One of the questions that we get asked often is, can you put motor oil in an air compressor. And hey, it is a valid question. After all, oil is oil, right?
Truth be told, the answer is not as easy as a simple yes or no. Technically, You can use motor oil in air compressor but it may harm your engine. We suggest to use Air compressor Oil that will make your machine long last.
Let’s learn on: How to Change Air Compressor Oil
Although you can technically use engine oil for an air compressor, there are a few facts you need to know about. In this article, we will take a complete tour of everything you need to know about air compressor oil and why you should not use motor oil instead of dedicated air compressor oil for your machine. So without further ado, let us dive in.
Contents
What is Motor Oil and its characteristics
Motor oil is typically used in an engine to lubricate different moving parts present inside it. Although engine oil can be both organic or synthetic, it usually contains different additives to dissipate heat faster and give you better and more efficient lubrication inside the engine of a car.
Can You Put Motor Oil in an Air Compressor?
Whether you can use motor oil in your air compressor depends on the compressor itself. Typically, air compressor oils do not contain any additives. Some air compressors, however, can work well with non-detergent motor oil without showing any issues.
The main trouble with using motor oil with your air compressor is that you cannot immediately see the problem that it causes. However, over time, you will start to notice poor performance and efficiency. If you still keep using motor oil for your compressor, the compressor can simply die one day.
Functions of Oil in Air Compressor
To help you understand why motor oil is not a good alternative to air compressor oil, you need to understand the role that the oil plays inside the device. There are four main tasks that the oil needs to do for your air compressor. They are:
Cooling
Oil is an excellent material to control and regulate the temperature in any machine. For air compressor, it has the important task of keeping the machine from overheating.
As you continuously keep using the air compressor to compress air, the interior temperature of the machine keeps rising. Here, the compressor oil serves as a coolant and keeps the interior under control.
Lubricating
An air compressor comes with many moving parts, and most of these parts are made of metal. As time goes by, the metal parts start losing their lubrication, which can mean inefficient performance from your machine. Besides, rust is a common concern when you are dealing with any metal parts.
Compressor oil works as a lubricant and can keep the metal parts away from any sort of rust or corrosion damage. Besides, it can also reduce the friction between the metal parts, improving performance, and also reducing the noise coming out of your machine.
Sealing
The lubricating and cooling properties of compressor oil are pretty well-known even by people with relatively little idea about this tool. But a lesser-known fact with compressor oil is that it also serves as a high-quality sealant inside the machine.
An air compressor stores pressurized air inside a tank, and a leak in the machine can drastically reduce its efficiency. The compressor oil can seep through the tiny pores in the metal parts to seal it up completely, ensuring none of the compressed air can escape your device.
Cleaning
Cleaning is another sector where the compressor oil plays a huge role. No, it does not contain the dust particles in the air that can get in through the intake of the device. That job lies solely on the air filter of your unit.
However, specks of dust are not the only concern when it comes to containment in the air compressor. The metal parts inside the unit can produce microscopic fragments, and since the components are already inside your unit, air filters cannot prevent it.
The compressor oil can capture these fragments and keep them away from contaminating the quality of the pressurized air inside the tank.
What Happens When You Use Motor Oil in Air Compressor?
Motor oil and compressor oil are two completely different substances. They differ wildly in terms of chemical property and how they behave inside a machine. We already mentioned that motor oil is not a substitute for compressor oil, and you should never use it with your compressor.
However, curiosity is never a bad thing. So for those who want to know, here are a few things that can happen when you put engine oil in an air compressor.
Motor oil contains detergents that can foam up when you use your compressor. This can negatively impact the level of lubrication.
Since motor oil contains additives, when the interior of the compressor gets heated, it might cause carbon build up inside your machine.
Motor oil can also hamper the power output and capacity of the machine by leaving deposits at the pump.
Compressor oil has a certain temperature at which it performs well. It is designed in a way that syncs up with the compressor to give you the best performance at a specific temperature. However, with motor oil, the optimal temperature is not the same, which means reduced performance.
Motor oil can also damage the purity of the air inside the compressor. The additives in motor oil can drastically damage the quality of the air in spite of having air filters in your machine.
Final Thoughts
An air compressor is not traditionally a sensitive machine. If you invest in a decent unit, it can potentially survive a lot of abuse. However, when it comes to basic maintenance, such as replacing the lubricating oil, you should not go with products that can damage or shorten the lifespan of your compressor.
We hope you got the answer to the question of can you put motor oil in an air compressor from our in-depth exploration of the topic.
