I went to use my Husky H1506F air compressor last weekend. When I saw that it wouldn’t get higher than 25 psi pressure, I knew there was something wrong. So when I called their technical support, they were thinking it was probably a damaged valve plate. They asked me to open up the compressor and take a look. (I didn’t have an 8 inch long 3/16″ allen wrench to take the cover off, but luckily a really long 5mm allen wrench for an old bicycle suspension fork was close enough and did the trick.) I removed the valve plate, which is sitting on the tank in this photo.
Here’s a closeup of the valve plate. Notice the damage on the second “finger”.
Although the compressor was out of warranty, the valve plate and gaskets only cost about $10 plus shipping. I received them yesterday, put the compressor back together, and now all is well.
Other than the issue with the valve plate, this pancake compressor – with a 6 gallon tank, 1.5 hp, 2.5 cfm at 90 psi – has worked out quite well. I bought it mainly to use with a palm nailer. The only downside – and it’s not the compressor’s fault, it’s the laws of physics – is that the performance suffers quite a bit at altitude (6000 feet). Consequently, instead of cycling on and off as needed, the compressor runs non-stop when using my palm nailer. That tells me I’m running the compressor right at its limit. I have a project for which I will need to rent a framing nailer, and if I were at sea level I’d try this compressor, but it looks like I’m going to have to rent a bigger compressor for my project. (I could rent a cordless framing nailer that has a fuel cell pack, but I’m not sure the folks at the big box stores would have the high altitude fuel cell packs!)
BikingBrian 
Comments
11 responses to “Broken Air Compressor”
Well, talk about serendipity! The regulator on my Husky H1506F suffered a regulator failure today. That’s not the strange part of this tale! I was trying desperately to figure out the size of the screw’s used to take off the plastic shroud – I sort of could see that it was a hex – probably Allen head but no way did I have one long enough to get down there. Lo and behold, I found your web site and there you have the size of the Allen wrench I need! Well, I hope it is the right size – we’ll find out tomorrow when I go out to the hardware store. Thanks!
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Glad this blog entry was of help! Their tech support phone line was quite helpful, I believe they were the ones that told me I needed a 3/16″ allen wrench – I had the 5mm one handy which was a tad smaller but good enough to do the job. If you’re going to order a regulator, I suggest ordering a spare valve plate and gasket too.
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Brian,
Thanks for the post. Mine did exactly the same thing. Your post saved me a lot of time not having to mess around with tech support. Thanks a million.
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Thanks, have the exact same issue. You saved me much time and $$
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thanks for taking the time to post this I picked up one of these for free with the same problem… 20.00 got a working compressor. Called the number on the tag the valve plate was about 9 bucks, piston “o” ring was 5. not bad.
Thanks again for the post
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Thanks for the tip on the 3/16 screw size. I couldn’t reach them or see well enough to guess, so it was a big help to see the size in you posting. Now I have to figure out where the air is leaking out of the regulator. Thanks again.
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hi just read about your compressor and was wondering if there is a uk based section were i could buy the plate and gaskets or could you post them too me and could send you the cash by paypal
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Hi Brian,
Same problem with my compressor. Any chance you have tech support number still? Thanks
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@adrian – Sorry, I don’t know about a UK-based section.
@Brad – Sorry, I don’t have it anymore. Good luck with a fix!
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were was the Husky H1506F valve plate and gaskets found for 10 dollars
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I have a Dewalt Air Compressor – portable. My tank has rust slurry in it and I need to clean it out. Is there a recommended method to flush a small air compressor tank?-
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