Alpha-Carette Compressors

I've had one for two years now. I don't have air readily available, so I bought an Alpha-Carette compressor from JoeB. I haven't used it as much as I thought I would. That being said, I have tried to run it at least once a month to keep it fresh. I have about 10 hours on it. It has run great until this year. First I blew a burst disc in it for no apparent reason. It has 5500 psi discs in it and it blew at around 3000 psi, unless the gauge is that far off. No biggie, I just called Joe and he sent one right out. I replaced it and then filled up one tank from around 220 bar to 350 bar. At the end of that fill up, it seized up tight on the high pressure side.

I couldn't get a hold of Joe and ended up searching on here about the problem and found that someone else had the same problem and it cost him around $100 bucks to get a new cylinder head sent out. He also included a video about the disassembly. I took it apart and could not get the piston out of the sleeve. I soaked it in WD-40 overnight and then used a dowel rod to beat the daylights out of it. It broke free and I cleaned it really well. I ran some 0000 steel wool all over it and got it lubed back up and installed. Had to clean a bunch of burnt oil off of the inside of everything in that chamber. I put it all back together and refilled the coolant and purged the air. I have filled up two more tanks and it has returned to normal. No loss of pressure or fill time.

It kinda made me sick to my stomach when it seized up, as of course my warranty period had passed. With a little time and effort it was back to working again and now I know a little more about how they work and the parts involved. I think they are good little machines and do the job quietly and well but there are a lot of different options out there now in the same price range. 

HEADS UP ONE JUST POPPED UP ON THE CLASSIFIEDS FOR $1700.00 BUY IT AS A SPARE IN CASE YOURS FAILS.

ESPECIALLY SINCE THERES OBVIOUSLY ZERO DEALER SUPPORT AFTER THE SALE!!!

I’ve had mine for 2 years, 60hrs without any problems. I tend to baby it with generous warm up / cool down and only fill to 4300 once a week and oil change every 8hrs. Because of the high price charged per fill by the only local 4500 source, it has paid for itself. I’m expecting to get around 80hrs out of it before needing an overhaul at which time I may be thinking Alkin. Uj

Start cheap and spend a lot, ask me how I know. I own 5 compressors. 4 Chinese, one Italian made. 2 Yung Hengs no longer used, but worked fine, as long as you keep cool water running through them. My Carette/Kalette ??? had high pressure cylinder freeze up, replaced cylinder assembly. DAVV SU100 also had high side cylinder/piston freeze up, replaced piston/cylinder assembly. Running Coltri oil in both. Daystate LC110 (Coltri) has a burnt up motor, with less than an hour run time. Rather than mess with warranty, (return shipping $$$) found another motor for $99. If I live long enough to need another compressor, it will be an ALKIN FOR SURE!

My Carette currently looks like the high pressure piston and cylinder need to be replaced. It might have 200 hours on it. Replaced oil, disassembled/cleaned/reassembled both low and high pressure cylinders at 25 hours and then every 50 hours after. Sounds like no one has had luck getting parts from airtanksforsale. I did see some have had luck reaching out to another party by emailing [email protected] about the parts, which I have done but have not heard back. Without having easy access to parts, can't say that I would recommend. Parts availability and being able to rebuild should be key in decided what to go with.

[email protected] is where I got my parts from. Like anything overseas and this time of year, it may take awhile. I've done a lot of research, and most of these compressors use a machined rod in a machined fit sleeve, as the high pressure cylinder. Exact fit, and no room for carbon build up, etc. etc. and little room for lubrication. And once they have worn a little, (usually noticeable by not building high pressure) the only option is to replace. Some like Yung Hengs have fiber type rings that can be replaced. Alkin, I believe, has real steel rings on their high side piston. I could be wrong?

REGARDLESS I personally feel that that last 4000psi to 4500psi is the compressor killer or at least the major stress and wear range.

SINCE YOU own the compressor even if you more frequently fill your tanks to 3600psi you probably got 100x less compressor wear filling to only 3600psi compared to just one time filling to 4500psi. Same goes with filling PCP guns all the way if rated to 300 bar.

Like revving your engine all the way past the red line to bury the tachometer.

REGARDLESS I personally feel that that last 4000psi to 4500psi is the compressor killer or at least the major stress and wear range.

SINCE YOU own the compressor even if you more frequently fill your tanks to 3600psi you probably got 100x less compressor wear filling to only 3600psi compared to just one time filling to 4500psi. Same goes with filling PCP guns all the way if rated to 300 bar.

Like revving your engine all the way past the red line to bury the tachometer.

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Could be right. Common sense would suggest more pressure equals more mechanical stress. How much difference? That I think is harder to quantify. And I think there would be a big difference in filling a tank to 3600 psi vs. filling an air tube to 3600 psi. An air tube to 300 bar might be the same amount of "stress" (or less) as a tank to 250.

[email protected] is where I got my parts from. Like anything overseas and this time of year, it may take awhile. I've done a lot of research, and most of these compressors use a machined rod in a machined fit sleeve, as the high pressure cylinder. Exact fit, and no room for carbon build up, etc. etc. and little room for lubrication. And once they have worn a little, (usually noticeable by not building high pressure) the only option is to replace. Some like Yung Hengs have fiber type rings that can be replaced. Alkin, I believe, has real steel rings on their high side piston. I could be wrong?

Click to expand...

i am one of the few Earlybirds with the Carette (directly from China) dealt directly through bosunhu1984@gmail it was working great for about 3 hrs (would have to confirm) & i didnt use it for a few months (no time to shoot) started it up & it would not build air & shut off , contacted bosun Thru E/M & he wants me to do a Facetime wth it , to try to diagnose , I do not know how to facetime with my smarter than me phone & will wait till someone comes around to do it for me, my buddy is supposed to someday, & it is on it's own 20 AMP breaker & has the Jb filter & aux coolant tank (thanks Humdinger).. PS a Power Surge took out my PC & i lost all of the cnversations with Bosunhu/ if you read this Bosun please contac me.. BTW No the power surge did not effect the compressor , the Carette went down months ago before the power surge was (about 6 weeks ago