What's the worst that can happen if a vertical compressor is transported on its side?

[Gregory of Sherwood Forest]

I have the opportunity to buy an 80 gal Ingersal Rand compressor for a song. Seriously, less than 30% of its original price. It looks practically new and is about 6-8 years old.

Here's the issue;

The current owner moved it into storage and mentioned that it was moved in a pickup, laying on its side, without first draining all the oil first.

I've heard that compressors should never be moved on their side without first draining the oil, because oil can contaminate either the air chamber (?) or some other area of the motor. I'm not clear on the trouble spots, really.

There's lots of hyperbole and conflicting info on this on various sites on the internet, and I'd like to ask for clarification here. Maybe someone who actually KNOWS FOR SURE can drop some knowledge on me.

Thanks in advance.

[JGrout]

IME  If it has been standing up for at least some period of time  since the move to storage and the sight glass shows the oil level to be near the center of the sight glass I would say it is fine and the small amount of contamination that may exist would be negated by now.....

really contamination of the upper cylinder is a bit of a contentious issue for some but I attribute that to trying to restart the unit in too short a turnaround time I have seen uprights laid down in the past with oil in them then righted and allowed to sit for a couple of weeks and work for yrs

Joe

[EricU]

I don't see how bad it can be.  There is oil in the air tank, when you have to refill the oil, it's because the stuff that's gone is in the compressed air.  
If you are going to spray with it, you need to have an oil separator anyway. Otherwise, most things don't mind a little oil

At work, we had an ancient compressor that just drank oil.  Not all of the oil was going into the air, but lots of it was.  But there were two 15' high 8' diameter tanks before the line to our lab and we still got oil in the lines.
I had to go start the compressor every day.  It didn't come on automatically.  I always figured it was going to explode and kill me, it put out 250 psi.

[Robert Adams]

It's just a pump. Leave it standing up for a few days and fire it up. You might have a little more oil come out the pump and into the tank but it's not the end of the world. It's not an engine that will lock up if there is oil in the cylinder.

[Foggy]

My first thought was that it could roll off the truck.

[fixtureman]

when they delivered mine it was on its side they said stand it up and wait an hour before you use it.  that was 30 years ago and it still runs like new

[daddo]

You could remove the belt(s) and turn the compressor by hand a few times slowly to clear most of the oil that may be in the cylinder first to be safe.

[Gregory of Sherwood Forest]

Got there to look at it in person and it wasn't anything close to the picture or description. Waste of time. It looked like the pump had a crack in it somewhere, as it wouldn't hold oil. The guy actually said, "easy fix, just drop a bottle of Stop-Leak in it".

I just walked away.

Called a guy who refurbs compressors who was recommended to me and he gave me a deal on one. It'll put out about 15cfm at 175psi, according to the pump specs, 5hp continuous duty motor. He even spray painted it a gloss gray. Ugly, but it's a compressor, right? 

[daddo]

Why didn't HE put a bottle of stop leak in it?


 It amazes me, some of the things people sell and want a good price for something that may be junk.

 Like the adds in CL on cars or mowers and so on; "It isn't running cause it has a bad carb. I got the carb, all you have to do is install it and away you go"!  
  Then they get mad at me because I mention if it isn't running, I'll pay the "Not running" price, which is nothing.

[KC]

I've moved mine twice, plus the original trip from the store.  Laid it down all three times.