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Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 · Jun 18, 2010

Rigid Air Compressor problem...

Jun 18, 2010

Marcus, I have the same compressor and have not had any problems (knock on Wood). the only problem I did have is that the rope broke on the starter pulley. All else has been fine.

RCIA Founder

Marcus, the ropes break, and death comes when the pump freezes up, years later.
Other then replacing a belt or the pull start rope, never a problem.
We do use Mobil One synthetic oil in the honda motor and the compressor motor.
We do big 5 to 10,000 sq ft stuff too, from time to time.
Our compressors work daily, 5 to 6 days a week.
And we run the 1/2 inch Yamada's that have more appetite for air then the 3/8 All Flo.
The compressor should be loafing with those pumps.

WeWashWindows · Guest

I havn't had any problems with my Rigid, I've only cleaned a hand full of roofs with it so far though.

Has anybody converted theirs over to an electric start?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ELECTRIC-START-KIT-FITS-HONDA-GX160-5-5-HP-AND-6-5-HP-/370361370541?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563b4207ad#ht_1588wt_1137

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 · Jun 18, 2010

Went back to Home Depot & exchanged the 2nd bad Rigid for another. No problem. I hooked the new Rigid to my aod all-flo and have pumped water from a tank, through 200 feet of hose, through a gun, back into the same tank, for 2 1/2 hours so far with no problem. Still on the same tank of gas. I am going to let it run out of gas and refill it in the morning & repeat the procedure in the daylight several times to make sure it does not die on me in the middle of a job again. After it is broken in I will switch to mobile 1 like Chris. In the meantime I am crossing my fingers,

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 on Sunday 20th of June 2010 12:47:04 AM

RCIA Founder

Must have been made on a Friday biggrin

I think once it breaks in, and the switch is made to 5 w 20 Mobil 1 is made, problems are over. The 3/8 All Flo is not a huge demand for the Rigid, I have run 1/2 inch Yamada's all day long for years off that compressor.

WeWashWindows · Guest

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 wrote:

Went back to Home Depot & exchanged to 2nd bad Rigid for another. No problem. I hooked the new Rigid to my aod all-flo and have pumped water from a tank, through 200 feet of hose, through a gun, back into the same tank, for 2 1/2 hours so far with no problem. Still on the same tank of gas. I am going to let it run out of gas and refill it in the morning & repeat the procedure in the daylight several times to make sure it does not die on me in the middle of a job again. After it is broken in I will switch to mobile 1 like Chris. In the meantime I am crossing my fingers,

I remember reading in the instructions that it said to run the compressor for 30 minutes with no load to break it in... I wonder if that would have helped?

RCIA Founder

WeWashWindows wrote:

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 wrote:

Went back to Home Depot & exchanged to 2nd bad Rigid for another. No problem. I hooked the new Rigid to my aod all-flo and have pumped water from a tank, through 200 feet of hose, through a gun, back into the same tank, for 2 1/2 hours so far with no problem. Still on the same tank of gas. I am going to let it run out of gas and refill it in the morning & repeat the procedure in the daylight several times to make sure it does not die on me in the middle of a job again. After it is broken in I will switch to mobile 1 like Chris. In the meantime I am crossing my fingers,

I remember reading in the instructions that it said to run the compressor for 30 minutes with no load to break it in... I wonder if that would have helped?

LOL, we have NEVER done that, when we buy a new compressor, it is because we need one, and we break it in allright, we go spray roofs, right away too.

WeWashWindows · Guest

Lol, I did the same thing Chris.. put it straight to work..

But after reading this thread I wonder if that 30 minute run time with no load would have prevented Markus's problems.

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 · Jun 20, 2010

No, the compressor was broken in for 2 hours @ no load. I was in no hurry because I was still waiting for the aod all-flo pump, reel, etc from Lori.

Cross my fingers that the third rigid compressor is the charm and that I had 2 bad experiences in a row... I ran it in the closed test mentioned in my previous post last night for 4 hours (1 tank of gas) with no problems. I ran it for 8 hours ( 2 tanks of gas) in the heat of the day today 95 deg with no problem.

I am going to be so pissed if it fails on my next roof job. No roof jobs at the moment so I will just have to wait & see.

Roof Cleaning Corpus Christi TX · Guest

You are getting me worried about the rigid air compressor, that is the one I was planning on getting.

Hope it was just a couple of lemons and I hope this next one will be the one that lasts for years and years.

Good Luck!

PaulS · Jul 6, 2010

Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa FL (813) 655-8777 wrote:

Must have been made on a Friday
I think once it breaks in, and the switch is made to 5 w 20 Mobil 1 is made, problems are over. The 3/8 All Flo is not a huge demand for the Rigid, I have run 1/2 inch Yamada's all day long for years off that compressor.

Re: Oil...Are you referring to engine oil or oil in the compressor pump, or both? Also, how much oil is in each? (That's the Rigid 9 gal wheel barrow unit)

RCIA Founder

PaulS wrote:

Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa FL (813) 655-8777 wrote:

Must have been made on a Friday
I think once it breaks in, and the switch is made to 5 w 20 Mobil 1 is made, problems are over. The 3/8 All Flo is not a huge demand for the Rigid, I have run 1/2 inch Yamada's all day long for years off that compressor.

Re: Oil...Are you referring to engine oil or oil in the compressor pump, or both? Also, how much oil is in each? (That's the Rigid 9 gal wheel barrow unit)

Mobil One 5w 20 Synthetic in BOTH the honda and compressor pump works for us.
Don't recall the amounts off hand

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 · Jul 6, 2010

When I got the 3rd Rigid compressor I ran it in a closed loop system for 8 hours - 2 tanks of gas. By closed loop I had it connected the compressor to the All-Flo pump. The All-Flo pumped water from my 200 gal water tank into a hose reel with 200' of 5/8" hose, through my gun which fed back into the water tank. It ran fine and I was elated!

1st job it never died but the overpressure pop off valve started releasing air...
It is always left chained in the back of my truck and the output meter had fogged up also. So I took it back to Home Depot and got another... Bad mistake.

When I had 1st bought my 1st compressor there had been 4 others. I went back and there were 3 compressors. The 1st two were compressors that I had previously returned and another in a new box. Apparantly they had sent the 1st two out for repair and they had come back. Home Depot had reduced their price on them to $529. Home Depot gave me the last new one with no problem since I had returned it within 30 days of receipt of it.

I fired it up in the closed loop that I described before and it ran for about 15 minutes before it would die when it should have only throttled down. I repeated this several times with the same result...

I went back to Home Depot and asked to speak with the manager. I explained the problem and told him that I wanted the previous one back. He agreed and we went to go get it. Too late, it had already been sent out for repair. He told me to call him in about a week to see if it had come back yet. He told me that he would exchange it for me. I also explained what I did with it & gave him some cards. He did not know that roofs could be cleaned. He told me that he would put me on his approved contrators list. I hope that this is the last episode of this problem.

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 on Tuesday 6th of July 2010 11:30:03 PM

RCIA Founder

Unbelievable the problems you have had! I have had 5 of these, they all worked flawlessly, right until time of death. One 2 1/2 year old one is all rusty, ugly as home made chit, but still chugging along. The guys are scared of it, scared the rusted out air tanks are gonna blow any minute. This is the reality of a hard working roof cleaning truck. All my trucks start out pretty, but the sauce takes it's toll
I sure hope you get your compressor system fixed. Talk about bad luck .....

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 · Jul 7, 2010

Sounds like they do not make them like they used to... When did you buy your last Rigid? All of mine were dated Nov - Dec 09.

RCIA Founder

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 wrote:

Sounds like they do not make them like they used to... When did you buy your last Rigid? All of mine were dated Nov - Dec 09.

2 1/2 years ago, but the Rigid is not the only air compressor, Lowe's has the Hitachi, and dont be afraid to use another brand of air compressor. If it has a 5 or more hp honda with dual, or a larger single air tank, it will be just fine. I do prefer honda motors, they actually start.

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 · Aug 8, 2010

I took the Rigid air compressor back to Home Depot and finally got my money back. I found an Ingerson Rand wheel barrow air compressor at Tractor Supply. I also found it at Graingers. This unit only has an 8 gal tank whereas the Rigid had 9. At 90 psi it puts out 11.8 cfm. It cycles between 100 - 125 psi. It cycles more than the Rigid but it has not faltered and died after running 2 tanks of gas through it for 8 hrs. It also has a Honda Engine. I hope this compressor holds up. I got mine for $990.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/search.shtml?searchQuery=ss3j5.5gh-wb&op=search&Ntt=ss3j5.5gh-wb&N=0&sst=subset

-- Edited by Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 on Sunday 8th of August 2010 02:09:12 AM

Guest

Run by Walmart and pick up some ethanol treatment for your fuel.The small engine don't like ethanol and live very short lives because of it.
Not saying this is the problem here,but I can bet it's not helping.

Roof Cleaning Katy Texas (281) 392-2304 · Aug 8, 2010

Roof Cleaning Georgia wrote:
Run by Walmart and pick up some ethanol treatment for your fuel.The small engine don't like ethanol and live very short lives because of it.
Not saying this is the problem here,but I can bet it's not helping.

That might help but it was not the root cause of my problem. Both the Rigid & the Ingersol Rand use the same honda engine.

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