Vane type compressor

You will still need earmuffs as the vane type is also very noisy, the only good thing it will keep up with the usage of air.

Clive

Try Steve at Home and Workshop Machinery,

www.homeand workshop.co.uk Tel 02083009070 (ME Advertiser)

Carl

Tripod mount Hydrovanes don't have a tank and come up fairly frequently on E-Bay. However the small HV01 - 02 sizes most likely to meet the power constraints and air needs of the home shop are most commonly found in receiver mount format with tanks or air centre, i.e in a box, style. Tripod mounts tend to be industrial sizes, HV04 and up, which make quite a lump on a tank. (I have a HV 04 with air cooler waiting in the round-tu-it section of the store which I'd intended to put on a tank once the proper three phase is connected but odds are I shall have a shuffle round and keep the tank separate.)

If your piston compressor still works fine its probably more saleable as a complete unit so may well cover paying the extra for a tank mounted Hydrovane. Tripod mount Hydrovanes aren't exactly compatible with the usual reciprocating compressor tank mounts either as the bolts generally want to go somewhere between the usual compressor and motor mount holes if its to be anything close to central.

I guess Clive H has better ears than I have. Hydrovanes may not be as whisper quiet as legend might have but very noisy they are not. My HV 02 is, to my ears, of similar volume to my Pratt & Whitney Model B 12 x 30 lathe with the motor on high speed. Bet a goodly percentage of the noise is cooling fan. Dropping a box over it should bring noise down to fine in the workshop, if not office, levels. Contrasts with a reciprocator of similar capacity which can only be effectively silenced by putting the thing outside!

Clive.

Do some research first, they tend to be difficult to repair

When it comes to repairs Hydrovanes are pretty much same as any other compressor. Anything more than basic stuff cannot economically be fixed under home shop budgets. Smaller reciprocators are pretty much throw away if anything more serious than valves or control gear has gone. Equivalent for Hydrovane are solenoids, drive couplings and the usual filter and oil things. The air ends on the smaller HV 01 - HV 04 models are not considered repairable anyway. Unlike the bigger ones repair v replacement costs don't add up for the industrial user so certain economies were made at the design stage to reflect this

Thing about Hydrovanes is that they last a very long time indeed if not abused and correctly serviced. The expectation is tens of thousands of hours run time. So if you get one is good order it will probably see you out. Wouldn't look at anything other than the round ones tho'. The other styles are seriously old by now, probably 30 + years and most likely worked close to death by now. When you see an industrial rated compressor separated from its three phase motor because the motor has died you know its got really serious run time hours.

Clive.

My current compressor is a V twin Atlas Copco, direct drive, which is reasonably quiet, worth considering if you can't find a suitable Hydrovane.

Although i find the best and cheapest solution for noise is to stick your compressor outside in a shed.

How about a box around the compressor with sound absorbing material? Should be a lot cheaper.

Atlas Copco sell a silencing hood for the L series V twins that brings the noise down to a similar level. They sometimes come up on Ebay.

This is the one I'm on about.....quite often see them for sale without the tank.

Edited By Alan Waddington 2 on 28/01/2017 18:26:24

Edited By Alan Waddington 2 on 28/01/2017 18:27:03