Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions When to Rebuild a Compressor?

I have a Stratus SRC25, rocking piston, 1/4 HP compressor pumping two air stations (one in winter). I run the system year round, 20/7. It has been in continuous use for 2 years, now.

I have a rebuild kit on hand. When do you know it is time to rebuild the compressor? After a set period of time? When the airflow to the airstations reduces significantly? When the unit craps out completely?

I would definitely have some gauges in the pipeline system. When the pressure drops, your compressor is usually starting to exhibit some signs of wear.

I also have some field employees that run large engines and compressors. It is amazing how often they use the "sound" of the equipment to determine a change in its operating conditions. I have never had the mechanic break down an engine or compressor after my worker said it was sounding bad, and NOT found a serious mechanical problem.

This is very valuable information when you fix a small problem before a critical component craters and then you would have to repair a major problem.


P.S. I believe esshup sells rebuild kits and is in charge of the compressors at the ponds of several clients. Hopefully he will drop into your thread and give you some actual specific expert advice.

Otherwise, I would just keep good records of your operating pressures. For example, if you do a rebuild now after your system has dropped to x psi, and your rebuild is still operating above that pressure three or four years from now, then I might consider letting it run until it drops to that pressure before performing the NEXT rebuild. (Unless of course, you get advice that saving a little time and money on rebuilds risks a greater critical failure.)

There is no rhyme or reason as to the timing, although it may depend on how clean you keep the air filter. When the compressor puts out noticeably less air or craps out completely is when I rebuild it. For customers that are local, I have a temporary compressor that I use to keep aeration going in their pond while I rebuild theirs. It may look ugly (Gast 1/4 hp rotary in a plastic dog kennel) but it works.

Yes, I have been monitoring the pressure. No drop, yet.

Having a backup is a good idea for your business. I am just trying to mitigate the impacts of down time while rebuilding the compressor. If it is the middle of summer, then I probably need to work quickly.

We try to have rebuild kits for all the different compressors, but that still could mean 24 hours without aeration or longer. When the compressor stops, there could be a number of things why it stopped. Capacitor went bad, a power surge smoked it, just needs a rebuild or the cooling fan stopped and the compressor overheated, meaning bearings, etc. are toast. Sometimes it's quicker and less expensive to just buy a new compressor.

Don't forget to clean the diffusers once in a while. Mfg says once a year. I just replaced air stations in a customers pond that were a tube style, and they had split. There is no telling how long they were like that, he had never pulled them up to clean them since they were put back in the renovated pond 7 years ago.

If people are pushing the limits, and it's really hot out, there's no reason to take chances. I have had 3 phone calls this year by people that have had partial or what seems like complete fish kills in their pond.............

Thanks for the info esshup, I was hoping you would drop into Knobber's thread.

Two quick questions (if you do come back).

1.) Has running a compressor to "failure" ever resulted in damages so severe that it could NOT then be rebuilt with a kit? (Failure could just be when it no longer aerates the pond adequately.) I am just trying to figure out if the rebuilds need to be like airplane parts - where you always replace critical components after x hours of usage or people will die, or if you can just run until compressor failure as long as your fish can handle 24 hours without aeration while you rebuild the compressor (with the kit you ALREADY have on hand).

2.) If there was a pressure gauge near the edge of the pond, would a split air station have shown up as a clear pressure drop?