15deg out of the closest of the 5 specified mounting position. Our air compressor is an 80gal 240v upright model, that dates to the mid 1990's. It's maintanence is equally neglected, although it's only run a day or 2 per week to blow out equipment radiators and clean off equipment(although I do have an adapter hose around, converting the company Automotive style fittings to the I/M fittings I use; for big projects I have the opportunity to plan in advance for and bring in my helpful air tools from home), and I try to at least check the oil level, and drain the water every month or 2. The bottom of the tank is filled with that super sticky white oil/water sludge anyone that drained poorly maintained compressors knows well.
@@BeardedFordTechjust out of curiosity, is it a relatively recent electric engine? Everyone keeps telling me to keep mine as it's over thirty years old.
As someone who’s been in the compressor industry all my life, seeing this kind of neglect always brings me joy. That compressor was knocking for months before it went boom
@@mitchellmerrill8459the thing is, is that if it’s gradual enough you won’t notice, some one said my trucks blinker click noise was loud when I replaced the blinker box it was ALOT quieter
2 stage compressor, Big cylinder pushes air to little one through that heavy radiator cooler. 2 intakes and one exhaust. Each bank connects to output. You probably can buy all the broken parts, but faster and easier to just buy a new pump. Little tube is an unloader to reduce start up resistance.
@@ericknutson602 I don't think it failed as there was still oil like sludge on the sensor. It just could not sense the rest of the missing oil. Though makes you wonder if Eric is going to make sure his shop compressors are up on their oil and maintenance.
How do the valves work? I always assumed valves in a compressor were similar to reed valves in a two stroke dirt bike but these don’t look anything like that.
The little end of that rod broke on the bottom side and was so hot it folded back over and "welded" itself back. That's lovely carnage, Thanks my guys.
The reason the carnage is so much worse than what you're used to is that an engine has to supply the energy for its own destruction; at a certain level of destruction it stops. The compressor is powered by an external motor though which can keep beating it to shrapnel long after it's way too ruined to do anything useful.
Yep. That's the problem when another part of the company is responsible for that type of stuff. No they aren't. Now it's my responsibility and it shall be serviced on time.
@@evilbrian66 there is an in line water separator. I use battery tools now. Obviously air for the drive on lift to release locks and use air blow guns. And use air to empty oil catches and such. But there is a separator inline
I used to work at a truck repair company. We had 2 different compressors. The large compressor was in as well fenced area in the parking lot. One day while at work, I was walking across the parking lot and there was suddenly an explosion like a stick of dynamite, and a big cloud of black smoke was rising up from the compressor. The crankcase was blown to pieces. Someone had gotten into the compressor yard and removed the oil drain plug. Evidently, running with no oil, the residual oil got so hot that it started producing flammable vapors which then ignited explosively.
When I was chief engineer in a machine shop, I concluded that there were only two reasons why equipment failed: Either we ignored the warning sounds and did not work on it. Or we worked on it and did not understand what we were doing. Lubrication, actually lack of it, kills rotating equipment.
The valves in compressors are passively operated flap valves , a form of check valve , the intake opens under negative pressure in the cylinder and closes under positive pressure in the cylinder , the exhaust valve does the reverse. What you see is normal. The two different size pistons are because it is a 2 stage compressor , the 1st low pressure stage feeds into the 2nd high pressure stage.
That was AMAZING!!!! EPIC CARNAGE!!! I wish this channel was in existence in 2012. I had lost power due to Hurricane Sandy. I borrowed a generator from my brother-in-law's business. After two days, it died, and sounded bad while in it's death throes. I opened the oil plug and the dreaded metallic paste/liquid came out. I'm assuming bad stuff happened. I gave it back and they probably reamed out the guys responsible for maintenance. I imagine that what I was seeing was disintegrated bearings. Would have made for an interesting teardown. I'll keep you in mind for the next engine I blow up. Oh, and thanks Anthony! This video was good for many loudly vocal chuckles.
I just watched an old How It’s Made episode where they refurbished commercial refrigeration compressors and they “honed” the cylinder bore with a scouring pad on a die grinder and “decked” the block with a fibre disk on a sander. I’ve seen third world machine shop videos with more sophisticated processes.
sadly that's how first world operates, you start out doing it right, and slowly, in a series of small moneysaving changes, you start to cheat, cut corners, and take shortcuts, until your production line feels more like a jerry rigging line, because you can afford to lose out on reliability and efficiency a third world shop though? they need to make their stuff last, they can't afford failures and replacements, so they learn real quick it has to be done right everytime
12:43 That is indeed how one makes anti-seize. Way anti-seize works is you must make seize negative paste. You take a low level degraded seize neutral oil, then run it in a moving device. The machine then draws seize out of the paste. Now you have a device that has a positive seize charge, and a negative seize paste.
Great video, in my shop we maintain our own equipment. Had the same air compressor for over 20 years no problems. Little side note when you knocked out that wrist pin and hit that snack pack box, I got a kick out of that. That mystery pipe going to the back of the air compressor behind the crankshaft, that is the unloader. When the compressor turns off it bleeds the supply line to the air tank, so the compressor starts with no load. There tank has over hundred psi, so if the air tank supply pipe is not bled off, the compressor will not start, either burn up the motor through the circuit breaker.
That once was probably a good air compressor, high quality. My boss kept one in his shop that was old when I got there and had only oil added to it. They don't deal with destructive combustion; no carbon. AN air compressor can last a very long time.We used that used air compressor for thirty years. It was really loose, sounded like it had no problem rotating.
Oil bath compressors like this can last decades. I have an oil free compressor, its only about 20 minutes and $20 to drop a new ring and cylinder in. Pick your poison.
That was some amazing pistons and crank. I cannot believe all the little pieces of metal and bearing material in that thing. Even the bearings destructed. Amazing is all I can say. Thanks for showing me just how bad a compressor can get.
The weird looking valve is a reed valve. It has a flat piece of metal that allows air in but not out. Large piston is low pressure small is high pressure. Air comes in the normal looking valves goes into the reed valve to the high pressure side to tank.
Massive thanks to Anthony for turning a huge negative for himself into a positive for all of us, it sucks the compressor blew up due to someone else's negligence but it makes for an interesting video. I've honestly never seen a compressor this bad, usually it's just the roller bearings on the crank or broken rings before someone figures out there's enough damage to switch it off asap.
"Just turned it on to air up bike tires for the boy scouts and it shut off." I bet that thing sounded like a trapped bear in that room, records were broken on this channel. Fantastic content like always.
Oh man! I can't believe how slowly that thing was beaten to death! Yet it still worked "enough" with all that damage, because that didn't happen in a day!
Eric and Anthony...thank you for taking my mind off--other issues. I had to stop this great video not once, but TWICE to wipe a lovely red wine nose snort off my keyboard from laughing when you guys dropped lines that 1. caught me off guard and 2. were just so DA*M funny it took me minutes to recover. What a great "verbal" and "mechanical" bunch of fireworks to kick off the July 4th Holiday weekend. May you and your families both relax and enjoy the festivities! 🤣👍🍷💻
That big electrical thingy hanging off the side of the crankcase is a Low Oil Level Switch. It's a float switch designed to shut off the motor when the crankcase oil level falls dangerously low. It's purpose is to prevent such situations. It's obviously either defective or it was never wired in to the control circuit. Not an uncommon situation. This brings back fond memories. Air compressors and refrigeration compressors are very similar to ICE engines. I worked on such devices for 40+ years. This was one of your most entertaining videos to date. Thanks...
I've got the same basic compressor in my shop. The 4 cylinders are closer in size to each other. It's about 70 years old and was rebuilt ~40 years ago by a previous owner. Sad to see such a good piece succumb to lack of maintenance.
This was awesome and fascinating. Hope you find more off-the-wall stuff like this in the future. And I hope those irresponsible for maintaining this are now unemployed.
I purchased a Craftsman Ceramic oil-less compressor from Sears 25 years ago, it is plugged in all the time and all I have done is drain it every fall and it works perfectly still. This is in a home owners application.
Excellent video!! FYI That is a pump. Well, it *WAS* a pump! A compressor is the pump, tank, and other parts. This information came from my brother-in-law who works on these. I was wanting to upgrade the pump on my single stage compressor to a two stage. I started sending him links to cheap two stage pumps. This got his thought process flowing. He started building me a Quincy 5 HP pump. He asked if I had a tank. Well, he scrounged up a dented tank for me. Long story shorter, he gave me a complete 5 HP Quincy two stage compressor! Remember, this all started by me sending links to compressors, er I mean pumps.
I have worked on compressors in my time but that takes the cake. You should have Anthony in on other tear downs, both of you together was a gas ! Thanks Eric, & Happy 4th of July.
Brother, we had a compressor in our shop we changed to Amsoil compressor oil. Our friend had the same compressor he ran his CNC machines with. It ran 18 ro 20 hours a day. His would overheat and shut down. We sold him ours and he hooked it up to his CNC machines. It never once shut down because of overheating. He ran that compressor for 6 more years before he retired and sold it all. I believe in Amsoil compressor oil
@BeardedFordTech thos is an experience from 1998. Cool deal. The way he ran that cheap Harbour Freight compressor should be a crime. That was a $299 air compressor from Harbour Freight no less. Not like it was a Northern Tool or some high end part lol. That was cheap equipment and Amsoil did that much. Be proud, very proud
I'm an Air compressor service technician in Phoenix AZ Awesome video, compressor service is much cheaper then buying a new one. Recommended service on a compressor of this style is change oil and air filter(s) every 3-6 months based on use and and working area. Also checks on the motor, sheaves, belts and receiver tank. Daily condensate draining should be done from receiver tank, if you don't want to do that you can install a 115v 1/4" auto time drain piped to a bucket. In the world of air compressors this is by far the simplest and cheapest air compressor style. The rotary compressors are beast of their own. The biggest i work on is a KRSP 500hp 2 Stage that supplies air to a Cemex plant. If you imagine you are holding a cube in your hands and in this cube is 125psi, this compressor puts out 2500-3000 of those cubes per minutes. Compressors are a crazy feat of engineering and sophisticated technology.
ah ,another Polaris V engine ...ohh, it's a compressor ... it was a compressor... wow ... This one gone trough hell and came back for this tear down ... the sound of this running should be a breath of fresh air ... quite impressive .. it's Compressageddon level ...omg ...
My compressor did that. The oil had stained the little oil level window so it always looked full and I always check. Then one day there was a puddle of oil on the floor that I thought leaked out of my chain saw bar oil compartment cause it always leaked. "Then one day my neighbor told me "my compressor was making a hell of a racket last night" The compression palace was malice'd.
I've dealt with a lot of recip compressors over the years. Most were much larger than this but, if someone should have measured the normal running current of the motor driving the compressor and correctly sized the thermal overloads based on the running current. That might (MIGHT) have prevented complete destruction by shutting itself down.
little education for folks interested. this is a 2 stage air compressor. big cylinder is the low side. smaller is the high side. that big chunk is a heatsink and junction between the two. it cools the air a little after the first compression stage so its a little easier to compress in the 2nd stage. First stage brings the air from atmosphere to something in the middle say 100psi. then the 2nd stage takes that 100psi to the final 175psi. you can always tell which one is the first stage because thats the one that sucks in fresh air. its the one with the air filter attached. The tube you take off at 5:04 is the decompression valve. It vents the pressure out of the cylinders after the compressor hits its shutoff. This makes it easier for the motor to start again since it does't have to pump against the high pressure from previous run. prevent dead stalling the motor at 0 rpm. Theres supposed to be a clutch mechanism in all that DIY antisieze. when the pump stops. the valve opens and vents the pressure. it stay open during initial start up so the motor can build rpm. then it closes and the compressor builds pressure. valves are one way valves. thats why 2 are intakes and the outlet is flipped. this failure is purely because they never changed the oil or inspected it. They just replaced the air filters.. these things are splash lubricated. if the oil can't splash around freely. things wear out and then the compressor doesn't compress.. then it works harder and longer. hotter til it cooks itself and implodes. just like car engine.. CHANGE OIL REGULARLY. Those valves were way dirty too. so it could have not been sealing well. pump works harder, longer and again cooks itself to implosion
Looks similar to the compressor that started getting stupidly loud rod knock, was only about a year old but 0 maintenance from the company, was a part of the fire suppression system for our building and one day went to check on what the god awful noise was just to see the compressor jumping around from knocking so bad, looked at the sight glass and it was straight silver sludge
Always wondered about the compressor at our shop in Army. We did not use it, the building was built as a garage, we were electronic maintenance. Painted a truck once. At least 10 times this size, 6 feet tall. Not sure why the building had such a big compressor.
Awesome video. I love all of Eric's tear downs, but these odd-ball videos are always so fun to watch. The amount of damage in that compressor was extremely impressive...and to think, just $10 worth of oil would have prevented that.
What a shame. I had one of those aluminum single stage compressors and it ran low on oil and seized in short order. Those cast iron pumps are worth maintaining.
Years ago I was a maintenance supervisor for a rendering plant complex. Most of our compressed air was handled by a pair of Kaiser screw type compressors in the basement of the office/power house building. Our waste water plant was across the rail road tracks and had its' own reciprocating compressor. The manufacturer of that air compressor went out of business. Of course we needed to service the compressor and we were able to figure out the oil requirements but getting the oil filter was difficult and I looked for a few months. Finally an air compressor and pump sales business found a source for the oil filter. I ordered it even though it was expensive, like $30 expensive. When the oil filter came in I was checking it out trying to figure out if there was another, cheaper source for the filter. As soon as I took the filter out of the box I realized I just paid $30 for a Fram PH8A. Dammm! As far as the statements about you not seeing anything this bad? You deal with engines, when they break they stop, with an air compressor when they break the motor continues to spin them beating the remaining parts into a chunky paste.
That was cool. That's the thing about having an electric motor that doesn't care spinning it after things start to go bad......it just keeps shredding and shredding and shredding. I'm surprised you don't have snap ring pliers. Anyway, lots of fun. Glad you did this.
Eye work at an Air Force repair shop, and I saw a youtube clip where the oil window shows it full, but it is burnt oil on the window. I was watching your video (GREAT ! video) and I did not hear or see you talk about it in the video, but your window ALSO shows the oil being at the right level. I cleaned ours, and we always change our fluid every month no matter what (rules and regulations). I like your videos, even tell some other troops to watch your videos about engines before doing crazy things they are thinking of doing.
Normally on these type of compressors, the whole rotating assembly can be replaced. the most expensive parts is the cast iron parts as they tend to be hard to replace unless from a donor compressor. I would not be surprised if that could be rebuilt but then again its the how much for the whole rotating assembly would be the question then. I had to rebuild a 3 piston air compressor as rings were a bit stuck and one of the connecting rods was broken (done when removing the piston from the cylinder because it was stuck) but was able to get replacement parts for it all and even gaskets, went back together nice enough with a nice new paint job.
The large pistons are low pressure, the small ones are high, so the air should go from inlet, to low, to high, to outlet The valves are spring loaded (no pushrods), the ones with the holes are exhaust/outlet
ROFPML. Thank you BeardedFordTech and Eric for this absolutely fantastic video. You both had me in stitches watching. You’re a great comedy duo. As always, very interesting, and informative. We never get to see inside of compressors. I can visualise what it should be like inside. Poor compressor.
24:08 Never mind the check engine light being on. Why did the low oil switch not shut the electric engine down? 39:41 Who was to check the oil each day? Contracting a service call every 6 months ain't enough! Same as a car, you are to check the oil each day. In my book after being in air-compressors for years it’s your fault it failed from lack of oil.
I got a free 60 gallon compressor with a blown motor. It broke both rods right in the middle. It ran out of oil but I couldn't believe it broke 2/2 rods in half. Those electric motors are good.
Yeah whoever was in charge in that maintenance should never be allowed to touch another piece of equipment! They should take up crocheting. How could you not hear that ? that's a mess that took a long time to destroy itself!
4:52 CPR tube. Centrigugal pressure relief. Makes it easier to start the compressor and also bleeds the tube between tank and pump after fill up 7:48 Two intake valve, one exhaust. You are seeing the other side. The piston rotate for the second mark, that's all 16:20 Those notches are normal, othewise connecting rod of high pressure pistons would hit the sides.
This teardown was a lot of fun. The more we tore it down the worse it got. I was not expecting to see that much carnage inside. Maybe just a spun bearing, not complete anarchy. Eric thank you for having me I had a blast hanging out with you for a few days. I'm sure there will be more in the future. To everyone else. Thank you for watching have a great day.
certainly an impressively blown up compressor, also you gained me as a sub
@@jackhentschel5961 much appreciated
Awesome teardown video. Can't help but wonder when you are changing the name of your channel to I Do/Did Air Compressors😊
Just remember to bring your safety squints.
@@Boodieman72 that's right.
"They're not allowed to touch my new compressor". Sounds like they never touched the old one either...
💯👍🏻👌🏻
🚫🛢️🤦🏻♂️
This is true. In fact I don't know if they ever did.
They probably changed the air filters at some point lol
@@nitromyke probably the only thing they changed
I know the feeling. I work in an antiquated recycling facility for a trash company that collections takes priority. We're barely able to get them to complete some urgent repairs, while we handle the rest with plant staff, primarily myself. Preventative maintained has never been a priority. Every gearbox in the place is supposed to have a 6 month oil change interval(some can go 3yrs if you use a specific expensive oil.) Other than 1 gearbox that blew up, none of them have had an oil change since I changed the oil in one in 2017, beyond needed for topping up/major seal leak replacement. There is one I don't even have a way to check the oil level in, due to an out a 15deg out of the closest of the 5 specified mounting position. Our air compressor is an 80gal 240v upright model, that dates to the mid 1990's. It's maintanence is equally neglected, although it's only run a day or 2 per week to blow out equipment radiators and clean off equipment(although I do have an adapter hose around, converting the company Automotive style fittings to the I/M fittings I use; for big projects I have the opportunity to plan in advance for and bring in my helpful air tools from home), and I try to at least check the oil level, and drain the water every month or 2. The bottom of the tank is filled with that super sticky white oil/water sludge anyone that drained poorly maintained compressors knows well.
I think the electric motor that drove this to destruction deserves an award!
I kept it.
@@BeardedFordTechjust out of curiosity, is it a relatively recent electric engine? Everyone keeps telling me to keep mine as it's over thirty years old.
@@josedomingosteixeira1379 maybe 5 years old. It's not 30 years old for sure
@@BeardedFordTechMine is from 1992.
@josedomingosteixeira1379 yes I would definitely keep that. This one is about 5 years old maybe 7.
As someone who’s been in the compressor industry all my life, seeing this kind of neglect always brings me joy. That compressor was knocking for months before it went boom
oh for sure!
And they didn't notice. Had making alot racket for a long time.
@@mitchellmerrill8459the thing is, is that if it’s gradual enough you won’t notice, some one said my trucks blinker click noise was loud when I replaced the blinker box it was ALOT quieter
@@joshmanis9860don't forget to change the blinker fluid too. It's an oft-forgotten maintenance item.
@@brighamshamrell4524 will do😉
2 stage compressor, Big cylinder pushes air to little one through that heavy radiator cooler. 2 intakes and one exhaust. Each bank connects to output. You probably can buy all the broken parts, but faster and easier to just buy a new pump. Little tube is an unloader to reduce start up resistance.
a new head is actually really cheap. for 4500 I hope he bought a screw!
On that compressor there is a low oil level switch..I believe it failed long before the pistons did.
@@ericknutson602 I don't think it failed as there was still oil like sludge on the sensor. It just could not sense the rest of the missing oil. Though makes you wonder if Eric is going to make sure his shop compressors are up on their oil and maintenance.
How do the valves work? I always assumed valves in a compressor were similar to reed valves in a two stroke dirt bike but these don’t look anything like that.
We change the oil in ours once a year
The little end of that rod broke on the bottom side and was so hot it folded back over and "welded" itself back. That's lovely carnage, Thanks my guys.
A self-repairing con rod...
It was hammer forged.
I believe the lubricity is NO. That doesn't have a "weight" it has a "grit". Thanks for the mid-week entertainment! Enjoy your holiday!
As oil was disappearing metal was flaking off it was bringing up the oil grit level to keep it going, I can't believe how trashed that thing is!
I've seen mill files with higher lubricity...
It both was and wasn't... lubiquitous. 😏
You mean your oil isn't supposed to be gritty...?!
lmao it's running on lapping compound
The reason the carnage is so much worse than what you're used to is that an engine has to supply the energy for its own destruction; at a certain level of destruction it stops. The compressor is powered by an external motor though which can keep beating it to shrapnel long after it's way too ruined to do anything useful.
That's unless a vehicle is flat towed still in gear!
@@dagamer667 when you do that. You get your just rewards and hopefully learn something.
@@dagamer667that poor EJ. Still one of my favorites to this day
@@dagamer667 Good point. Has Eric ever had one that happened to?
@@dagamer667 would lock the wheels up before continuing being a hammer forge
Eric FINALLY got to say “why did you do that?” Instead of the normal “why did I do that?”
Kudos to Anthony for sharing this with us. It looks like the filters were serviced, but no one knew how to change the oil.
Yep. That's the problem when another part of the company is responsible for that type of stuff. No they aren't. Now it's my responsibility and it shall be serviced on time.
@@evilbrian66 there is an in line water separator. I use battery tools now. Obviously air for the drive on lift to release locks and use air blow guns. And use air to empty oil catches and such. But there is a separator inline
Marketplace ad: "Ran when parked" 🤣
I used to work at a truck repair company. We had 2 different compressors. The large compressor was in as well fenced area in the parking lot. One day while at work, I was walking across the parking lot and there was suddenly an explosion like a stick of dynamite, and a big cloud of black smoke was rising up from the compressor. The crankcase was blown to pieces. Someone had gotten into the compressor yard and removed the oil drain plug. Evidently, running with no oil, the residual oil got so hot that it started producing flammable vapors which then ignited explosively.
When I was chief engineer in a machine shop, I concluded that there were only two reasons why equipment failed: Either we ignored the warning sounds and did not work on it. Or we worked on it and did not understand what we were doing. Lubrication, actually lack of it, kills rotating equipment.
Oh yeah!! Malice in the compression palace!!
I believe its Malus, but Malice kinda works too i guess.
@@darthkarl99 You believe completely wrong 🤣, it's definitely malice 😏
@@zaphodbeeblebrox1695 Must be an accent thing as he way they pronounce malice is nothing like how we pronounce it but exactly how we pronounce malus.
@@darthkarl99 😵💫 He's saying Malice !, as in malice in the combustion palace , wtf is malus and what has it got to do with the price of fish
@@zaphodbeeblebrox1695 Malus is an older english word meaning bad,evil, wrong, e.t.c.
"We're crowning!". I spit a mouthful of coffee...
The valves in compressors are passively operated flap valves , a form of check valve , the intake opens under negative pressure in the cylinder and closes under positive pressure in the cylinder , the exhaust valve does the reverse. What you see is normal.
The two different size pistons are because it is a 2 stage compressor , the 1st low pressure stage feeds into the 2nd high pressure stage.
Kind of like reed valves I take it??
Guest teardown are next level! Now you need to get some racers in to do teardown of their stuff. Drag racing, NASCAR, open wheel. Good stuff!
All I can say is the electric motor driving this compressor is a beast to be able to power through that. It turned the crankshaft into a camshaft
I kept the electric motor. And the tank. Will add it to the new shop when it's built
"Disconnecting Rod" ALWAYS gets me 🤣🤣🤣
That was AMAZING!!!! EPIC CARNAGE!!!
I wish this channel was in existence in 2012. I had lost power due to Hurricane Sandy. I borrowed a generator from my brother-in-law's business. After two days, it died, and sounded bad while in it's death throes. I opened the oil plug and the dreaded metallic paste/liquid came out. I'm assuming bad stuff happened. I gave it back and they probably reamed out the guys responsible for maintenance. I imagine that what I was seeing was disintegrated bearings. Would have made for an interesting teardown. I'll keep you in mind for the next engine I blow up.
Oh, and thanks Anthony! This video was good for many loudly vocal chuckles.
It is nice to have friends on the channel from time to time 🙂
You need to send this unit back to the manufacturer for warranty replacement. It's obviously a defective unit.
😂
All it was missing was a water pump
Not true, there was no dipstick either!
Thank you BeardedFordTech for the teardown of your destroyed compressor. The carnage was epic and I enjoyed seeing it. Very impressive good sir.
I just watched an old How It’s Made episode where they refurbished commercial refrigeration compressors and they “honed” the cylinder bore with a scouring pad on a die grinder and “decked” the block with a fibre disk on a sander. I’ve seen third world machine shop videos with more sophisticated processes.
sadly that's how first world operates, you start out doing it right, and slowly, in a series of small moneysaving changes, you start to cheat, cut corners, and take shortcuts, until your production line feels more like a jerry rigging line, because you can afford to lose out on reliability and efficiency
a third world shop though? they need to make their stuff last, they can't afford failures and replacements, so they learn real quick it has to be done right everytime
12:43 That is indeed how one makes anti-seize. Way anti-seize works is you must make seize negative paste. You take a low level degraded seize neutral oil, then run it in a moving device. The machine then draws seize out of the paste.
Now you have a device that has a positive seize charge, and a negative seize paste.
if this doesnt get top comment ill be mad
😂
Big brain here
Great video, in my shop we maintain our own equipment. Had the same air compressor for over 20 years no problems. Little side note when you knocked out that wrist pin and hit that snack pack box, I got a kick out of that. That mystery pipe going to the back of the air compressor behind the crankshaft, that is the unloader. When the compressor turns off it bleeds the supply line to the air tank, so the compressor starts with no load. There tank has over hundred psi, so if the air tank supply pipe is not bled off, the compressor will not start, either burn up the motor through the circuit breaker.
That once was probably a good air compressor, high quality. My boss kept one in his shop that was old when I got there and had only oil added to it. They don't deal with destructive combustion; no carbon. AN air compressor can last a very long time.We used that used air compressor for thirty years. It was really loose, sounded like it had no problem rotating.
Oil bath compressors like this can last decades. I have an oil free compressor, its only about 20 minutes and $20 to drop a new ring and cylinder in. Pick your poison.
Yes In had one made in 1948. I used it up until 2016 when I sold it to make space. It had a dipstick, which was a good idea compared to a sight glass.
There were a few oil changes missed, like 10 consecutively.
Eric!! You forgot to remove the spark plugs!!! Oh, wait...
'The tool' made a few while extracting the wrist pins, but there was no appropriate fuel delivery.
That was some amazing pistons and crank. I cannot believe all the little pieces of metal and bearing material in that thing. Even the bearings destructed. Amazing is all I can say. Thanks for showing me just how bad a compressor can get.
The weird looking valve is a reed valve. It has a flat piece of metal that allows air in but not out. Large piston is low pressure small is high pressure. Air comes in the normal looking valves goes into the reed valve to the high pressure side to tank.
and on the high pressure side, the inlet valve is the same design as the two for air inlet valves.
@@TheStefanskoglund1 Yes then reed to tank.
These ain't reed valves. They're spring loaded disc valves, but they do work the same, just more efficiently.
Massive thanks to Anthony for turning a huge negative for himself into a positive for all of us, it sucks the compressor blew up due to someone else's negligence but it makes for an interesting video.
I've honestly never seen a compressor this bad, usually it's just the roller bearings on the crank or broken rings before someone figures out there's enough damage to switch it off asap.
It looks like what happened was that they saw the perma-stain line on the sight glass and said "Oh, it has enough oil", even once it didn't anymore.
Thanks and Eric and Anthony, that was fun to watch!
"Just turned it on to air up bike tires for the boy scouts and it shut off." I bet that thing sounded like a trapped bear in that room, records were broken on this channel. Fantastic content like always.
Oh man! I can't believe how slowly that thing was beaten to death! Yet it still worked "enough" with all that damage, because that didn't happen in a day!
Eric and Anthony...thank you for taking my mind off--other issues. I had to stop this great video not once, but TWICE to wipe a lovely red wine nose snort off my keyboard from laughing when you guys dropped lines that 1. caught me off guard and 2. were just so DA*M funny it took me minutes to recover. What a great "verbal" and "mechanical" bunch of fireworks to kick off the July 4th Holiday weekend. May you and your families both relax and enjoy the festivities! 🤣👍🍷💻
There used to be a day when all we had were "regular" tools. The ratchet was a wonderful tool!
33:03 *Time for the tool.*
Eric's wrists: *NO GOD PLEASE NO!*
That big electrical thingy hanging off the side of the crankcase is a Low Oil Level Switch. It's a float switch designed to shut off the motor when the crankcase oil level falls dangerously low. It's purpose is to prevent such situations. It's obviously either defective or it was never wired in to the control circuit. Not an uncommon situation.
This brings back fond memories. Air compressors and refrigeration compressors are very similar to ICE engines. I worked on such devices for 40+ years. This was one of your most entertaining videos to date. Thanks...
I've got the same basic compressor in my shop. The 4 cylinders are closer in size to each other. It's about 70 years old and was rebuilt ~40 years ago by a previous owner. Sad to see such a good piece succumb to lack of maintenance.
For that wrist pin to break out and then the end to be forge welded back together that got HOT! 🔥
This was awesome and fascinating. Hope you find more off-the-wall stuff like this in the future. And I hope those irresponsible for maintaining this are now unemployed.
I purchased a Craftsman Ceramic oil-less compressor from Sears 25 years ago, it is plugged in all the time and all I have done is drain it every fall and it works perfectly still. This is in a home owners application.
Doubt it is ceramic.
Excellent video!!
FYI
That is a pump. Well, it *WAS* a pump!
A compressor is the pump, tank, and other parts.
This information came from my brother-in-law who works on these.
I was wanting to upgrade the pump on my single stage compressor to a two stage. I started sending him links to cheap two stage pumps. This got his thought process flowing. He started building me a Quincy 5 HP pump. He asked if I had a tank. Well, he scrounged up a dented tank for me. Long story shorter, he gave me a complete 5 HP Quincy two stage compressor!
Remember, this all started by me sending links to compressors, er I mean pumps.
That “small wrench” was manufactured in my city! Diamond tool in Duluth, MN 2:41 😊
The 'lil' 18" Diamalloy! 😅pretty cool! 👍🏻🛠️🔧
My dad was an aircraft PowerPoint mechanic in WW2. While we were growing up on the farm, he always favored buying and using Diamond tools.
I have worked on compressors in my time but that takes the cake.
You should have Anthony in on other tear downs, both of you together was a gas ! Thanks Eric, & Happy 4th of July.
Brother, we had a compressor in our shop we changed to Amsoil compressor oil. Our friend had the same compressor he ran his CNC machines with. It ran 18 ro 20 hours a day. His would overheat and shut down. We sold him ours and he hooked it up to his CNC machines. It never once shut down because of overheating. He ran that compressor for 6 more years before he retired and sold it all. I believe in Amsoil compressor oil
I am also an amsoil dealer. And the new compressor has amsoil in it. Great stuff
@BeardedFordTech thos is an experience from 1998. Cool deal. The way he ran that cheap Harbour Freight compressor should be a crime. That was a $299 air compressor from Harbour Freight no less. Not like it was a Northern Tool or some high end part lol. That was cheap equipment and Amsoil did that much. Be proud, very proud
@@GrandPitoVic 😁
I'm an Air compressor service technician in Phoenix AZ
Awesome video, compressor service is much cheaper then buying a new one.
Recommended service on a compressor of this style is change oil and air filter(s) every 3-6 months based on use and and working area. Also checks on the motor, sheaves, belts and receiver tank. Daily condensate draining should be done from receiver tank, if you don't want to do that you can install a 115v 1/4" auto time drain piped to a bucket.
In the world of air compressors this is by far the simplest and cheapest air compressor style. The rotary compressors are beast of their own. The biggest i work on is a KRSP 500hp 2 Stage that supplies air to a Cemex plant. If you imagine you are holding a cube in your hands and in this cube is 125psi, this compressor puts out 2500-3000 of those cubes per minutes. Compressors are a crazy feat of engineering and sophisticated technology.
A guest! Nice. Little change from car engines is nice from time to time, like the car salvages / projects. Keep the good work! Cheers from Germany.
Ok, that was comedy gold ! Great collab, i hope there'll be more.
Great teardown. Do more like it.
Nice guest too!
We need more collaborations like this! Great stuff!
Undoubtedly, the best teardown video ever! You guys have to do more together. It's just the best entertainment I've seen on UA-cam
Wow that is some impressively worn out stuff there. I've never seen every bearing turned into foil like that, that motor turning that must be a champ.
Very nice! Eric, Love that you went outside the box for this video!
ah ,another Polaris V engine ...ohh, it's a compressor ... it was a compressor... wow ... This one gone trough hell and came back for this tear down ... the sound of this running should be a breath of fresh air ... quite impressive .. it's Compressageddon level ...omg ...
I'm changing the oil in my compressor right now. 1 Liter 15W40 is not so expensive. Thank you for the reminder.
Testament to the air compressor's quality to survive that long.... Lucky that poor thing didn't burst into flames with as hot as it was to do that.
"Can you imagine servicing these?"
Maybe that's the problem here, the tech imagined that they serviced it
My compressor did that. The oil had stained the little oil level window so it always looked full and I always check. Then one day there was a puddle of oil on the floor that I thought leaked out of my chain saw bar oil compartment cause it always leaked. "Then one day my neighbor told me "my compressor was making a hell of a racket last night" The compression palace was malice'd.
Exactly what happened here.
I've dealt with a lot of recip compressors over the years. Most were much larger than this but, if someone should have measured the normal running current of the motor driving the compressor and correctly sized the thermal overloads based on the running current. That might (MIGHT) have prevented complete destruction by shutting itself down.
little education for folks interested. this is a 2 stage air compressor. big cylinder is the low side. smaller is the high side. that big chunk is a heatsink and junction between the two. it cools the air a little after the first compression stage so its a little easier to compress in the 2nd stage. First stage brings the air from atmosphere to something in the middle say 100psi. then the 2nd stage takes that 100psi to the final 175psi. you can always tell which one is the first stage because thats the one that sucks in fresh air. its the one with the air filter attached.
The tube you take off at 5:04 is the decompression valve. It vents the pressure out of the cylinders after the compressor hits its shutoff. This makes it easier for the motor to start again since it does't have to pump against the high pressure from previous run. prevent dead stalling the motor at 0 rpm. Theres supposed to be a clutch mechanism in all that DIY antisieze. when the pump stops. the valve opens and vents the pressure. it stay open during initial start up so the motor can build rpm. then it closes and the compressor builds pressure.
valves are one way valves. thats why 2 are intakes and the outlet is flipped.
this failure is purely because they never changed the oil or inspected it. They just replaced the air filters.. these things are splash lubricated. if the oil can't splash around freely. things wear out and then the compressor doesn't compress.. then it works harder and longer. hotter til it cooks itself and implodes. just like car engine.. CHANGE OIL REGULARLY. Those valves were way dirty too. so it could have not been sealing well. pump works harder, longer and again cooks itself to implosion
Looks similar to the compressor that started getting stupidly loud rod knock, was only about a year old but 0 maintenance from the company, was a part of the fire suppression system for our building and one day went to check on what the god awful noise was just to see the compressor jumping around from knocking so bad, looked at the sight glass and it was straight silver sludge
Cool! Thanks Anthony!
Always wondered about the compressor at our shop in Army. We did not use it, the building was built as a garage, we were electronic maintenance.
Painted a truck once. At least 10 times this size, 6 feet tall. Not sure why the building had such a big compressor.
Nice... something different. Thanks Eric❤😂😎👍 (and yes, it is still...an engine....lol)
I agree because it converts on form of energy into mechanical energy.
I just got my QRS10 running on a VFD and just changed the oil on it. Maintenance is important folks.
You have inspired me to check the oil in my compressor
😂
The crank ground itself into a cam!!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂
Awesome video. I love all of Eric's tear downs, but these odd-ball videos are always so fun to watch. The amount of damage in that compressor was extremely impressive...and to think, just $10 worth of oil would have prevented that.
That oil flavor should be called "Diaper Nightmare".
I imagine this substance would exist if T-800s had babies
The fluid became a solid
Total carnage
What a shame.
I had one of those aluminum single stage compressors and it ran low on oil and seized in short order.
Those cast iron pumps are worth maintaining.
I would think it could be bored out and sleeved, and the crankshaft could be ground also. there's no hole in the block at least.
that "oil" eek. Glad I wasn't eating when you two showed it.
Thanks Anthony!!!
Years ago I was a maintenance supervisor for a rendering plant complex. Most of our compressed air was handled by a pair of Kaiser screw type compressors in the basement of the office/power house building. Our waste water plant was across the rail road tracks and had its' own reciprocating compressor. The manufacturer of that air compressor went out of business. Of course we needed to service the compressor and we were able to figure out the oil requirements but getting the oil filter was difficult and I looked for a few months. Finally an air compressor and pump sales business found a source for the oil filter. I ordered it even though it was expensive, like $30 expensive. When the oil filter came in I was checking it out trying to figure out if there was another, cheaper source for the filter. As soon as I took the filter out of the box I realized I just paid $30 for a Fram PH8A. Dammm! As far as the statements about you not seeing anything this bad? You deal with engines, when they break they stop, with an air compressor when they break the motor continues to spin them beating the remaining parts into a chunky paste.
Love the guest appearance!
Wow! Tear down crossovers! Love it.
That was cool. That's the thing about having an electric motor that doesn't care spinning it after things start to go bad......it just keeps shredding and shredding and shredding. I'm surprised you don't have snap ring pliers. Anyway, lots of fun. Glad you did this.
there is no fun in using the right tool for the job. 😄
That was a fun video! Nice change. You should do more of them!
😢 That's the best teardown video ever! You have found your foil. You must do more together! Such fun
Thanks Anthony for bringing the air compressor to the channel! That was an awesome tear down.
Your welcome
Eye work at an Air Force repair shop, and I saw a youtube clip where the oil window shows it full, but it is burnt oil on the window. I was watching your video (GREAT ! video) and I did not hear or see you talk about it in the video, but your window ALSO shows the oil being at the right level. I cleaned ours, and we always change our fluid every month no matter what (rules and regulations).
I like your videos, even tell some other troops to watch your videos about engines before doing crazy things they are thinking of doing.
Normally on these type of compressors, the whole rotating assembly can be replaced. the most expensive parts is the cast iron parts as they tend to be hard to replace unless from a donor compressor. I would not be surprised if that could be rebuilt but then again its the how much for the whole rotating assembly would be the question then. I had to rebuild a 3 piston air compressor as rings were a bit stuck and one of the connecting rods was broken (done when removing the piston from the cylinder because it was stuck) but was able to get replacement parts for it all and even gaskets, went back together nice enough with a nice new paint job.
That rod was hammer-welded back together!
The large pistons are low pressure, the small ones are high, so the air should go from inlet, to low, to high, to outlet
The valves are spring loaded (no pushrods), the ones with the holes are exhaust/outlet
ROFPML. Thank you BeardedFordTech and Eric for this absolutely fantastic video. You both had me in stitches watching. You’re a great comedy duo. As always, very interesting, and informative. We never get to see inside of compressors. I can visualise what it should be like inside. Poor compressor.
24:08 Never mind the check engine light being on. Why did the low oil switch not shut the electric engine down?
39:41 Who was to check the oil each day?
Contracting a service call every 6 months ain't enough!
Same as a car, you are to check the oil each day.
In my book after being in air-compressors for years it’s your fault it failed from lack of oil.
I got a free 60 gallon compressor with a blown motor. It broke both rods right in the middle. It ran out of oil but I couldn't believe it broke 2/2 rods in half. Those electric motors are good.
i noticed the lifting lugs on top of the case might have survived. thanks, this one is for the books.
😅I read this real quick and read "lifting LUNGS"at first 😂😂🤦🏻♂️🤣
Yes, it's definitely different . But don't forget the water pump lol.
Great video.
Epic teardown. This was awesome!
Yeah whoever was in charge in that maintenance should never be allowed to touch another piece of equipment! They should take up crocheting. How could you not hear that ? that's a mess that took a long time to destroy itself!
used to change oil on my two shop compressors once a year.....never missed a change and never had a problem, and both compressors were old as dirt
Deepest sympathy to the Gent who depended on this compressor, but this was flippin' funny!
This was a very good collaboration and fun to watch.
Great fun ...thanks guys!
4:52 CPR tube. Centrigugal pressure relief. Makes it easier to start the compressor and also bleeds the tube between tank and pump after fill up
7:48 Two intake valve, one exhaust. You are seeing the other side. The piston rotate for the second mark, that's all
16:20 Those notches are normal, othewise connecting rod of high pressure pistons would hit the sides.