air compressor oil question

Ray · May 4, 2014

Going to change the oil in my older two cylinder
100 gallon tank air compressor.Is there special oil for this,or different weights of oil?The owners manual doesn't say much about this just says not to use motor oil.Local hardware store has some that says light duty.Lowes has some that says 100 on the bottle.That's for kobalt compressors,probably with aluminum housings.The stuff that came out looked pretty thick.

John B. · May 4, 2014

I use non-detergent engine oil in mine and never had a problem over 20 yrs. I talked to an oil salesman and he said an air compressor dealer wanted green oil for their new compressors and their name on the bottle. The salesman said we can make oil any color you want! This way people think it takes special oil if it's a certain color...

Bob M · May 4, 2014

I have an old (40+ years) Campbell-Housfeld with a 2 cylinder cast iron pump. A stated in in the manual, I've run "good quality 10W30 motor oil" in the pump since new. It's given me no problems whatsoever.

It's likely 10W30 will work fine in your pump too.

IH2444 · May 4, 2014

I would recommend synthetic for it.

NCWayne · May 4, 2014

Most regular piston compressors need nothing more than a good 30 weight, non-detergent oil to run. The main difference between the non-detergent oil and regular detergent engine oil when it comes to being run in a compressor is that it has less of a chance of foaming....at least that"s what I have always been told.

Hal/ Eastern WA · May 4, 2014

I have had good luck with synthetic compressor oil. My compressor sits in an unheated area and sometimes when it was real cold, the regular oil would get so thick that it would cause the breaker for the compressor to trip when it switched on.

But since I put in synthetic oil, the breaker has never tripped once.

The synthetic oil cost about 3 times what plain motor oil cost, but I think it was worth it for that application. Good luck!

Hobo,NC · May 4, 2014

(quoted from post at 04:55:32 05/05/14) Most regular piston compressors need nothing more than a good 30 weight, non-detergent oil to run. The main difference between the non-detergent oil and regular detergent engine oil when it comes to being run in a compressor is that it has less of a chance of foaming....at least that"s what I have always been told.

Whut he said... I brought a used almost new compressor and the guy gave me a case of Ingersoll Rand select compressor oil. Till then I ran 30wt non detergent oil... I used the IR select in both of my compressors and liked the fact that the oil did not turn to milk real soon like it did with other oils...

I pay the price for IR select if the price bother me I would use 30wt ND.... I don't think the IR oil will make it last any longer the main thing is to change the oil... I change it every six mo. I cycle mu compressors I run one in the winter and one in the summer its a 6 mo cycle...

Steve@Advance · May 4, 2014

Place I worked for 19 long years... Had an assortment of recip compressors, oldest and best, a 1955 Devil-bis.

It ran 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Rebuilt it when I first went to work there and put non detergent 30w in.

It ran good for years but about once a year I would have to pull the exhaust valves and clean the carbon out.

Then I went to synthetic oil. Never had to clean the valves again!

I'm sold!

rustred · May 4, 2014

as far as I have seen in these old compressors is to use 10 weight oil as on their sticker. but I sure don't see any thing wrong with 10-30 or 5-30. or even hyd. oil. its not an engine , just lubing the crank and cyl's. so anything that don't foam is good probably even auto trans oil. just not gear oil as it is pretty thick in cool weather. you know manufactures always push their product... "use only compressor oil".

Anonymous-0 · May 5, 2014

Don't know about dirty valves. but I changed three compressors over to Amsoil synthetic air compressor oil, I believe 20 weight, and can't believe how much more quiet they are when running. More expensive but worth it.

Wile E · May 5, 2014

In 2003 I had a new rotary screw compressor installed at where I worked at that time.
From brand new we used 10 wt synthetic oil, super thin, that compressor ran 24/7, I shut it off on long weekends and holidays. That thing was a machine, 25 HP, $1 per hour in electricity to run it.

air compressor oil question

Ray

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John B.

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Bob M

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IH2444

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NCWayne

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Hal/ Eastern WA

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Hobo,NC

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Steve@Advance

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rustred

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Anonymous-0

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Wile E

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