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Roseglen, North Dakota | I will do the best I can to describe a screw compressor. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will jump on here and do better. The actual pump is driven by a shaft that comes off the PTO (mounted to trans of course). As soon as it starts pumping there is a solenoid that speeds up the engine 3-400 rpm, then slows down when you shut pump off. There is a tank mounted beside the frame (est 5-7 gal) that holds oil to cool the pump. The truck actually has an oil cooler to help cool and there is an oil temp guage as well. Somehow the air actually goes through that tank before it comes out the end of the hose, the wand is warm to the touch.
I apologize for not being more knowledgeable, but this much I know: It has a 50' 1" hose with a 1/4 turn valve fastened onto the wand--when you open the valve you have a constant 150cfm @ 140psi (that could be adjusted higher but when you have that much volume, more pressure is not necessary) They are designed to run a jackhammer so they just play with any farm application. When you open the valve you better be hanging onto the hose.
You are right, they are $7000 plus but they would last a farmer a lifetime. We stumbled on ours quite by accident--bought one of those electric coop service trucks with an enclosed body (this one happened to be a Freightliner FL70) that had a screw compressor in the $10k range--it made the truck pretty cheap when you deducted some value for the compressor. Advantages I see over gas comp:
~7-8 times the capacity
~don't have to be running 175 psi to get max power out of air tools
~gas engines can be a little temperamental in colder weather (even warm weather for us!)
~you don't take up as much space on your truck is space is an issue (usually is)
They are pretty impressive, you can blow the combine off in just a few minutes. | |
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Big service trucks
