dayton speedaire home compressor

by greg
(south florida)

The compressor is a small 10 gallon horizontal tank 120VAC model that is used to power small air tools etc. It has worked great for 5-6 years and recently developed the following problem.

After a few start / stop cycles oil will leak out of the dipstick.

It appears the dipstick is also used as a crankcase vent since it is very tall and has two vent holes on each side.

If I run the compressor without the dipstick and cover the hole with my thumb I can feel a good amount of pressure building and removing your thumb will make a very obvious pressure relief sound. Is the compressor shot and I have excessive blow-by or is there something I could be overlooking prior to condemning the unit? Thanks, Greg

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Bill says...

Greg, hello and thanks for writing in.

I'm guessing you have a gasket failure in the compressor head somewhere, and it's allowing compressed air to be driven into the sump.

Cheers,

Bill