Whether in a professional shop or in your home garage, air tools can save a lot of time and a lot of labor. But, air tools require maintenance and that maintenance starts right back here at your air compressor. See, when air compressors run, they condense moisture out of the air; actually, that’s what collects at the bottom of the tank. This is what we got out of this one just a couple minutes ago. And if this stuff doesn’t get drained out of the compressor, it’s going to get in your air tools and it’s going to do damage or it’s going to kill the tool it gets into. Another thing that is maintenance related here on the compressor is the oil level; it may have a sight glass or you may have a dipstick. Read the owner’s manual, it’ll tell you how to check the oil; make sure you keep it full of oil because it won’t live if you don’t. Also, when you’re in the owner’s manual, look to see how frequently you’re supposed to change the oil and what type of oil you’re supposed to use. Again, if you don’t do it, it won’t live.

Now, another thing, whenever you’re using an air tool, well, you want to wear eye protection because no matter what it is, even the basic socket, like on this air impact wrench, the little shards of steel can break off from the socket or the nut that’s being tightened or loosened and that can hit you in the eye. Alright, so eye protection. Number two, number two is ear protection; ear protection because the air tools make noise, and the noise is such that it can actually damage your ears. So pay attention to that. Also, the thing that no one ever seems to do, and it’s really one of the most important things you can do, and that is to add oil into the tool. These things have metal moving parts inside ‘em, but they don’t have a crank case like an engine or even like the compressor back there. So you have to put oil in them on a regular basis. How do you do it? Well, it was always a messy job, but now this air-cooled oiler from TEFC which mounts on your tool box or on the wall; you fill it with the proper air tool oil. Then, you take the tool and you put it up into here – there’s a little nipple up in there that aligns the end of the tool properly. Push up on it, and as you push up on it, it injects oil into the tool. You double and triple the life expectancy of your air cooler – and it’s inexpensive. And if you have a question or comment, drop me a line, right here at MotorWeek.