Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Yes there is a difference. Paraffin based 30 still exists and it is not appropriate for many applications. If you are going to run 30, run SAE 30 HD like Rotella T1 or Delo 100 or something...
I would no more use a cheap auto store oil in a compressor, than I would in my wife's Jag ... I've been putting premium multi-grade oils in tool systems since 1973 and have gotten nothing but stellar results. HD oils have good anti-foam additives. These compressors run hard for 20 or 30 years, and are still running. Rock drills, Airless paint heads, etc.
Oils high in VII's are not good. But modern well blended 10w30's and now, even 5w30's work very well. These are splash oiled systems, so the thinner starting viscosity allows them to splash up quickly.
The biggest system we did that way was a Gardner-Denver compressor powered by a CAT diesel. 500 CFM and ran two shifts a day, six days a week in a mine yard. Had 30 years on it with one top end OH and was still running fine as sold when the mine closed
I've read the service manuals and seen the recommendations. But at 9,600 feet in the Sierra's, straight 30 was to thick for reliable starts during spring thaw. Multi's went in once a year and got changed before we buttoned up in the fall. Sat under 10' to 20' of snow all winter and fired up come May when we went in to start getting ready for mining season in.
That yard equipment you have has a very simple lubrication systems. No pumped oil. Use good oil and they will run a long time
The word paraffin is a very common and basic term for base mineral oil. The MSDS sheets for many motor oils use the word paraffin to describe the main oil ingredient...as in "SOLVENT-DEWAXED HEAVY PARAFFINIC PETROLEUM," which is how Valvoline phrases it in their MSDS sheets.
Paraffin is the proper organic chemistry word for aliphatic hydrocarbons...more commonly known as oil. It is also the correct name for wax and candles. But there is as much difference between paraffin wax and paraffin oil as there is between a chestnut horse and a horse chestnut. They just aint the same thing. Don't matter whether you're talking about Pennzoil, Castrol, Valvoline or your wife's Christmas candles.