Thread: Arrrggh - My air compressor just cost me $300

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Air compressors seem to be one of those tools that don't last forever without some breakage along the way. We've had similar issues with ours. We have an Eaton 3 cylinder that puts out enough air for all the things we do, but we have had to do some repairs since buying it new about 4 years ago. Eaton has been super about sending new parts, even though we are out of warranty, so I can't say anything bad about them as a company.

So far we have had one motor fail (they sent us a new one free of charge) then the compressor failed (and they sent a new one of those too) This was over the span of several years. A couple of months ago we started blowing circuit breakers and the fix was to take apart the check valve on the tank and clean out some debris. It was preventing the head pressure from bleeding off and subsequently, the motor was trying to overcome too much cylinder pressuer on start up.

We ultimately found out the debris was part of the tin gasket that seperates the head from the cylinder..........it was coming apart. We bought a new gasket set from Eaton, cleaned up the mating surfaces, and all has been well since then. (fingers crossed )

So, I understand your frustration with you compressor. Like you, we really depend on ours to do so many tasks like painting, grinding, and just blowing off stuff. I guess they just require periodic repairs in addition to the regular maintenance.

This stuff just seems to happen at the worst times though, like Christmas, in your case.

Don