Thread: Need to order a new air compressor head

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Last night I blew the side out of my air compressor head. I am looking at an Eaton 3 cylinder unit on Ebay. It is factory direct sales from Eaton in Ohio, for $280+$100 shipping.

this is what is says about it.

"This is our 5 HP, 3 Cylinder, 2-Stage, air compressor pump with 22 CFM Displacement, 16 CFM @ 175 PSI, and 18 CFM @ 100 PSI. This unit has an SCFM @ 175 of 16."

I currently have a 2 cylinder two stage unit that has 11cfm at 90# but need more useable cfm. the prices sound good. what do you guys think.

John

It sure seems cheap to me IMO
Ron

It does seem cheap. Here is the ebay add

5 HP 3 CYL 2-STG AIR COMPRESSOR REPLACEMENT PUMP
PROFESSIONAL, 2-STG WITH 5-YEAR EATON FACTORY WARRANTY Item number: 140218649648
Starting bid: US $279.00
price: US $280.00 Buy It Now >
Meet the seller
Seller: eatoncompressor( 2415)
Feedback: 99.9% Positive
Member: since Aug-06-00 in United States

Description
Item Specifics - Air Compressors
Make: Eaton Tank Capacity (Gallons): --
Model: -- Max Power (CFM): --
Power Source: -- Orientation: --
Horsepower (HP): 5 Condition: New
Eaton Compressor and Fab Inc Since 1977

IN STOCK
This is our 5 HP, 3 Cylinder, 2-Stage, air compressor pump with 22 CFM Displacement, 16 CFM @ 175 PSI, and 18 CFM @ 100 PSI. This unit has an SCFM @ 175 of 16. This is usable air or “free air” at pressure – 175 PSI. This pump can go to 200 PSI, but what we tell all of our customers is even though the compressor will go to a higher pressure, you should run it at the lowest pressure possible to maintain the air pressure needed. This will give you a higher CFM at a lower pressure and the compressor will run cooler with less compressor wear. This is true with any compressor on the market. Lower pressure combined with lower RPM will give you great results and a compressor that will last for many years. We have this style compressor, 3 Cylinder, in factories, body shops, and many tough applications that we sold over 20 years ago. If you are looking for a 20 to 30-year compressor pump, this is the one for you and is backed by our Eaton Compressor Factory Warranty. If you are looking for a 20 to 30-year compressor pump, this is the one for you and is backed by our Eaton Compressor Factory Warranty. This unit is covered for 5-years parts and labor and WE, at our factory, cover the warranty. You will see many warranties on the market that say “3-year warranty”, but the problem is that the warranty is not covered by them (the company that sold it)…most of the time it is covered by the factory that made it. Here at Eaton Compressor, when you buy a compressor from us, you are buying a warranty that WE cover. We stock all parts for our compressors and if you would have a problem, we can send the part to you that day or the next day shipment.

The reason this pump is so tough, is it is a 3-Cylinder, or Y, design. Each cylinder is individually cooled by the air or fan built into the flywheel. This is one of the coolest running pumps you will find because each cylinder gets air individually into the flywheel fan. With most inline compressors, or 2 cylinder (1 piston behind the other), they run hotter in certain applications because they do not cool as well as a 3 cylinder design. This pump DOES NOT have reed valves! It has concentric ring valve design. Concentric ring valves have been around for over 150 years. We have not gone away from this design because it will last for many, many years to come. If you look at the competition, they all offer reed valves or finger valves, but both are the same thing, just called different by some manufacturers. No matter what they are called, reed valves are a cheap design. With our unit, if you want to clean your valves, intake, or exhaust, you can take the valves out of the cylinder head by unscrewing the valve retainer and just pull the valve right of the head to inspect it.



This pump is all cast iron. When we say ALL CAST IRON, (not aluminum) that is what we mean. It has solid cast iron cylinder, cylinder heads, crankcase, flywheel, crank, and forged steel connecting rods – not aluminum! 99% of the pumps you see on the market today have aluminum rods. This style rod does not come close to a forged steel rod. I have seen many compressors over the 31 years of building compressors, and many of them break – aluminum rods. However, I have NEVER seen a steel connecting rod fail in one of our pumps. The forged steel connecting rods are a $120.00 option included on our pump. These rods also have a replaceable bearing on the crank journal and on the wrist pin journal. This is what most of the competition do not have. They have aluminum throw away- - no insert bearing in the rod journals.

This pump has large ball bearing on the crank ends on each end of the crankshaft. This ensures good crank stability and long compressor bearing life. Each cylinder is all cast iron with no sleeves or aluminum. All cast iron prevents cylinder distortion and egg-shaped cylinders when pump gets hot. This pump has 2-belt drive. Many of the pumps you see on the market have one belt…this is twin belt. Twin belt ensures better belt gripage and longer belt life. This pump has head unloaders. This is very nice for continuous run applications such as gasoline driven or electric driven high duty cycle applications. Head unloaders are an air cylinder in each head. When air is applied to them, they open or push the intake valves open allowing the pump to go into a free wheel mode. The cylinders are still moving in a free wheel mode, but it cannot compress the air because the intake valve is held open. This pulls cool air into the cylinder. The cool air absorbs the heat in the pump and blows it back out the intake valve. This is nice when you are sandblasting, etc., under heavy duty cycles. This pump has a site glass to view your oil level. NO START-UP KIT REQUIRED!!! This unit comes filled with oil and has filters on the unit. Shipping weight on this unit is 170 lbs. Best of all, this pump is QUIET! It runs at 73 dba. When you hear this unit run, it will be music to your ears and you will like when it starts instead of hating it when it starts. I see pumps of this quality sell for as high as $850.00. You will buy this pump much cheaper and have the same quality or better as the high priced pumps.



. If you have any questions, you can contact Matt Cain, Owner, Eaton Compressor @ 937-456-1752. This unit's warranty is covered parts and labor at our factory in Eaton, OH for 3 years. The advantage of buying from our company is that you are in direct contact with the factory who knows air compressors (because WE build them). The problem from buying from most dealers is that they do not even know how the compressor operates or how to fix it. This unit's warranty is covered by our 24-hour, 7 days/week here at the factory. If you would have a warranty issue, someone is here to take your call anytime of the day or night (not an answering service) and stock all warranty parts for this unit for IMMEDIATE shipment. Most dealers do not stock all parts for their unit. They have to order it. This makes downtime for you, the customer, that you do not need. We hardly ever see a warranty. We have the best warranty in the business because of the quality and pride put into our unit.

Go to their web site direct, they sometimes have better pricing than Ebay listing. They run their compressors at a low RPM. Don ( ITOLDUSO ) has had failure on the compressor from Eaton and they shipped replacement right out to him.
BradC

Two of us on here have that same exact unit.......I have one, and so does Bob Parmenter. Both of us have commented how much we like them.

Eaton is a fantastic company. A few months after I bought the compressor and motor the compressor heads worked loose from vibration (in hindsight I think it was something we might have done) They shipped in a brand new one at no charge and didn't want the old one back. A few months ago the motor took a dump, same deal, no charge replacement, scrap the old one.

Ours works really hard and has been excellent since those two incidents. I also bought one for the marina where I worked, and it is in use 6 days a week and feeds two different work areas. It has been flawless and is about 5 years old now.

I rank Eaton right up there with Coker as far as companies who do business the right way.

Don

thanks Don

I am on hold with the factory as I write. so far the total for the 5hp 3 cylinder 22cfm/175 psi, shipped to my door is $421 ($280+ $161 Shipping)

All I need now is for the "boss" to give me the OK.

A couple of questions for you-
How does yours hold up to a sandblaster?
Do you have the unloaders so the motor runs all the time?
do you run it at 175 or lower?
what size tank do you have?
I currently have a 60 and a 40 in parallel. I think that should be enough volume don't you.
John

Originally Posted by 41willys

thanks Don

A couple of questions for you-
How does yours hold up to a sandblaster?
Do you have the unloaders so the motor runs all the time?
do you run it at 175 or lower?
what size tank do you have?
I currently have a 60 and a 40 in parallel. I think that should be enough volume don't you.
John

While using the blast cabinet or my sandblaster the compressor will actually catch up and shut off at times.

No unloaders, mine kicks on when the pressure drops.

I run mine at 140 psi.

60 gallon tank.........I considered hooking up a tandem second 60 gallon tank I had, but I figured the compressor would just have to work harder to keep 120 filled up.

Don

BTW, this sucker is HEAVY. I didn't want to mount it atop my vertical compressor tank, so I built a platform out of steel to support it and the 5hp motor I got from them. Even the 5 hp motor isn't like the ones you see on typical compressors like from Lowes, etc. it is about 3 times as big and the shaft is something like 1 1/8 or so. The two together probably weigh 250 lbs. If you have a horizontal tank it will be ok, but perched on top of a vertical my fear was topheaviness.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

While using the blast cabinet or my sandblaster the compressor will actually catch up and shut off at times.

Don

I am sure my poor compressor just worked itself to death running constantly.

Looks like I will have the new one on the way shortly.

Thanks for your input.
John

At this rate of spending I will never be able to retire