Air Compressor caught fire!!!!

        I tried to decide if this should be in O/T or Tech as its the Air Compressor in my garage that I and many people use to fix there Fiero's at my house.    So it is technically Fiero repair related.

So here goes.

        The back story, my main compressor quit about a month ago, and I borrowed one to keep me running for the time being.    Our neighbor who is a steel worker and drag motorcycle guy is moving and offered me a small compressor he only put about 20hrs of use on at a job site.  

      Well I brought it home, hooked it up, and fired it up, and it caught fire!!!!  I don't know how long it had been sitting, he honestly doesn't remember.  Its been sitting in the back of his garage/shop for years.

                   Initially I was going to run 2 compressor side by side set at different "fire up" pressures.  Running the main with a 90psi fire up pressure and the 2nd one would only fire is the system pressure drops below 80psi.   Found out quickly that the garage breaker would kick out if both were running at the same time for more than 2mins.  

      So I went only to the new compressor.  Everything was looking good, it was up to about 120psi with a 145psi shut down pressure.  I was running the air line out to the driveway as I was going to test it inflating a few tires.   As I walk back to the garage I am kinda looking down at the pressure gauge and I hear a POP, there is a 4" tall flame coming out of what looks like a giant capacitor on the side of the motor, I quickly rip the power cord out of the wall and pull the compressor away from the garage wall, the fire goes out on its own. 

      After a few mins to relax from what could have been a really bad situation, because I leave my garage compressors powered up at all time, if this would have happened while I was say eating dinner inside the house, it could have been really, really, really bad.

             I called up Dr.Fiero aka Watts, and spoke to him, he said it sounds like the cap failed.       

        My old compressor has something that looks similar, only with the addition of a reset button.    I was thinking about taking it from my old compressor and moving it to the new one.   However without hearing from some people that are more familiar with 110v motors.  I know enough to know, that I should ask before I proceed.      So from the pics below can anyone offer any input.    

P.S.   The compressor feeds a much larger 20 gallon reservoir tank, with a manifold to feed the air lines/tools.  

             Does anyone recognize the brand "Friend"  or know where it would have been bought new?        Dan honestly does not remember,  it was only bought as they needed a small portable compressor for a job site, it was bought last min for $200, got about 20hrs of use on the site then tossed in the corner.  

Compressor

Hood removed, showing big white cap/tube thing

The flame was from the end of the tube, I think the pop I heard was the end of it popping off

Tried to show the guts

Kinda Ironic to find a Special BC decal saying its inspected to be Fire Safe.

This is the similar unit on my other machine, was thinking of moving it over if it would be safe to do.

         Well Tim saw me fighting with the cheap compressors to work on all the club members cars when they are over here, he decided to purchase a toy for the garage.  Picked up a brand new 2.5hp 10gal reserve tank complete compressor.  It had already been marked down from $249 down to 149, and then as it was the last one they dropped it to $125  I plumed it in last night, and It works like a hot damn.  Its only 4.1cfm at 90psi, but more than enough to do all the stuff on Fiero's and with the extra reserve tanks and dryers, I shouldn't have any major issues with painting.  

I am really enjoying something that I can run die grinders with reckless abandon on.   

I meant to post these a week ago, this is the new "improved" air system.  I have 2 compressors and res tanks that can all be opened closed or bypassed.

I'll quickly narrate

Main dry and regulator, The Dr, said to get the drier line way up and over, help keep moisture from killing the dryer.

Quad hose manifold and primary bypass.  The main large compressor, feeds the single line on the back of the steel LNG tank.  When the black knob is turned one way, it passes the LNG tank and feeds direct to the tools and only maintains the single 10gallon tank.  When I move the valve the other way, it opens up both lines into the long black tank, allowing me to double my reserve capacity when needed.  

Now here is where took some thought, The Brute and the "Friend" compressor are both hooked to the main LNG tank.  When everything is powered up and valves are open,  the small Blue compressor will fire up, and if I continue to pull air out faster than it can put it in, the pressure will drop to 80psi and the large Brute fires up.  Both will run constant until it gets to 120psi, at 120spi, the Brute shuts back down and only the blue one will continue to run until the entire system is up to 140psi.

         I did some experimenting with it, and I can run my air die grinder steady on, and the 2 compressors are able to keep up with it.  My new paint guns only need 5 cfm and the Brute alone will do more than that.  So I don't foresee any major issues regardless.  Oh just as a foot note.   The blue hose can be unplugged from the tank and plugged into the dryer direct.  I did it this way so I could remove the line from the dryer and not burn it up on day to day tasks.  When I do start the painting, I will open up the new line that is sitting there onto of the LNG tank.

Note the black dryer line going over the doorway.