[Tony Van Helden]

It may be of interest to know that I confirmed with Newell the TE model and that they are currently still installing those.

[Land Yacht]

Here is my email

Hi Dennis,

Wondering what the current price on a 2688TE44/38 is?

Mike

[bikestuff]

The nice lady asked me if I were putting the pump into a motor home.....Maybe I got the “motor home / yacht” price. Maybe I should have told her I was putting it in my gas station tire inflator machine.

[Tony Van Helden]

Bill,
That's capitalism at a slightly poorer representation unfortunately.

[DK on the road]

I purchased a new compressor from Thomas in May. It turns out that it will not build pressure above 80 Psi. I contacted them through the website below. They are sending me a rebuild kit. No charge for kit or shipping. I don't like problems, but I do like to give out a compliment when a company stands behind there product.

Thomas Center for Applied Technology (TCAT)
1536 North 18th Street
Sheboygan, WI 53081
Phone: (920) 694-0274
Visit us at: www.tcatsolutions.com

[Nebster]

So, I'm having problems with my two new Thomas compressors. Well, 2 years new.

We're in the deep cold. It's getting close to 0F at night.

The primary just... puttered out... the second day we were here. It will only make 40psi, and it sounds like the gasket has failed on the top. I talked to TCAT, and they will send me the rebuild kit for the price I was quote two years ago, $280. Or they will sell me a new one for the "new price" of $580.

I pulled the 40psi one and mailed it back to TCAT for a look today. They said it could be a warranty repair, or not.

Meanwhile, I switched to our backup Thomas compressor (identical, purchased new at the same time). Last night, it blew its fuse at 5F. I looked up the datasheet on these things, and they're only rated down to 50F. Obviously they seem to work okay well below 50F, but I don't know how much that's contributing to their seemingly short lives.

I've added a space heater to the compressor bay for now.

I've also started looking for an alternate compressor, at least one that I can switch to when we are in cold climates. All the wobble-piston style compressors seem about the same, and there aren't many being made in our size and space constraints. Most of the diaphragm-based designs can't produce the 125-130psi that my Newell tank wants to fill to.

Viair, with whom I am familiar from our Newmar days, does make some sealed units that are rated for much larger temperature ranges. They are 12/24VDC units, but I could put a power supply inline without much trouble. I wonder how loud they are. I wonder if Newell ever looked at using one of them.

I think the Jun-air and the dental units I've looked at are too big for my space. At least if I want to have two, which I'm pretty sure I do, given how crippling it is if we lose house air.

[encantotom]

when i was down to 20 degrees this past spring in utah, one night my compressor froze up. it struggled but i am sure there was moisture in it that had frozen. i bet if you put simple heater in there it would keep it from freezing. i bet there is nothing wrong with the compressors....

tom

[bikestuff]

What Tom said!

I got water in the little solenoid that relieves the head pressure and it froze. Caused all sorts of problems. It finally cracked and when I removed it, all was well again. After two years, I finally replaced it.

Bill

[Richard]

Nebster,

Most of the 120V setups are cut in pressure of 70, cutoff pressure of 90. Pushing the compressors to 120psi constantly puts a much larger burden on them.

Is there a reason you have them set for 120 psi?

The second issue is that the push to connect fittings in the air system leak profusely at colder temps.

[DK on the road]

Cold and humidity is your enemy. I too have had this problem. I placed a small heater on an extension cord in my air compressor compartment when we were in the single digits. I had the sensor freeze up and break due to Ice expansion. $110 lesson to replace the sensor.

As far as adjusting the pressure, for me its a Siemens controller, I tried to go into my program and lower the Preset pressures, because I think I'm smart enough. I'm not. Clint Eastwood says " a man needs to know his limitations". sometimes I need to be reminded. New lesson, I SCREWED IT UP. I had to send it back to Valid in BC for them to reprogram back to factory specs. No Charge by Valid, but is was 2 weeks of controlling the pressures by hand. Valid Told me that I need the designed pressures for the leveling system. If it wasn't for the leveling system, I could stay at 60 to 70 psi. for the slide seals, toilets and door.