Failed to find check valve now looking for another A. Compressor

[YLee Kioti]

So just spoke with a Quincy rep. in New Braunfels. Here's the summary.
A 3.5hp unit will eat pressure switch due to frequent cycling and small contacts and new switch is about $700 or so. (fact or fiction or a sales guy being a sales guy? have no clue)
His recommendation is the QT54 because it comes with a mag. starter prewired.
Next he explained that trying to install a mag starter on the 3.5hp unit would be difficult and not a very doable approach.
I viewed a few videos of folks installing them on different brands. I cannot conceive why this model would be any different.
Well a visit to Quincy website and opening up the PDF, I did not see a mag. starter on the QT54 but on the QT5. So Hm, sales pitch to supersize my fries?
So, I am asking for a sanity check from those that have installed a mag starter after the fact.
The difference in price from the 3.5hp ($1400), versus the QT54 ($2,000) is what he quoted me as the replacement Press. Sw. for the 3.5hp unit.
I don't do drugs and am now wondering if I stepped into the twilight zone.
Sanity/reality check please???? Whew this will be worthwhile and well done early next year but this leg work....heh...Oh joy...!

 

[WinterDeere]

Half truth. If the larger unit has a contactor or other motor starter, and the pressure switch is only toggling the coil to that rather than the motor current directly, then yes... the pressure switch contacts will last longer, assuming they're the same size and rating.

But you're only transferring that problem to the contactor or motor starter, which will now be toggling the motor current, so you've only relocated that particular "problem".

I'd consider the larger compressor if you plan to do a lot of needle scaling or air hammering, just because those two tools use a crap-ton of air. But unless this guy knows of some design deficiency that's causing their 3.5 hp unit to eat pressure switch contacts (bad design? under-sized switch?), I wouldn't let the current-switching device be a factor in my decision.

Do you have the p/n of the pressure switch? What's its hot-switch rating? Do they have a supressor on the motor, such as an MOV or TVS? If switches are failing, and FLA of motor is well below switch rating, then usually additon of a suppressor to the motor is a cheap and simple fix for that. But the manufacturer should have already figured this out, it shouldn't be on you to worry about their design.

 

[YLee Kioti]

Half truth. If the larger unit has a contactor or other motor starter, and the pressure switch is only toggling the coil to that rather than the motor current directly, then yes... the pressure switch contacts will last longer, assuming they're the same size and rating.

But you're only transferring that problem to the contactor or motor starter, which will now be toggling the motor current, so you've only relocated that particular "problem".

I'd consider the larger compressor if you plan to do a lot of needle scaling or air hammering, just because those two tools use a crap-ton of air. But unless this guy knows of some design deficiency that's causing their 3.5 hp unit to eat pressure switch contacts (bad design? under-sized switch?), I wouldn't let the current-switching device be a factor in my decision.

Do you have the p/n of the pressure switch? What's its hot-switch rating? Do they have a supressor on the motor, such as an MOV or TVS? If switches are failing, and FLA of motor is well below switch rating, then usually additon of a suppressor to the motor is a cheap and simple fix for that. But the manufacturer should have already figured this out, it shouldn't be on you to worry about their design.

Just got a reply from Bud. His company, The Compressor Guru, out of Pa.
He told me the same thing.
And added (He's also a Quincy dealer btw), that he had a heavy duty switch if this one failed.Also added no switch for any Quincy is near Hunnert bucks.
So this local fella was being a sales guy.
I now have two solid sources with the same reply.
Now, I go into project planning.
BOM for electrical, and another oil, water separator and half inch bolts to anchor down.
Y'all been awesome, greatly appreciate it all!

 

[bigtiller]

I have a Quincy QT54 and it is nice to have 15cfm even if I don't need it.

I bought a pressure switch for it from Grainger Industries for it. I forget the price but it was under $50.

Mine has an automatic condensate valve on the tank and that is something I highly recommend. I set it to blow for 2 seconds every 6 hours.

 

[WinterDeere]

Mine has an automatic condensate valve on the tank and that is something I highly recommend. I set it to blow for 2 seconds every 6 hours.

Same. Wish I'd added it a decade or two sooner than I did, but they weren't available back then!

 

[YLee Kioti]

Yeah this is gonna be a good winter project.
Will add this also to my BoM.
And a serendipity as I was staring into the electrical panel, I have 30 amp 220 ckt. Already run.
It used to power the old 40 gallon wtr. Htr in the shop loft.
So my run will be relatively simpler.
Northern Tools in New Braunfels stocks expendable supplies and retails the Quincy.
So a date trip for my honey and I.
Get some German grub, and I get to go tool shopping.
Northern tools is my candy store, next to HF...heh..heh
Lol.....

 

[YLee Kioti]

Be sure you're calculating the guy's material right, wire is expensive, and also accounting for his travel time. But if your $1900/2.5hr = $760/hour claim is right, then yeah... that's awful greedy. I'd guess the going rate on residential work is probably closer to $125/hour these days, but that's only a guess based on older data and inflation.

But a job like this is simple and straightforward enough, it's hard to justify hiring it out. 3/4" EMT, 3 AWG-10 conductors of THHN or THWN, breaker and receptacle rated for your wire type, gauge, and amperage... all of which is likely already spelled out in the novel-sized manual that comes with any stationary equipment, these days.

Yeah, you could do PVC, if you want it to look like hell. It sags, it yellows, it breaks... it is embarassing for anything other than burial, IMO. EMT is just too easy to bother with PVC, in any non-corrosive space.

Oh, and there are swept bends for inside corners as well, if you don't like bending your own or using the pulling elbows. Just use a coupler on either end of the bend to connect the straights, all on the same page:

View attachment 4310923

Oh, and lookie... conduit clamps for fasetening it to the wall are just to the left of that, and the adapters to interface with your panel and receptacle box knockouts are to the right of the page.

Yeah thanks for all this. Really, cause I was staring at the breaker box and DUH!!!
The old 40 gal. wtr. htr. tank was removed for a tankless and freed up this 30 amp 220vac circuit. I'll remove the armored cable and run EMT up to ceiling purlins and south towards the roll up door and drop it next to welding plug.
Ta-Da...!!!
Once again my fantastic skills to miss the obvious shines forth...!!!
Gonna be a great winter project, already jazzed up and got my document open and laying it out.
While I'm at it will order a 50' Rapid Air kit.
Gonna run it up and across the ceiling and drop it down to my shop bench.
That way I"ll have air to blow off stuff, and not have to run the 50 footer across the floor.
Yeah man I'm liking this!

 

[WinterDeere]

Nice! EMT is cleanest, but armor cable is also perfectly acceptable, esp up in the rafters.

 

[YLee Kioti]

Nice! EMT is cleanest, but armor cable is also perfectly acceptable, esp up in the rafters.

I had considered armored cable.
That it would be six foot from loft to ceiling, 29 foot along purlin to the end wall of roll up door, down 10 feet.
Armored cabke certainly would be easier me. I'm 74 and the healthiest of all siblings on both sides.
Which is why I invested in a 10 foot ladder with platform. Cause there are about five more shop lights to install! One way to stay healthy and safe.
Pulling #10, wife would have to help feed cable.
She did that with me when running a CAT6 in 3/4 PVC buried for a 60 foot run. Took her to dinner for that!
If you see no down side (other than cost) I'd rather run armored.
Thoughts?

 

[WinterDeere]

If you see no down side (other than cost) I'd rather run armored.

Either is perfectly acceptable. If you don't want to see armored running down your wall, you could also mount a box up above and transition from armored to EMT at that box. If it's a short run of EMT just down the wall, you could even do it without a splice, just strip the armor off the last several feet, and leave a service loop in the box in case you ever want or need to cut and splice later.

I have armored running thru the rafters in my own barn, for most of the lighting, but only ever use EMT when running on the wall in a finished shop space.

Make sure you know which cable clamps to use with armored cable, they're not the same as NM-B (Romex) clamps, and make sure you know how to terminate the sheathing so it won't chafe the wiring. But there's nothing wrong with armor, other than cosmetics.