anyone know if i can convert this?

91stranger said:

So I got an old air compressor and it has a 220v motor on it. I checked the tag and inside it and it cannot be wired for 110v. So I need to know if I can convert this plug to either a 110v plug or if there is another way around this. I don't have 220 at my house so right now its just a big heavy paper weight. I had it sold and I told the guy since I couldn't test it for him that if he didn't want it I would give him his money back and he said it ran good but has a pinhole in the tank. my plan is to drill the pinhole and put a drain plug in. But I'm not going to do all that work if I cant use it at all.

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that may be an issue. if the pinhole becomes a crack the tank may rupture. its a remote possibility but needs addressed. all tanks are bare steel inside, and they rust.
have you ever been next to a tire that blew with just 32 PSI?

the last compressor I bought actually has an expiration date tag permanently attached.

Yeah, compressor tank explosions are nothing nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVP_A7eGYxw

My concern is the pin hole. That suggests to me that the inside has rusted from the moisture of the compressed air, and could eventually fail and blow apart.

If the motor is good, maybe you should consider looking for another tank to mount the compressor to, or just springing for another compressor.

When you say you don't have 230 at your house does that mean no electric range or clothes dryer? Would take a bit of wiring (or a long extension cord) and might interfere with other household operations (and potentially with marital bliss) but could be a possibility.

Potential problem with drilling out, plugging pinhole (is this on the bottom of tank, by chance) is that condensed water tends to sit in tank if not drained and rust the walls, creating thin spots. You have found one spot where it is rusted through, could be more thin spots in the area that have not rusted through YET.

cool. I have that same compressor at my house. it cost maybe 150 bucks to have an electrician wire me up a 220 outlet below my main panel.

that is a pretty decent compressor, my Grandpa used it for shop air at his farm up in wisconsin, and when he sold the farm he gave me the compressor.

AJ

RonD said:

And +1 to Denisefwd93 who knows electrical as well

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RonD said:

A Healthy respect for electricity, in any form, is never a bad thing

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And then there is me, who laughed at a guy for being afraid pulling the trans out of a hybrid, and Friday night while wiring sockets for my new shop lights I stopped and licked my sub-panel.

I think my compressor is a few years newer than yours... it has a plastic belt shroud and all plastic wheels... plus the model number is 4 digits higher. the motor manufacturer plate is a sticker where yours is riveted on. other than that, it is the same compressor. I did have to make an adapter to use that funky plug that you have in your picture fit a standard 220 volt appliance plug.

Compressor Pics..






I do remember in the early 2000's when I got the compressor looking to adapt the motor over to 110 volts like you did and found out I couldn't do it without swapping the motor. so the compressor sat in my garage for about 8 years and when i moved to Indiana and bought a house I made sure I had an outlet for it. I paid about 150 for an electrician to install one for me when I had some other stuff done to the house right after we bought it.

it works great. and when it was on my Grandpa's farm, I did use it to paint one of his tractors.

AJ

Yeah its a solid heavy duty little air compressor. I probably could get 220 wired up but I'm not that pushed for it. right now my garage is 50 feet away from the house and I don't want to buy the wire for that length. The pin hole situation is on the bottom of the tank. I'm sure the bottom of the tank is no good since there's one hole already. I did take a self tapper and drilled it into the pinhole with a rubber seal and that fixed the leak temporarily. I thought about adding a second drain cock if the steel is ok. I don't have money to throw around so it will probably get pushed to the back of the garage and be used for parts if I get another air compressor. hoping to find one on craigslist with a bad pump for cheap. for now I got my 4hp 11 gallon coleman that works good enough. I don't need a big air compressor any more now that I have a bad ass cordless impact. I just got this at an auction for cheap and thought it would be handy.

91stranger said:

Yeah its a solid heavy duty little air compressor. I probably could get 220 wired up but I'm not that pushed for it. right now my garage is 50 feet away from the house and I don't want to buy the wire for that length. The pin hole situation is on the bottom of the tank. I'm sure the bottom of the tank is no good since there's one hole already. I did take a self tapper and drilled it into the pinhole with a rubber seal and that fixed the leak temporarily. I thought about adding a second drain cock if the steel is ok. I don't have money to throw around so it will probably get pushed to the back of the garage and be used for parts if I get another air compressor. hoping to find one on craigslist with a bad pump for cheap. for now I got my 4hp 11 gallon coleman that works good enough. I don't need a big air compressor any more now that I have a bad ass cordless impact. I just got this at an auction for cheap and thought it would be handy.

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put the compressor close to the house use a long (maybe oversized) hose! with a reel.

Denisefwd93 said:

put the compressor close to the house use a long (maybe oversized) hose! with a reel.

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that's kind of what I did. my 33 year old Montgomery Ward 2hp compressor is in the basement. drilled a hole thru the wall, plumed 1/4 pipe outside and installed a quick coupler. with hoses totaling 80 feet I can go from the front yard all the way to the back of the garage.

I figure that if the stealie boys want my compressor they will at least have to carry it up the basement steps.

Put a gas engine on it!

I can't believe you're even considering using it with a hole in the tank.

If it were my compressor I would have removed the motor and pump, torched a hole in the side to make it permanently unusable and scrapped it.

I know of two people in town that were gravely injured by compressed air accidents - one guy almost lost his legs when a tractor wheel came apart AFTER it was aired up and sitting against a wall. Same concept. Many, many occurrences of compressor tank failure out there.

It is just not worth saving $150 on a new compressor from Harbor Freight in this situation. Cripes man, if you're that hard up for cash, find a newer compressor with a bad pump - salvage the tank and build your own.

Denisefwd93 said:

Put a gas engine on it!

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Stop giving me ideas. My grandfather has a riding mower that is junk, but the engine is still good. And TSC has some big aux storage tanks.

Interested to know how this all shakes down. Been thinking of buying a bead blaster to take care of the minor rust and get rid of the stupid camo paint that came with my ’92 Ranger. Turns out that the only compressor I have (a Bostich "pancake" one) doesn’t have the CFM balls to run a blaster. Not worth spending 6 bills for a new compressor that can handle the load, on top of the couple hundred it will cost for the ‘blaster from my job. Nothing’s ever easy or cheap. But I do see compressors like this around on yard sales from time-to-time...

adsm08 said:

Stop giving me ideas. My grandfather has a riding mower that is junk, but the engine is still good. And TSC has some big aux storage tanks.

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Someone’s gotta be the first...