Ingersoll Rand rotary screw compressor has oil in air

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by william sullivan
(portadown)

Hi

We have oil in the air from I/R P380 rotary screw air compressor I have an ingersoll rand P380 compressor, it is putting oil into the air? Do you know how we can fix this problem?

Thanks, William

Ingersoll Rand XP 380 air compressor
Ingersoll Rand XP 380 air compressor

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Rotary screw air compressors contain a lot of oil used as a sealant as the air is forced into ever smaller compartments as the screws turn.

As the air is expelled from the screws into the tank or the mains, it passes through an oil separator. It seems to me that if you are now getting oil into the compressed air, and it’s in greater quantity than before, your oil separator needs work.

For this, you need the manual from I/R.

In the interim, you can install coalescent filters at point of use to remove oil from the air-stream if that’s practical.


Ingersoll Rand P130 has quite a bit of oil coming out of air pipe?

by Trevor Hinze
(hillingdon uk)

i have a ingersoll rand p130 wdg compressor. I have just put h32 oil in the separator.

The problem is that there is quite a lot of oil coming out of the air pipe?

Thanks, Trevor

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Hi Trevor.

I must confess that I don’t know why you would put oil into an oil separator. It’s function is to strip oil used in the air compressor from the air stream as it exits the compressor.

Adding oil seems to me to be counterproductive.

Anyone else have any ideas for Trevor?

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Trevor – Your separator tank probably looks similar to the drawing below. Oil is added into the up-and-outward-pointing plugged hole on the left. You probably have a sight glass like on the right-middle. If you can, and it’s not already empty, remove oil from the filter. Air flows into the tank and swirls around to remove large drops, and then is pushed through the filter toward the inside to remove mist, and then out the top. The small tube inside the filter element is a scavenger, and excess oil that gets through the filter is pushed/sucked back to the screw… Read more »

IR Gyroflow tow behind. Really OLD. I welded the governor lever that was broken and the compressor doesn’t want to regulate now.. Seems to run wide open. I believe I have to adjust the levers and rods. What is the big lever on the engine by the fan blades. A rods comes off the carb to it? I know the carb is set with the throttle cable and turn lock. Do you adjust from the carb out or the Governor to the carb? With linkage off, the engine runs slow and smooth! Purrs, and bulds up air. Thank you in… Read more »

Pete, yeah, it’s old alright.
I’m not exactly clear on what you’re asking. Can get some pix for us to see what you’ve got?
Sounds like you’re on the right track, at least.

I attached a pic. It’s a Gyroflo 150. I also found oil in the big air filter basin and wasn’t sure if that was right either.
It ran well with the lever I welded broken. I am thinking all the adjustments are off. Thank you again.
Gyroflo engine showing lever

Regarding the oil at the intake – a small amount might be OK, but if it’s actually getting on the filter, bad. Can you see the unloader valve in there? OK, never paid attention to that lever, so please bear with my ignorant questions… The big mystery lever pivots where? Behind the generator, I guess? And the rod to the carb attaches where? “Seems to run wide open.” – that’s with it as it appears in the pic? That would be it “thinking” it needed to be generating more air. It also makes air that way, yeah? “With linkage off,… Read more »

Sorry about the reply. Rain and the Holiday weekend has slowed repairs. The pivot point is down behind the Generator (alternator). Is that the unloader valve? The rod from the card attaches right where the arrow is touching the top of the lever. Wide open, Yes, as is right now. I remeber from when I was younger and used one, it has to build up air, and then slows down, till there is a demand to “keep up” I will look for a model number this morning for the manual . The know it is a Continental engine.

Peter, there is a brief description of how that works around page 40 (IIRC). Hopefully that will be enough to tell you what you should do next.
The lever system is driven by the weld you did, and slows the engine. The actual unloader is usually between the intake filer and the pump. This may not actually have one, but just leak intentionally to keep the pressure down

Keep us posted, and take pix, please….

Good luck and have fun.

Hey Peter –
I came across a .pdf that may be for your engine.
Lemme know if you can use it. Maybe we can put it up on the site on GPs.

The manual is for my engine. If you can put on site, it will help people. Thank you

Peter, it’s at…

(Doug and Peter – the manual is up on the page ready for download here: https://about-air-compressors.com/ingersoll-rand-tow-behind-compressors/ )