Something just don't sound right here

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fishy68

fishy68

Tyr Fryr's Inc.
Joined
Jan 11, 2005
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Location
Central, IL (Hooterville)
I bought a new air compressor in 2001. It is a 60 gal. Porter Cable and rated at 7 hp according to the label on the side of the tank. Well today I was doing some sandblasting and about 10 minutes into it heard it lock up and throw the breaker. Great!!:angry7: So I figured the compressor threw a rod and I pull the belt cover to check things over and find the compressor ok but the motor was hard to turn like a bearing went out. I pull the motor off and pull it apart to find the shaft snapped in half. So I go looking for a motor and find the specs on it and it's only rated at 3 hp. (doesn't say on the motor anywhere it's rating). What do you guys think? I know it's 8 yrs. old but it doesn't have that much use and to be rated at less than half what is stamped on the side of the tank makes me think I got screwed. Not sure where to go with this but I'm thinking about calling my lawyer tomorrow and ask him what to do about false advertisement.
 
Not to be a joker,but I think you got shafted.That,s definetly a false sale.It was advertised as a 7hp,and the motor was 3hp?
 
fishy68 said:
I bought a new air compressor in 2001. It is a 60 gal. Porter Cable and rated at 7 hp according to the label on the side of the tank. Well today I was doing some sandblasting and about 10 minutes into it heard it lock up and throw the breaker. Great!!:angry7: So I figured the compressor threw a rod and I pull the belt cover to check things over and find the compressor ok but the motor was hard to turn like a bearing went out. I pull the motor off and pull it apart to find the shaft snapped in half. So I go looking for a motor and find the specs on it and it's only rated at 3 hp. (doesn't say on the motor anywhere it's rating). What do you guys think? I know it's 8 yrs. old but it doesn't have that much use and to be rated at less than half what is stamped on the side of the tank makes me think I got screwed. Not sure where to go with this but I'm thinking about calling my lawyer tomorrow and ask him what to do about false advertisement.
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Would it be worth calling your lawyer over an air compressor engine? Might just be cheaper to buy a new one?:clock:
 
440valiant said:
Would it be worth calling your lawyer over an air compressor engine? Might just be cheaper to buy a new one?:clock:
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That was my first thought. I have a lawyer that I use to deal with my mom and dads legal affairs, they both have advanced altziemers, Everytime the som ***** blinks I get a bill. Layers are bottom feeders and they make they're living off the missery of others.
 
I was just planning on asking him if there's any recourse I can do myself. He's pretty decent for a lawyer. Always gives me free info. Honestly it's the principal that ruffled my feathers. I didn't mention it but was thinking that I'd hate to see somebody else get taken the way I did so that's another reason to try and put a stop to their false advertising. As far as buying a new motor goes it's 3/4 the price of a whole new compressor so in my opinion I might as well buy another compressor. But am I going to get the same quality and false advertising if I do???
 
I would call Porter-Cable and explain the situation very nicely. I had a similar problem with one of their framing nailer, and they made me happy. It might help if he knew you had over 9,000 friends that are awaiting the outcome!
 
I have the same air compressor, so start a class action suit!!!
I've not had any problems with it, but who knows for how long before I do...
C
 
the horsepower of the electric motor is a different horse from the horsepower of the mechanical pump.
Consider the horsepower rating of the starter on your engine
 
It's really common to see them advertise a "peak" hp rating vs the continous duty rating. My air compressor is rated at 5 hp peak, but is really 2.3 hp. I quick look on the label on the side confirmed my suspicions before I bought it. I got it real cheap though and it's been working for me for a good 5 years although it won't run a air file or DA sander.

A true 5HP or 7HP electric motor would be a monster and most certainly would require a 220 circuit. A good new name brand electric motor from Grainger will run big bucks too.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/6K757

That 5 hp continuos duty motor weighs 86 lbs!!
 
RedFish said:
the horsepower of the electric motor is a different horse from the horsepower of the mechanical pump.
Consider the horsepower rating of the starter on your engine
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ramcharger said:
It's really common to see them advertise a "peak" hp rating vs the continous duty rating. My air compressor is rated at 5 hp peak, but is really 2.3 hp. I quick look on the label on the side confirmed my suspicions before I bought it. I got it real cheap though and it's been working for me for a good 5 years although it won't run a air file or DA sander.

A true 5HP or 7HP electric motor would be a monster and most certainly would require a 220 circuit. A good new name brand electric motor from Grainger will run big bucks too.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/6K757

That 5 hp continuos duty motor weighs 86 lbs!!
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I wondered if maybe there was a different way they rated them other than the motor's rating. Such as peak or compressor rating, etc. Thanks for clarifying this. Your right Joe a good motor is big bucks. I already looked all over and found that out. In fact the one you show costs $100 more than the air compressor cost me.

BTW: This is a 220v unit and I always figured it wasn't really 7 hp because it's not all that big but I sure wasn't expecting to see it only be 3 hp.

As you all can tell by my initial post last night I was pretty hot that this thing didn't last very long so please excuse the rant. I bet it hasn't ran 5 hrs. per week avg. over the last 8 yrs.
 
70dart340 said:
I would call Porter-Cable and explain the situation very nicely. I had a similar problem with one of their framing nailer, and they made me happy. It might help if he knew you had over 9,000 friends that are awaiting the outcome!
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I might just do that. I still have the original papers for it so I have the contact info.

Hopefully they'll do something cause this has hit me at a real bad time financially.
 
The HP rating isn't important and as Joe mentioned it can be advertised differently, peak or continous so you don't really know what you're getting, it's the CFM that matters. My old Sears was advertised as 6 hp and 11.4 cfm @ 90psi, my new Eagle is 7.5 hp and 30 cfm @ 100psi so obviously the hp ratings are measured completely differently and it's all about cfm anyway, that's what keeps you going :-D
 
Hey,I have that compressor too! Mine has a label that clearly states 3 h.p so they must have changed that. I find it will run most everything,including my D.A but I run my tools until the motor gets too warm and then I give it a break.. it wont keep up to steady use of my D.A and has to constantly run.When it got really hot during the summer last year I popped the circuit breaker on the motor by pushing the limits. It has a reset button fortunately.

To compensate,I set up an electric dual window fan that blows air across the cylinders and motor. I also use synthetic compressor oil and change it once per year regardless.
 
fishy68 said:
I might just do that. I still have the original papers for it so I have the contact info.

Hopefully they'll do something cause this has hit me at a real bad time financially.
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I hope that Porter Cable does you up right. On the other hand, 2080 hours out of a 400 something dollar compressor isn't great, but it's not too awful bad either. It works out to 21 cents an hour. :)

Does it keep tripping the breaker or is it just dead? THe reason I ask is that if it's just dead, the thermal limiter might have blown and you may be able to just replace it and rig up a fan like needsaresto suggested for the mean time. 8)
 
You might look at Tractor Supply Center if you have those where you live. Also a good place to find one cheap is at flea markets, just make sure you get the right RPM motor.
 
If you know the amp draw on a motor, you can figure the HP.

Running hp is much different than the advertised start up HP (which is what they like to use) cause bigger is better right? :)
 
I would contact P/C and tell them how big of a lifetime customer you have been and this is the only problem you have had in the many many products of thiers you have purchased and wonder if they could help you with a replacement part. Electronics are fickle, I have a masonry saw that the motor is still running strong after 15 years of weather and service and I have a mixer motor that went out after a year that I replaced with gas. I would chaulk it up to experience and by one a little bigger. With nothing made in the U.S. anymore you don't get the quality any more.
 
I went to the big tool supply about 35 miles from me to see what they had for motors and they sell the exact same compressor but now it's rated at 3hp just as Needsaresto said his is. The guy told me there is a class action law suit against them for false advertisement but he don't know if it's settled yet. Just in the last year or so they have been rating them at 3 hp.

I do understand the hp rating isn't what the most important part is. The CFM is and this compressor did the job i needed it to do but just didn't last too long like I expected considering how lightly I use it. Maybe I expect too much from today's stuff. My last compressor was over 40 yrs. old before the compressor unit shot craps. I didn't expect the new one to last that long but thought it should last at least 10 yrs.
 
If more compressers and stuff was made here there maybe would be places for people to go to work at. (sorry fishy68 ) So what did you end op doing? Are you going to put in on that suit? Did they have any motors you could buy? Just curious fishy68.
 
fishy68 said:
I wondered if maybe there was a different way they rated them other than the motor's rating. Such as peak or compressor rating, etc. Thanks for clarifying this. Your right Joe a good motor is big bucks. I already looked all over and found that out. In fact the one you show costs $100 more than the air compressor cost me.

BTW: This is a 220v unit and I always figured it wasn't really 7 hp because it's not all that big but I sure wasn't expecting to see it only be 3 hp.

As you all can tell by my initial post last night I was pretty hot that this thing didn't last very long so please excuse the rant. I bet it hasn't ran 5 hrs. per week avg. over the last 8 yrs.
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Your motor should have 2 windings, a starter winding that brings it to almost full speed and a run winding which is enabled by a centrifugal switch. The start winding will pull almost 2 times the run current. They probably rated the HP off the start winding. If I remember right, 750 watts= 1 HP. Your 3 HP motor will draw 2250 watts. That's 10 amps at 220 volts. What size is the breaker this is on? Double that for a 7 HP motor. Ever buy a Vacuum cleaner, they rate the motors in amps used????
One more thing, you might be able to get the motor rebuilt a lot cheaper..just a thought.
 
Vic Storm said:
If more compressers and stuff was made here there maybe would be places for people to go to work at. (sorry fishy68 ) So what did you end op doing? Are you going to put in on that suit? Did they have any motors you could buy? Just curious fishy68.
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Know what you mean Vic. I'm going to try to find out more about the suit but for now I have to buy a new motor to get me by. Problem is I have work now and need it running tomorrow. Waltco has a 5 hp motor for $200 which is a really good price so that's what I'm going to have to go with. I would have picked it up today but a buddy told me he had a used one I could have and when I got there I looked it over and it's smaller. Probably only about 1-1/2~2 hp so that won't work. Tomorrow morn it'll be back down to Waltco to buy one of there's.

Robbie2734 said:
Your motor should have 2 windings, a starter winding that brings it to almost full speed and a run winding which is enabled by a centrifugal switch. The start winding will pull almost 2 times the run current. They probably rated the HP off the start winding. If I remember right, 750 watts= 1 HP. Your 3 HP motor will draw 2250 watts. That's 10 amps at 220 volts. What size is the breaker this is on? Double that for a 7 HP motor. Ever buy a Vacuum cleaner, they rate the motors in amps used????
One more thing, you might be able to get the motor rebuilt a lot cheaper..just a thought.
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Thanks for the info Robbie. You might be right about them rating it off the start circuit. That would explain the much higher rating. I'm glad somebody stepped in and got it stopped cause false advertising just bugs me. The motor can't be rebuilt cause the main shaft snapped in half inside. It's on a 20 amp breaker.

I know what you mean about some things rating their power by amp draw. That ain't right. A motor could be less efficient and draw more current so it'd get a higher rating when it's really not as good. It's not just vacuum cleaners either. I've seen several other things rated that way.
 
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