We like our new DeWalt® DXCM303. The air pump is oil-lubricated, so it will last a long time. It’s quieter than our oilless compressor. Even so, we added 3 few things to make it better and easier to service!
#compressor #shopair #compressedair
The DeWalt® DXCM303 Upright 2 HP Single-state oil-lubricated compressor is a great improvement over the oilless unit we had. The new unit comes up to pressure quicker while being a lot quieter. We’re going to semi-permanently mount it in a separate room on a short platform, along with an inline oil and water and master pressure regulator.
As good as it is now, we thought it could be better in three areas:
Intake air filter
Air pump oil change drain
Pressure tank condensate valve
Let’s see why for each.
INTAKE AIR FILTER. The stock unit is minuscule, so there is limited surface area on the filter, so it will load up pretty quickly with dusty shop air! The threaded port on the side of the air pump head is a standard size, and a good filter housing and cartridge was easy to find.
We went with a metal housing unit from Compressor Source:
https://compressor-source.com/products/1-2-mnpt-metal-filter-housing-with-element-made-in-usa#
The unit is made in the U.S.A., and filter replacements are readily available at a reasonable price. At the time of filming, we paid about $35 plus shipping. The unit is about 6” (152mm) in diameter and 2-½” (64mm) tall. It is nicely made and fits perfectly.
AIR PUMP OIL DRAIN. The air pump is cast iron with a nice oil sump. There are two 5/16” (about 8mm) hex key plugs - one to fill, and the other to drain the oil out. The fill plug is easy to access.
The drain port is another matter. Without creating some type of pan or tray, the oil will “drool” over the front edge of the motor and pump mount and then down the front of the compressor tank.
The plug threads are standard ⅜” NPT, so it’s easy to fashion a drain valve and tube assembly. With this, oil drains off the side of the compressor into a catch bucket. Easy!
We’ll simply need to shut off the compressor, let the bleed-off valve do its job, get the drain bucket in place, remove the top fill plug (to assist with better flow out of the drain), and open the bottom valve and let all the oil drain out and shut the valve. Fill the oil sump again with the right amount of compressor oil, reinstall the top plug, and put the compressor back to work!
PRESSURE TANK CONDENSATE VALVE. The air tank on ANY compressor needs to be drained of condensate (water) that accumulates in the tank (and it WILL). This is due to moisture being “pressed” out of the air as the air is pressurized. So, what’s the big deal?
Corrosion - rust. The steel interior of the pressure tank is highly susceptible to corrosion via rust. As the metal pits and flakes off, the tank walls thin out. This can lead to tank failure when the tank is pressurized. When that happens, it is literally explosive with damage, and potential loss of life.
To avoid this, condensate needs to be drained off - we recommend weekly, and even more if humidity is high. The valve is located at the lowest part of the pressure tank to properly drain the tank. So, it can be difficult to reach that valve, depending on how the compressor is situated. Usually, the valve ends up being under the compressor, meaning getting down on your hands and knees (or sometimes your belly), to open the valve and drain off the moisture. This also puts your face near the outlet. That’s not good.
Many times there isn’t sufficient room to put a catchment tray under the valve, so water is blown all over the shop or garage flow. Messy.
The answer is to extend the valve out so it is easier to access. In our case, we’re going install the valve extension AND raise the compressor so the valve is not so low. We’ll also put a catch bucket with an “anti-splashback” lid in it to keep everything neat.
DeWalt® offers the DXCM072-0023 Extended Tank Drain Valve Assembly for about $30. We bought ours at Home Depot.
When we build the stand for the compressor, we’ll also fashion a mounting bracket for the outlet end of the extension. The quarter-turn valve has threads on the end of it that will allow us to securely fasten it with a nut, and then put a downward-facing elbow so that the water is discharged down into the catch bucket.
To use the valve, we’ll shut the compressor off, reduce the pressure in the tank down to 20 PSI or so (using the compressor pressure relief valve), and then use the tank drain valve to expel water before shutting off the valve and turning the compressor back on.
No more crawling around the floor to do this necessary task, along with the elimination of excuses to procrastinate getting it done!
With these updates, and the maintenance schedule we’ve implemented for our equipment, we expect this compressor will outlive us.
JUST DO IT YOURSELF!
hey dir farmer J here from dirtfarmer
j.com as much as I love this DeWalt dxcm
303
compressor there's still a couple things
that I would do differently and that I
can solve with some aftermarket gear hey
let me show you as I pimp my
[Music]
[Applause]
compressor hey dirt farmer J here from
dirt farmer j.com so far we are loving
this DeWalt dxcm 303 upright single
stage compressor it is really a
Workhorse it's doing very nicely and if
you want to check out our review video
where we walk through the features of
this and uh how it works and some of the
specifications just check out that video
right above but there are even as much
as we love it some things that we wouldd
like to
accessorize uh and actually improve the
performance or the convenience of
working with this compressor there's
three of them that I want to show you
well let's start start with the first
one which is upgrading the air filter
the air intake filter as you see over
here on this compressor it's a very
small little filter that it comes with
there it is right there there's not very
much uh surface a you area as you can
see we've hardly used this this is brand
new there's no dust on it but in a shop
environment it's only going to take just
a little bit before this is packed out
you'll be blowing it out replacing it
and it's kind of a constricted space to
pull air through so we know there is a
better solution and we found this
aftermarket larger capacity filter and
I'm going to take this apart and show
you why it's Superior and if you check
out the link below in the description I
give you the source where I got that you
can go and purchase one of them for your
compressor and uh it's a standard 1/ in
npt uh in thread here that's going to go
into the head uh but let's go ahe and
take this apart and show you why this is
a much Superior approach to what comes
stock with the machine all right let's
go ahead and take off the outer cover
standard wing nut arrangement with a um
poly washer on it right there a nylon
washer so I'm going to go ahead and set
those aside let's pull off the outer
cover very substantial very nice uh very
thick and then here is the filter that
comes in that one how about the air
surface across here that where it can be
pulled through the filter uh a lot more
cleaning power and less restriction of
the air being pulled into the head of
the air pump then here is the base with
the mounting screw at the top and this
is the airport where um air is pulled
into the unit meaning that this also
acts somewhat as a muffler because one
of the noisier areas of a compressor is
the intake the air intake so by uh kind
of making the path to the inner workings
of the head a little bit more Meandering
that's going to suppress noise a bit
here uh this is a really straightforward
change out we're going to put a little
bit of Teflon tape on that and then
we'll go and install it all right the
correct way to apply Teflon tape is to
go CL wise around the thread and you're
going to start at the base uh standard
pipe thread is tapered uh this doesn't
appear to have much taper but you're
going to start here hold it and then
wind clockwise and as you do play out
the tape stretch it onto the
threads and you want at least three
wraps now here's a pro tip do not take
the tape all the way up to the top edge
of the threads right there doing so uh
it doesn't hurt anything it just makes
it a lot more difficult to
thread uh the pipe into the the uh
reting side over here okay now that we
have this prepared for installation with
the Teflon tape let's go ahead and move
it over here let's remove the
other whole unit out and it just comes
right out there it is uh and let's now
install this in the same
place there it
goes and you don't need to Super thread
this on you're not trying to bust
anything the Teflon tape is there to
make it easier also to remove so that
feels good I don't want to draw down too
heavily on that and let's go ahead and
install back the filter that goes
here let's put on the
washer and
here and there is upgrade number one is
completed easy easy
easy much better filtration system uh
and will keep the air intake much
cleaner over a longer period of time and
filters are easily replaceable and
economical all right let's go to upgrade
number two the second Improvement that
we're going to do is when we go to
change the oil we don't want to take in
and out that plug using that
516 uh hex key instead what I'd like to
do is just be able to open a valve uh
that'll handle enough pressure that does
get built up in the air pump uh when
it's running but we'll simply install
this is standard 38 pipe over here we'll
remove that at the next Oil Change put
this unit in along with the valve right
there that allows us to open and close
the valve I'll actually put another
elbow over here so it's more like a spet
in a place to hang a bucket on the side
now the advantage of this is I can
change oil there's it's twofold one I
can change oil very quickly by opening
closing and of course removing the top
plug to to break any V vacuum and help
it to run and you want to do that by the
way when the oil is warm when it's been
running for a bit so that it drains
completely and runs easily lowers the
viscosity Etc the second Advantage is
notice where the placement of this is
and that's pretty necessarily where it
needs to be but if I take that out I'm
going to have a lot of oil dribbling
here I'll have to make some little pan
to drain it off or whatever so I'd
rather get where the oil exits out away
from all this and I can put a catch over
here on the side without dealing with
oil running down the front of this and
fiddling around with that so that'll be
a future one and when we get this all
installed and its home in here we'll
show it all completed but I think you
can see what we're doing here uh you can
rig it the way you'd like one other
thing I want to mention to you uh is my
friend Dave over at Salt Lake compressor
pointed out um that you do not need to
take all the air out of the tank which
the
the manual says you do before you change
oil here Dave said that's not true uh he
asked me the question are you going to
change the oil when the compressor is
running or when it's not running I said
well not running of course he said
there's no pressure in there there's a
bleed off valve which you always hear at
the end of a cycle of compressor that
it's bleeding off the pressure in the
air pump for the simple reason that you
don't want it to start on its next
pressure is I ation cycle under load it
has to be with no pressure no load so it
can start up and begin its
pressurization so he said there's no
problem here uh of changing the oil even
if there's air in the tank down here the
air is not going to come back through
here there's Valves and and uh that sort
of thing that stopped that from
happening Dave thank you you're the rock
star of air compressors all right
there's the third enhancement that makes
it a lot easier to keep this bit in tip
toop shape here we go the third one it
has to do with air tank maintenance you
have to drain the air out of this and
accompanying water on an ongoing basis I
would say no less than once or twice a
week well to do that look where the
valve is at the bottom of this and if it
is just set here and it's the right
place for it it's the lowest point in
the tank where the water's going to
collect and you need to collect that
water it will form even with moderate
humidity in the air as air is compressed
it's going to yield the water and that
water is going to collect in the tank
well you need to drain that out well you
can imagine once a week saying uh I got
to get down on my hands and knees or lay
down on my side and reach under there
and open the valve a little bit and let
it blow out or bleed off the tank etc
etc well there's a better way and here
it is DeWalt themselves offer solution
to this problem they have what's called
an extended tank drain valve assembly it
is part number
dxc
M72 D
0023 and you can buy one of these I
think this is about $20 and what you see
on one end is threading with threading
compound that replaces the valve at the
bottom of the T tank and then extends
out a valve further out with enough
thread on it that you could put a
mounting ring a mount something that
makes it easy to operate this valve on
and off and to direct that stream of air
and water safely away from you and your
eyes and ears and all that sort of thing
so this is a really quick easy upgrade
that makes it really easy to take care
of your equipment and not avoid doing so
you want these piece of equipment to
last a long time and these upgrades will
help you to accomplish that something
else that's really important to take
care of this compressor uh these oil
types is to use dedicated genuine
compressor oil check out this video
where we tell you the difference between
compressor oil no it's not a gimmick to
sell you more expensive product that
really does have characteristics that'll
save the life of your compressor and
while you're at it check check out this
other video that YouTube thinks is
perfect for you and we'd like it if
you'd watch it as well hey until the
next time this is dirt farmer J with
your farmer J and join my pimped out
compressor
