Hello all;

On our Crane, our single cylinder Westinghouse Compressor acted up this past summer. Current thoughts are to take it apart, and try to investigate what was causing problems.

I understand how they work, and have some cut-away diagrams from a Westinghouse publication or two, but are there any stories and suggestions from people who have actually taken one apart and successfully put it back together again?

Words of wisdom welcome.

Thanks;

John Stewart

john.stewart@crc.ca

Call Bernie Watts at:
Backshop Enterprises
5160-B Parfet St, Unit 1
Wheat Ridge, CO, USA 80033
phone (303) 424-6882

He is the leading expert on air compressors in the USA.

Hi John;

Bernie does fine work and guarantees it. I also recommend him.

If you do want to try some home fixes first, I would encourage you to remove, tear down, clean and examine the top head and its innards. You need to have the pistons partly up in the bores to have adequate space to get your hand in between the cylinder and head casting to unkeyhole the reversing rod.

You may find a clogged passage or broken ring to red flag and replace. Bernie can sell you the parts replacements and the new gaskets to replace the old single crush gaskets from WABCO.

There are some funny critical tolerances inside those critters so if you don't see any red flags, best to pass it along to an experienced rebuilder.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> Hello all;

> On our Crane, our single cylinder
> Westinghouse Compressor acted up this past
> summer. Current thoughts are to take it
> apart, and try to investigate what was
> causing problems.

> I understand how they work, and have some
> cut-away diagrams from a Westinghouse
> publication or two, but are there any
> stories and suggestions from people who have
> actually taken one apart and successfully
> put it back together again?

> Words of wisdom welcome.

> Thanks;

> John Stewart

What was it doing "wrong"? Usually it's the reversing valves.

> What was it doing "wrong"? Usually
> it's the reversing valves.

First; thanks for the responses, both on this list, and in personal emails to me.

The air compressor is on our steam crane (See RYPN brief 22 November). This past summer, we could not get it to pump, (would not give more than a stroke or two) despite our best efforts.

When we ran her on compressed air recently (see above-mentioned brief) the compressor worked quite well.

As we are in a cold climate, and our crane must reside outdoors, it was decided that we should investigate why this compressor did not function.

We have started removing the compressor, and expect to at least inspect the valves; we'll see where we go from there.

As a group, we don't have a lot of experience with the internals of these pumps; we want to learn, and wish not to learn too many things the hard way.

Thanks;

John Stewart.



john.stewart@crc.ca

Dear John:
A good place to start might be with TRAIN (Tourist Railway Association, Inc.) Steam Locomotive Mechanical Reprints No. 8501 ( a large section on troubleshooting and rebuilding steam driven air compressors) and No. 8601 which has a section on tools, jigs and fixtures for air compressor rebuilding. I believe that both of these are still available from TRAIN.
If you have a machine shop (or access to machines), you should have little difficulty rebuilding your compressor yourself. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, Back Shop has most if not all of the difficult to make parts available.
Good luck!
J.David