tips on how to prolong the life of your compressor…

hey guys 🙂
thought id share with you a couple of tips on how to prolong the life of your compressor…

OVER HEATING, is the number one killer of any air compressor!!
the hotter it gets the faster its parts wear out! whether it is mechanical; (pistons, bearings, valves, hoses) or electrical; (wires, switches, fuses) etc, it will all wear out much faster under extreme heat generated by prolonged usage. This gets worse with hotter days of summer and proves to be very frustrating when the air compressor cut-off-switch decides to kick in and halt its operation until it cools down again! and that can sometimes take upto ~30 min! the trick here is not to aim at airing up the tires all the way till 30-35 psi! i suggest filling only 25 psi per tire which in turn is adequate enough to get u safely and comfortably to the nearest petrol station where you can fill up all the way back to factory recommended tire pressure! doing this will save you much time and reduce the amount of work a compressor has to do at the higher psi levels where compressing the air becomes much slower and tougher, consequently operating temperatures will remain at bay and the compressor will live longer!

SAND, is again a very important factor in killing compressors.
most of the cheaper compressors out there dont utilize air filtration… and in desert environments where dust and sand is most abundant, the compressor tends to suck in much of it. the sand that enters the compression chamber will act just like sand paper eating away at cylinder walls and valves until the compressor develops an internal leak, losing its ability to compress any further air. one thing i could think of to help with this issue is to use an old stocking to cover the air intake area keeping all dust and sand away. for those of you who have filtered compressors, it would be a gd idea to often check and clean the filter or replace it if necessary, i personally like to add a little bit of ATF oil onto the sponge filter which helps in further filtering finer dust particles.

hope these tips come in handy 🙂
cheers