Hate to tell you all this but sorry can't resist. I was in the market for a compressor, not a silent one in particular but I was at a boot sale where I came across a 24ltr jobbie and asked how much. The guy said "sorry mate I think it's bust. I've already sold it this morning and they brought it back saying it didn't work." I thought I might be able to fix it so asked how much and he said a tenner. At home I plugged it in, turned it on and sure enough nothing. The gauge was broken and read nothing but then I though it may have been full of air. I let some out and sure enough the pressure switch kicked in and up it started. Nothing wrong with it at all other than the broken gauge. The next week I was at the same boot sale, same trader and there was a silent compressor by Jun Air. They specialise in compressors for the dental industry. Knowing it was worth about £350+ again I asked how much and to my amasement exactly the same response as the week before. Someone (possibly the same person) had bought it found it not to work and had brought it back. Got it for a tenner as well. Got home plugged it in, let some air out and up it starts. Just a little dirty but other than that fine so two compressors for £20.
The story doesn't stop there though. There's a glass bubble on the side of the motor to show the oil level and while this appeared to be full it was actually empty. One night I left it on be accident (a dissadvantage of the quietness of the thing) and my airline had a leak so it must have run off and on all night. In the morning went out into the workshop and you could smell burning. Touched the motor and it was red hot. Switched it all off but the damage was done. The piston had seized and the motor had burnt out. Gutted I broke it down and split the motor and the piston assembly.I managed to free up the piston but the motor was bust. I took the motor off to a rewinder but the quote was a joke. Then took it to a compressor specialist. He thought he might have a spare motor and said to leave it with him. I heard nothing for a week and couldn't get him on the phone. In the end I just had to turn up three times to catch him in and it's quite a way to him shop. Quite annoyed by this I had a bit of a moan and he appologised and said that the spare motor had also burnt out. He handed me a box with my motor and his spare in. I asked what I owed him for the time and he said nothing so off I went.
Back home something didn't seem right. The coils on his spare looked fine, mine were all chared and as I didn't give him my piston assembly I guess he had just tried his unit complete on the bench. On the off chance the same thing had happened to the previous owner of this compressor in that it had run out of oil and seized I thought that unlike me they may have switched it off in time to save the motor. Bottom line was that I swapped my piston assembly over to his motor, put it all back together and to my disbelief it ran smoother than ever. Fixed for £0. Two years later it's still going strong and it's by far and away my best ever bargin purchase. Despite what I paid for it, if it broke completely I wouldn't hesitate to pay full price for one having had one for so long. Just not a Jun Air one. After looking up the price, since it's a medical one (not that there's any difference) it retails at £750. Ouch!
Just to make you guys a little more green, the 24ltr compressor was so loud and comparatively big that I never used it so it went onto ebay and made £35 so in the end I got the silent one for £0 plus £15 back. :wink:
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