Subject: Joining two compressors

From: Doug Von Gausig <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 18:35:40 -0700

Is it a good idea, and is there anything to be gained by joining two 5hp 
60-gallon compressors together?

If it does make sense, what should I be careful about in joining them?

Doug

---

From: [email-masked] (Henry W Miller)
Date: 28 Jun 1996 17:14:19 GMT

Doug Von Gausig ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Is it a good idea, and is there anything to be gained by joining two 5hp 
: 60-gallon compressors together?

: If it does make sense, what should I be careful about in joining them?

What you gain is increased flow rate.  If one compressor often isn't enough
(with a 5 hp compresser that is a lot of air) flow, the second can kick in.

What to watch for is it is difficult to syncronise 2 compressers to start at
the sane time.  this could be a problem, one compresser will do all the work,
most of the time, and will wear more.  Of course if you know that one 
is mroe efficent then the other, you may want to set the more efficent one to
start 5 pounds above the less efficent one, and stop a little above.  Then for
most work the efficent one will do the work, and when you need high air flow
the second one will kick in and make up teh extra.  This may also help the
noise level in your shop.

IF you rarely need the extra airflow, but you have a sudden peak demand,
perhaps you should just invest in another tank.   I don't know if your
air compresser will have any problmes with the setup you propose, and a second
tank will not have a problem.

---

From: [email-masked] (Peter Drumm)
Date: 28 Jun 1996 23:18:30 GMT

In message <[email-masked]> - Doug Von Gausig
<[email-masked]>Thu, 27 Jun 1996 18:35:40 -0700 writes:
:->
:->Is it a good idea, and is there anything to be gained by joining two 5hp 
:->60-gallon compressors together?
:->
:->If it does make sense, what should I be careful about in joining them?
:->
:->Doug

If you need the extra capacity, it works fine. At work we have 2
100HP/500CFM compressors connected to the same air system. For
'normal' use, we only run 1 at a time(to save electric costs),  but
for the big drills we run both together. One is set ~5PSI lower than
the other, to 'take up the slack' when the pressure drops. After 4-5
years there have been no ill effects.

[email-masked]
Wausau, WI. 44d 58m 00s N x 89d 36m 45s W
All opinions are my own, even if they are wrong!