While there are many tricks to cooling, my problem is that the compressor is in a shed outdoors. Right now, the afternoon temps are 95 to 100F. If you want to keep the head temp under 150 (65C) or so, that becomes a real problem.
The best cooling luck I've had is to start with a 5 gallon bucket of cool water from the tap. Don't recycle, just have a hose ready and have the water pump directly outdoors onto the ground. Refill the 5 gallon bucket every few minutes from the hose to keep the cool water running. Around here, water is between 65 and 70 degrees out of the hose in summer.
I've never needed more than the filter that comes with the compressor. I do have an extra filter (the black one, whatever that is. I think I spent $30 for it). The filter is most valuable for the extra hose it came with. I had to remove the valve last week, no sign of water or anything else. Then again, humidity around here is pretty low, below 10% on a solid hot day.
I do bleed every 3 to 5 minutes just to make sure there's no buildup in the compressor.
I have had problems with the compressor, as the piston broke, but that was fixed with about $30 in parts off Ali Express and 3 months waiting. They are really pretty tough little compressors considering what we ask them to do. I've been happy with mine overall.
Interesting. This seems to be exactly why I've had the best luck using a smaller reservoir (2 gal.) with crushed ice and an external fan. Arkansas summers routinely get to upper 90's and my Yong Heng (in an ouside shop) will top off a similar range and stay well below 60C while doing so.
Absolutely feel that pain, weather has been crazy hot here and it makes it even harder to fill my tank. I really think I'm going to order a firehouse adapter from Air Venturi and go get it filled there (bottle is totally empty) and use the YH to just keep it topped off. Makes sense to me haha.
Certainly a good idea. I did the same before getting my MCH6. The top offs aren't too bad but filling a large tank from empty would be a struggle for a Yong Heng, though it could be done in 10 minute stages.
I haven't had time to do this yet, but I've been tempted to:
- get a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot
- Pick up a float valve from the Swamp Cooler department
- Pick up enough adapters to hook the swamp cooler float valve to a garden hose
- install the swamp cooler float valve in the bucket about half way up
- Put the yong heng pump in the bottom
- Turn the water on to the hose
- fill the bucket to the float valve setting
- turn on the pump and just pump / drain the water to wherever outside my shed.
that would give me a constant 70F supply of water in the hottest time of the day. I could skip any ice and such, simply wouldn't be needed. Since that should keep the compressor temps down, I suspect I could run it for half hour or hour at a time filling tanks.
As for costs of the compressor: - Compressor $240
- Cheap black filter you can get on eBay for $30
- Home Depot Husky full synthetic compressor oil $7
That's my total in setting up the compressor and when it works, it works.
Repairs:
- Piston rebuild - probably $40 in parts (top of piston, rings, etc) 8 weeks waiting for parts
- Replaced the oil seal around the front cover - $10 and 8 weeks waiting for the new seal (the black rubber thing that goes right behind the front cover.)
- Replace explosion proof fitting and such - $10 and 4 weeks waiting (just ordered last night)
- Replaced some bonded washer on the very top. Didn't trust the replacement parts that came with the compressor, so bought new. I think $6, but this thing leaked from the factory and it took me a year to figure that leak out.
In all, I've got $300 or so in the compressor, but lots of hours with a wrench and about 5 months down waiting for parts from China.
Now, here's the question.
Would I buy another one? Absolutely, YES. I think I got a lemon, but considering the cheapest "Name brand" compressors that can fill bottles are around $1500 and up, my $300 investment could easily be considered a disposable. I can buy 5 of these and stay ahead of 1 of the name brand types. And, I believe they all come out of the same factories with different name plates bolted on.
When I bought this one, I considered it a disposable and it's sure paid off. The number of tanks I've gone through would have killed me at the paintball shop. Yes, even with all the problems, it's been a good investment. that's just my opinion.
And in the end, I like to tinker. It was frustrating when it broke, but I enjoyed learning the internals when I did the repairs. This one may very well become a parts / backup machine bur I'm still money ahead.
