This item has been on the list for a while now. I’ve been wanting to repair my air compressor that’s been sitting in the shed for a while. Finally got round to it today after buying the items I wanted to start it up
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I did previously buy the parts to replace it, however whilst it was working, the previous pressure switch had a really poor spring. So it was never cut out and would always kick on again and start running unexpectedly. Even when turned down to it’s weakest setting. The air compressor was sitting in my old garage, it’s now moved to my shed and was sitting there. After recently working on over hauling my brake calipers and previous jobs spraying body panels on my car. I thought it would be beneficial for me to repair my air compressor so that I could run air tools as needed (even if limited usage)
What air compressor do I have?
The model is a Clarke Hunter 60 air compressor. It has a 2.5HP motor (1.86kw) which is S1 rated (continuous operation). It has a 50 litre air tank, and can output 12.5CFM of air, which is enough for most air tools that I would use in the shed. It can also power a spray gun so useful for basic spray painting tasks as opposed to a rattle based spray can
Why did I repair my air compressor?
The Air compressor was a really old one I purchased for my brother from machine mart for running air tools. Technology has improved since then where battery tools are preferred. However to repair my air compressor, it only cost me around £15 in parts. I purchased a new pressure switch with dual outlets, and had to buy a 3/8″ to 1/2″ – Female to Female adapter in order to connect everything up. I also used PTFE tape. It worked the last time I used it, and you never know when it’s useful for air compressors. At the very least I have a garage air compressor for inflating my car tyres when needed as I have a good quality tyre inflator too. This was always the aim, once permanently fitted in the shed I was going to run an air line to the air compressor so I can have one for tools, and one for other needs like inflating tyres
How do you wire up the pressure switch?
I had to jog my memory, but there’s basically 3 terminals on the Clarke Hunter 60. They’re in the manual for this if needed, but the terminals for a UK air compressor are Earth, Neutral and Live. If you have the most common colours (green/yellow, brown, blue). Then these are the wire colours. It was simply a case of crimping some new connectors on the wire, a couple of forks and a ring terminal. Then screwing them up into the relevant slots
- GREEN / YELLOW = Earth Wire (goes to Earth, marked with Earth Symbol)
- BROWN = Live Wire (goes to live terminal, marked with L)
- BLUE = Neutral Wire (goes to neutral terminal, marked with N)
What is the other terminals on the pressure switch?
Usually air compressors with a motor, will have a duplicate set of terminals on the other side of the air compressor. This is to feed power to the motor. Wiring is easy, as it’s usually just duplicating the input side
Which is the input / output side of a pressure switch ?
Easy to determine. The output side of the pressure switch is the side which has the wire going to the motor that feeds power into the air receiver. If you’re replacing a pressure switch then just duplicate the setup. Realistically, the side you’re wiring up doesn’t matter. As long as you stick to using the correct output terminals you can use either side for the input, and either side for the output. All the switch is doing is supplying power and cutting off power to the appropriate LIVE / NEUTRAL wires at the same time. Generally speaking though, you will be able to determine this as the side which feeds the pressure tank will have a hard copper pipe going straight from the motor into the receiver, with a small air line going to the switch for the pressure. Whichever side this pipe is, should be the output side. The other side is the input where you receive 240v power from. After this the air compressor power source is repaired, and fully wired up for testing
What oil do you need for the air compressors?
The Oil used in my air compressor is Clarke SAE30 compressor oil
Did it work?
Ofcourse. I made a longer video for testing on Youtube below, there’s also a small shorts video afterwards
