[AT] OT, Bogus horsepower ratings

[Mike M]

I did the same thing,  Alan. I have a 15 year old Coleman oiless unit 
that I bought from Home Depot I believe, one of the big box stores. I 
don't have a big need for air, just filling tires, air nailers, air 
ratchets, that sort of thing. It's getting older, and I stopped in to 
the local Horror Freight, and saw a two stage unit that looked nice for 
$150. I got it home, unpackaged it, added the oil, and plugged it in. It 
ran for about 2 seconds, and blew it's internal fuse. I waited a few 
minutes, reset it, and tried it again with the same result.  I opened 
the owners manual, and saw that they wanted me to break it in for 30 
minutes with the air valve completely wide open and the fitting removed. 
I did that, and tried it again. This time it ran until the gauge was 
reading about 20lbs of pressure, and it tripped. I reset it and tried it 
again, another 10lbs and it tripped. I put it back in the box and took 
it back and returned it. Total time at my house, about 2 hours. It was 
pretty apparent that they engineered the motor to be "just" powerful 
enough with no reserve, what a piece of crap. Lesson learned.

Mike M


On 3/31/2017 11:33 AM, Alan Nadeau wrote:
>   I got caught up in the scam over compressor HP
>> That was another item they were sued over. With the electrics they would
>>   take the amp readings of the motor with the rotor locked! Then
>> calculate the HP based on that number instead of using the actual
>> amperage at the rated RPM. So you get compressor motors listed as 5-6 HP
>> on a motor that might make 3HP on a good day...
>>
> At one point I needed more air volume than my well used Ajax, 3 hp
> compressor could put out.  So, right then I was going to buy a compressor,
> not tomorrow or after any intelligent shopping,, THEN!!  And I did just that
> a Campbell-Hausfeld being sold under the Home Sleazo banner.  6½ HP.  WRONG!
> The current rating on the motor makes it right around 3 HP.   In the box
> where it says "HP" it says "Special rating".  Yup one of them "Before the
> smoke comes out" motors.
>
> 20 years older now and a lot smarter about such things.
>
>
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