All Fixed... I Think.
- I had a talk with the electrician and told him to put whatever switch on it that he's most used to working with and has parts for. He came out while I was at work Friday and fixed it good... Switch works. Motor runs, etc.
- Testing my re-built 3rd stage head was a different matter. The darned 2nd stage overpressure valve kept leaking. I was wondering if it goes bad and has to be replaced after giving out the first time. Or, if the 3rd stage was still leaking.
- Then I remembered Bill the AntiqueDiver (and compressor guru) mentioned putting a gauge on it. I rummaged around in all my stuff and found a pressure gauge that fit. Pulled the overpressure valve and put in the pressure gauge.
- I turned on the compressor and built up some pressure then turned it off and watched the gauge. Sure enough, the pressure at the 2nd stage continued to rise after turning everything off... Which meant the 3rd stage head was still leaking back into the 2nd stage.
- So, I disassembled the 3rd stage head again and cleaned the parts more aggressively with 0000 fine steel wool and 1500 Emory paper... Quite a bit more fouling came off. Especially the thin little reed valves. I basically laid the 1500 Emory paper on a flat table and wiped the reed valve surface across it. That worked a lot better than the "Joy" dish soap recommended in the manual. The parts were definitely clean when I got done. I re-assembled the 3rd stage head with the cleaner parts and the new Viton 90 durometer O-Rings and put the compressor back together.
- And it worked! This time when I built up some pressure and turned it off, the needle on the gauge at 2nd stage stayed put... No more leaking.
- So then, I put the overpressure valve back on and ran the compressor up to 2000, then 2500, and then 2700 psi and the 2nd stage over pressure valve never leaked again.
- As a final test, I re-filled my Twin 38s from 700 psi to 2000 psi in about 20 minutes... Which is about 2.5 cfm... The fill rate at which it was running before the 3rd stage head leak problem.
- Thanks for the generous offers Bill and Jerry... But, I think I'll keep the RIX for now.
- And Thanks Again AntiqueDiver Bill for all of your help!