Major prob with my hydrovane 5

[neilscompressor]

I bought a hydrovane 5 compressor a while ago. Its reasonably old, however i still paid £250 for it. I have been meaning to change the oil as the last owner never really used it. Anyway i ran it today for around 10 mins after it began to sound strange and the power started to surge. I switched it off right away and allowed to cool. Once cool i started it again to find that it sounds awfull. I'd say it sounds pretty f-d. I know i'm stupid for not changing the oil right away and i guess i've learnt the hard way. I assume it now needs a rebuild. I know nothing about these compressors. Is it worth fixing and is it difficult to do so?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[tigler]

Much depends on what the problem is. If it's lubrication failure for some reason it will be very expensive in parts to rebuild and not exactly straight forward to do.

 

[Keith 66]

I acquired a hydrovane compressor ten years ago, good job it was very cheap as it didnt hurt so much when i scrapped the bloody thing.
Parts were astronomically & prohibitively expensive, only exceeded by Colchester lathes who seemingly make parts out of solid gold from their prices.

 

[tigler]

That is the unfortunate thing about Hydrovanes, very good when they are working ok but not economically viable if damaged through neglect. They also don't like intermittent use with constant running at below optimum running temp, they like it hot !

 

[Daveleonard]

Hi neil the 5's as are all the hydrovanes are fully serviceable and easy to do, the most important thing is to keep the oil cooler clear (can get full of dust over heat and cause shims to melt) not worked on them for a long time ,but you could get rebuild kits and service kits,always use their 2000hr oil.