Air Compressor . . .

I have an old Sears air compressor I acquired some years ago while living in San Bernardino,
CA.  When I got this compressor the electric motor was shot.  I shopped the catalogs, especially farm oriented catalogs and sure enough I was able to get an electric motor at a very reasonable cost.

I installed the new motor and the unit operated well for years.  But the drive belt was showing its age.  I bought some belt treatment spray material to see if that would help.  It did but it was still marginal.  Finally, the old belt just could not get a grip any more.  I took it off and it was pretty bad, ribs missing, stretched to much, etc.  Time for a replacement.

I went on line with Sears and tried to get a parts list to figure out what the belt part number was.  At least I could maybe get an after market belt and replace my aging one.  Sears said they got rid of their data on that unit years ago.  Sure enough I found out it had been manufactured in 1971 and that made it one year older than my oldest son.  You can do the math, but the answer is 48 years old.

The original belt gave up the ghost recently and I began an Internet search for a new one.  I had a part number I found on the belt and went from there.  I figured the configuration was fairly common and there should be other brands that used the same parts in its make up.  I was right.  Amazon listed about four different belts that all appeared to be the same but with different prices.  I got the least expensive one.

I found the belt listed on Amazon and ordered it up.  I had some misgivings in that I had measured the old belt and it appeared to be 48 inches long.  And all the belts were described as being 49 inches long.  What the heck, a new compressor was at least a $100 and the belt was only $14.95 shipped free on Amazon Prime.  So I got the belt.

Sure enough Amazon Prime delivered the belt in about two days.  It was in what I thought to be a tiny package, but I opened it up and it was indeed the belt as ordered.

Installation was bit tricky but I used my God given mechanical talent to get it installed.  And the first try it popped right off.  But I got it going the second go round.  I plugged the compressor in and she started right up and charged up the tank to 150 PSI.

I had previously changed the oil in the two stage up right compressor unit with compressor oil.  Yes, it is not the same as the oil used in a car.  But the oil had been in the unit since my days in San Berdoo back in 1993 or so.  Time to do a little maintenance, right.  So the unit ran smoothly and worked just fine with an oil change and new belt.

I then drained the water out of the tank.  When you compress air the air contains some quantity of moisture.  So water builds up in the tank.  I drained it and it was about a half a cup full.  Not bad for some 25 or so years of use.  True I did not run it every day, maybe at best ten times a year.

Judie dislikes it because it is big.  That is bigger than she wants it to be.  I regard it as fine piece of equipment that I keep working and using.   So for fifteen bucks or so, some elbow grease cleaning it up, the old compressor is running like a top.