I keep preaching, “heat is the enemy of compressors”. I always run two 12 inch fans directly on the heads of my two cat comprers. , Before that, the 3 or 4 generations of SchoeBox compressors were always open and a 12 inch fan run on the cylinders.
When the first virus lockdown started, not knowing where it would lead as far as infrastructure and having lived a survival lifestyle, I purchased two 35 gallon garbage cans and filled them with water. They set less than 5 feet away from my two first stage California Air Tool compressors that power and produce air for my Altaros Booster system. While monitoring the compressors for heat using my laser temp gauge, my mind wanders to two seperate seneriios.
First is not about heat, it is about setting my system up to run on solar, I had a Solar electric 2800 sq ft earth beamed house, only house in 110 square miles, I designed and lived in for 20 years.
Second is to wrap my 4 CAT cylinder heads with vynl tubing and pump water through it from those garbage cans via a pond pump.
Right now though, in the heat of summer, my cylinder heads run 120-130 F, but that temperature is less than a minute as when they shut down for 3 minutes, they return to room temperature as they depressurize so I would be addressing a problem that does not exist and perhaps releasing water vapor into the air by exposing the cans contents.
If I loose one of the CATs to heat related wear, I will probably buy that tubing and pond pump. The first senerio with the solar would make it pretty trick.
When I first designed this system, I had the option of a 220 volt, 2-2hp engines with 4 cylinders cooled and dried compressor with a 60 gallon tank, but it cost one hell of a lot of money and I did not want to run a 220vokt line.
Regards,
RoachcreAnd
now the often shown picture if my baby.
