Compressed Air

I'm interested in an inexpensive source of Compressed Air to test engines before connecting to Boiler.

Does anybody have experience of using the sort of compressor that are used for inflating car tyres for this purpose.

Are there any warning or caveats about ths sort of use, please?

MC Black

The low volume of air produced may be a problem, depends on the size of your engines.

You didn't say how much you willing to spend. I've bought this one last year and I'm very happy witht Link. It goes up to 120psi and got 6ltr tank. Also with 59dB you can comfortably sit next to it without any ear protection. Very handy to have in the workshop, doesn't take much space under the bench and can be easy carried around if you want to pump up bike tyres etc.

If you're on the budget you can use one of this airbrush compressors. Problem with those is that volume of air will be very low and they're getting hot after about 10mins of constant use.

I agree with Jason. Though electric tyre inflaters manage high pressure OK, they don't move much air. Low volume isn't a problem pumping up tyres because you just wait until the pump whirs to a conclusion. But steam engines want lots of volume at relatively low pressure. The pump and engine are mismatched.

I've used a car foot pump to run an engine by adding a 2-litre lemonade bottle as a reservoir. The reservoir provides volume and evens out the pressure spikes caused by pumping. An electric inflater could do similar - use it to inflate a car tyre (safe) or inner tube (unsafe - over charging will cause a loud bang), and then use the reservoir to run the engine. Ideally a pressure regulator is needed too - if the engine runs on 6psi, a tyre inflated at 30psi is too much.

Dave

My wobbler (1cc capacity? Maybe less?) worked rather nicely with a tyre inflator that came with a car. Would not do so well on a quarter size traction engine.

Iain

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I think that the capacity of any cylinders is unlikely to be more than 50 to 70 ml.

With best wishes and thanks again.

MC Black

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

The site for which you kindly provided a link didn't have a price but I would be reluctant to pay more than £25.

I'm disabled so I don't tide a cycle and my mobility scooter has SOLID tyres

But a Tyre inflator would also offer the benefit of pumping up car tyres when that was needed.

MC

Thats quite a large engine particularly if double acting, a typical Stuart beam or victoria is only 25ml per stroke so I doubt a tyre inflator would do much.