Air compressor that was flooded?

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
So my big ass 1950s era two stage air compressor got water in it. Ugh. It was behind my shop waiting for me to pour the pad to mount it (came out of the old shop) and apparently during the last big storm we had, it either got blown over or flooded over and the water flooded it. Normally it is a dry area under the shed roof, but we must have gotten so much rain that it made a good river flowing through there. I just realized it yesterday, not sure how long it has been sitting with water in it. I stood it up with the help of some friends (bastard is like 1000#) and drained the oil and it was full of water and all chocolate milky. What all so I need to do to make sure this thing will run again? It is an awesome compressor and I'm wanting to get it set up again soon.
 
if you can purchase headgaskets for the comp, i would pull the head and check the cylinder walls.

Otherwise, maybe treat it like you would an old gas engine.... put some oil in the cylinder to soak, and manually rotate the crank to verify it is free/not rusted.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
if you can purchase headgaskets for the comp, i would pull the head and check the cylinder walls.

Otherwise, maybe treat it like you would an old gas engine.... put some oil in the cylinder to soak, and manually rotate the crank to verify it is free/not rusted.
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I'm not sure I can get gaskets. It is an old Wayne Compressor and apparently there are no parts for it. It was built in the early 50s I believe. I might just go about it like I would a gas engine and hope for the best.
 
Electric motors and water do not like each other. I going to assume it was driven by electricity.
 
It couldn't have been wet for very long, its hard to imagine there's any rusting or anything... and you haven't run it w/ the water in it (I'm assuming). As mentioned, I'd run a little demulsifier or marvel mystery in it to clear it out, then replace w/ fresh oil and let 'er rip for awhile.
Where did the water seep in from? Is the oiling chamber not independent of the air flow in/out?
 
RatLabGuy said:
It couldn't have been wet for very long, its hard to imagine there's any rusting or anything... and you haven't run it w/ the water in it (I'm assuming). As mentioned, I'd run a little demulsifier or marvel mystery in it to clear it out, then replace w/ fresh oil and let 'er rip for awhile.
Where did the water seep in from? Is the oiling chamber not independent of the air flow in/out?
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Honestly, I'm not sure where the water got in from. It normally doesn't get wet back there, but during the big rain it must have been a river through there because all the gravel and everything is washed away, so the whole thing may have been under water. I soaked down the motor in oil so hopefully that isn't too effed up.
 
Blaze said:
Honestly, I'm not sure where the water got in from. It normally doesn't get wet back there, but during the big rain it must have been a river through there because all the gravel and everything is washed away, so the whole thing may have been under water. I soaked down the motor in oil so hopefully that isn't too effed up.
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Is this thing big enough that you can hand turn the pump in any way? It would be nice to manually run through a couple cycles to push any water rout of the chamber. E.g..... water pump.
 
Motor is probably fine as long as you make 100% sure it's bone dry before putting the juice back to it. The bearings might not last as long now but I'd run it.till it seized motors are cheap. I echo everyone else with regard to the pump. Take apart what you.can and oil the crap out.of.it.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Is this thing big enough that you can hand turn the pump in any way? It would be nice to manually run through a couple cycles to push any water rout of the chamber. E.g..... water pump.
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Yeah, the wheel on it is like 1.5-2ft in diameter so I can turn it by hand.
 
Get all the water out that you can, oil it all up and then cover the whole business with plastic with a heat lamp under there to cook off all the remaining moisture.
 
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