JHZR2
Staff member
Hi,
Im asking this in the G&OT forum because it is not rally about compressor or related lubrication, it is more theoretical, and it is because I made a big error.
So, what is the difference between a vacuum pump and a compressor? Is a vacuum pump and compressor the same thing, with the duty end on opposite sides?
The reason I ask is this. before I bought my house, I already anticipated needing an air compressor, and so I bought a really nice 110V makita. Big enough to do most anything that Id ever be using it for, as it was a bit oversized for what I wanted anyway.
Finall, a year later, I need to use it, so I put oil in to commence break in. OK, fine. Flipped the switch, ran it with the drain open for 20 minutes to break in. When I came to check on it, it looked like the oil had some bubbles in it and was splashing around quite a bit. hmmmmmm... Looked closer, and I realized that I did not remove the little plastic cap from the intake. When I was checking that it was running OK, I felt a little bit of air coming out of the drain, and figured this was OK, nothing was abnormal... but then I saw the cap.
So, I essentially ran my air compressor as a vacuum pump during breakin, i.e. I had a lot of suction, and not much air passinbg through.
WHat do you think? Did I kill it? After the oil settled for a while I closed the valve and re-ran it for about about 30 seconds. It filled the two tanks to over 40 psi at that point. Seemed to work fine. I am now letting it run properly, with air intake open, drain valve open, and will shut it down and replace the makita OEM oil with amsoil iso100 compressor oil.
But do you think I did it a big disservice by running it with the intake plugged for so long?
Thanks,
JMH
Im asking this in the G&OT forum because it is not rally about compressor or related lubrication, it is more theoretical, and it is because I made a big error.
So, what is the difference between a vacuum pump and a compressor? Is a vacuum pump and compressor the same thing, with the duty end on opposite sides?
The reason I ask is this. before I bought my house, I already anticipated needing an air compressor, and so I bought a really nice 110V makita. Big enough to do most anything that Id ever be using it for, as it was a bit oversized for what I wanted anyway.
Finall, a year later, I need to use it, so I put oil in to commence break in. OK, fine. Flipped the switch, ran it with the drain open for 20 minutes to break in. When I came to check on it, it looked like the oil had some bubbles in it and was splashing around quite a bit. hmmmmmm... Looked closer, and I realized that I did not remove the little plastic cap from the intake. When I was checking that it was running OK, I felt a little bit of air coming out of the drain, and figured this was OK, nothing was abnormal... but then I saw the cap.
So, I essentially ran my air compressor as a vacuum pump during breakin, i.e. I had a lot of suction, and not much air passinbg through.
WHat do you think? Did I kill it? After the oil settled for a while I closed the valve and re-ran it for about about 30 seconds. It filled the two tanks to over 40 psi at that point. Seemed to work fine. I am now letting it run properly, with air intake open, drain valve open, and will shut it down and replace the makita OEM oil with amsoil iso100 compressor oil.
But do you think I did it a big disservice by running it with the intake plugged for so long?
Thanks,
JMH
