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Question For Captain Tom

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 3:50 pm
by Vintagediver
Hi Tom:
I have a question in regards to the oil you recommended and posted a link for in another thread. The oil is the Nuvair 455 food grade synthetic compressor oil, and I was wondering if it would also be a good oil to use on my Cornelius model 130R1500 compressor. I've been using Mobile Jet II since I've had it, but it's becoming a bit more difficult to locate and I was considering giving this oil a try. Terry

Re: Question For Captain Tom

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 11:28 am
by captain
I have no personal experience with either. I mentioned the Nuvair 455 because it is the same viscosity as the Anderol 500 I have been using. Synthetic oils have a high enough flash point to be used in a breathing air compressor making viscosity the deciding factor. Viscosity can be confusing because there are several different ways it is designated. I do not know the recommended viscosity for the Cornelius compressors.

https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Re ... ity-grades

Jet II is available here.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/ ... tOilII.php

Re: Question For Captain Tom

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 6:31 pm
by Vintagediver
Thanks for your reply Tom. It may be OK to use since one of the oils that were recommended at the time I bought it was Anderol 500. I also came across another one called Lube-V 310P which is recommended for small compressors such as Cornelius, Walter Kidde and Stewart Warner and it is comparable to Chemlube 201 which was another one that was recommended when I bought it as well as Mobile Jet II. Thanks again and also for the links you posted. Terry

Re: Question For Captain Tom

Posted: Fri May 31, 2019 4:00 pm
by SurfLung
SecoLube 500
Image
https://www.filtertechs.com/shop/produc ... cts_id=914
- Filtertechs has a direct replacement for Anderol 500 called SecoLube 500.
- You may have heard that I bought a compressor with a Kidde pump. Jim Sheldon told me to use Anderol 500 and all I could find was this SecoLube 500 to substitute. Then last night Jerry Lang emailed me that he has the same stuff and uses it in his Cornelius that is similar to yours.

Re: Question For Captain Tom

Posted: Fri May 31, 2019 5:03 pm
by Vintagediver
Oh come on Eben, you buying another compressor! :shock: 8) Yeah I saw your post and have been following that thread and waiting to see how all turns out. Jim Shelden, great guy and he was also a lot of help when I got my compressor. Thanks for the info in regards to the Seco Lube 500, I'll be sure to check into it. Good luck with your new toy! :D Terry

Re: Question For Captain Tom

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 10:59 am
by captain
The company I worked for bought Anderol 500 in 55 gallon drums. At the plant we used it in portable low pressure diesel driven compressors for workers using fresh air masks ( hookha style) in confined spaces such as tanks and distillation columns. Later we changed to using banks of commercial breathing air cylinders, I think this was OSHA driven because if the possibility of diesel exhaust or other vapors being drawn into the compressor. This was in a large chemical plant, Union Carbide to be exact. We also used it in some of our process gas compressors.
This was back in the 1970's when there were few synthetic oils available and they had not yet gained acceptance for use in scuba compressors. In the process of making the switch I contacted Anderol about using it in my compressor for breathing air. The were non committal, basically saying the compressor had to be designed for breathing air. I think it was a CYA so someone would not use it in their Sears shop compressor to try and fill tanks or use it for hookha.
Since many more synthetic oils and some say better have come on the market it it has fallen out of favor for use in scuba compressors.
Back then it was pretty much all there was and for me it was cheap and easily available, I just drew a pint off the drum when ever I changed oil which was about once year.
So if I were you I wouldn't get too hung up on using Anderol, any synthetic that has the same specs, and the two important ones are flash point and viscosity and go with it.

Re: Question For Captain Tom

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 7:16 pm
by antique diver
Just to add to the compressor oil confusion, here's a bit of information that will make most breathing air compressor owners flinch. I had a gasoline engine driven 4 stage, 15 cfm, 4500 psi Davey on a trailer for many years, and I used synthetic compressor oils for all seasons except winter. The single grade synthetic compressor oils (such as Summit SL-500 or Chemlube 500) became too thick on cold days to be sucked up by the not so well designed oil pump system . Took way too long to get any oil pressure, and it concerned me about damage to the unit. Never could find a suitable multi-grade synthetic compressor oil, so I ended up using Mobil-1 synthetic motor oil in the winter, and it worked out great. The flash point and ignition point were within specs I needed for the compressor, and there was really no question about the lubrication quality. We were even blending O2 at the intake to produce up to 36% Nitrox.

There is no oil, synthetic or otherwise, suitable for use in your lungs. That's why we use filtration. I had good filtration, three tall towers, and the air tested to Oxygen compatible quality. I always sampled the air at maximum hours I allowed on the filters, just before changing the cartridges, so I knew the O2 compatibility was not just a fluke when filters were new.

I am definitely not advocating giving up good synthetic compressor oil for motor oil! I do recommend using the best synthetic compressor oil of the viscosity called for by the manufacturer. Unless you have a RIX.