BelAire 338VL 7.5 HP 80-Gallon Two-Stage Air Compressor, Vertical 3-Phase

BelAire states that the air receiver on this machine is 100% factory tested at full pressure before it leaves the plant. Not a sample from the batch — every vessel. On a component that will hold high-pressure air a few feet from where people work, for years, that is the specification we would want to see first, and it is the reason we lead with it rather than with a horsepower figure.

Around that tank sits a 7.5 HP 3-phase motor with a magnetic starter already fitted, a belt-driven two-stage pump built in solid cast iron with stainless steel valves, a triple-pass aftercooler and a 175 PSI maximum, all standing vertically so the 80 gallons costs you a corner rather than a wall.

Every tank tested at full pressure, and why that is not a formality

An air receiver is a pressure vessel. It is welded, and welds are where vessels fail. Testing each one at full pressure at the factory finds the bad weld, the porous seam and the mis-set relief before the vessel is ever painted, rather than after it has been sitting in a shop cycling several times an hour for a decade.

The tank is also ASME certified, which governs how it is designed, built and stamped in the first place. Certification and testing are two different assurances — one about the rules the vessel was built to, one about this particular vessel actually meeting them — and this machine carries both. A safety valve is fitted, and it is not decoration: it should never be plugged, painted over or adjusted, and if it ever lifts in normal service you have a pressure switch problem to investigate rather than a valve problem to silence.

Reserve, cycling, and how long the machine lasts

The number that decides a compressor's working life is not horsepower, it is how often the motor starts. Starting is when current, heat and mechanical shock all peak. A machine that starts twice as often does not wear twice as fast; it wears considerably faster than that.

An 80-gallon receiver is how you buy fewer starts. Because the pump is two-stage and can fill the tank to a high pressure, the air stored above your regulated working pressure is a genuine reserve rather than a token one. Short bursts of demand — an impact gun, a blow-off, a cylinder cycling — come out of that reserve and the motor never notices. The pump only runs when the reserve is genuinely drawn down.

Stainless valves and a cast iron pump

Valves are the highest-cycle parts in any reciprocating compressor: they open and close on every stroke, in hot air carrying oil mist and moisture. Stainless steel is specified here for exactly that environment, where corrosion and fatigue are the failure modes rather than abrasion. The pump body is solid cast iron, which is heavy, damps vibration well and holds bore geometry as it heats and cools.

Power

This unit takes 208-230V 3-phase supply and BelAire recommends a 40 amp breaker — a moderate circuit for a 7.5 HP motor, which is what three-phase supply buys you. The actual amp draw is published by BelAire as something to confirm with a certified electrician, because it depends on your service, your conductor run and your local code, and having that checked before delivery is the customer's responsibility. The magnetic starter is included and factory fitted, so the motor has overload protection from the first start. Check that the flywheel turns in the direction of the arrow on the guard when you first power it: three-phase rotation follows the conductor order, and a pump running backwards makes noise and no air.

Check the airflow rating pressure before you order

Published figures agree that this pump delivers 22.3 CFM, but they differ on the pressure that figure is measured at. Our specification database records it at 100 PSI; the product overview text supplied with this model gives it at 175 PSI. Delivered air always falls as pressure rises, so those two readings do not describe the same pump.

If you are matching this compressor to a specific continuous-draw tool, confirm the delivered air and its rating pressure with us in writing before you commit and we will get both from the manufacturer. The maximum pressure, 175 PSI, is settled either way.

Will it fit?

A vertical tank trades floor for height. Our specification records the footprint at 39" by 24" and the overall height at 73", with the machine weighing 479 lbs. Measure your ceiling, your door header and any duct or beam on the route in before ordering, and remember to allow clearance above the unit for the outlet and any piping elbow. If the height is anywhere near marginal for your building, ask us to confirm it in writing first — a tall machine that will not clear a door is an expensive thing to discover on delivery day.

Stand it on a level, solid floor; a tall, narrow machine has a high centre of gravity.

Perfect For

• Commercial shops with three-phase service and more headroom than floor area.
• Operations with heavy but intermittent demand, where the tank reserve does the work and the motor rarely runs.
• Fabrication and production floors that want a pressure-tested vessel and a machine that will still be running in ten years.
• Shops fitting a compressor into a corner or a plant room rather than along an open wall.

In the box

• Two-stage belt-driven pump, solid cast iron
• Stainless steel valves
• Triple-pass aftercooler
• 80-gallon vertical ASME certified air tank, 100% factory tested at full pressure
• 7.5 HP three-phase motor with magnetic starter included
• Start-stop pressure switch control
• Oil level sight glass
• Fully enclosed high-flow belt guard
• Pressure gauge and manual tank drain valve

Not included: an air dryer. Note also that a low oil shut-off is not listed as fitted to this model, so the sight glass is the only warning you will get.

Specifications

Tank

Pump and air

Motor, supply and size

Certification, said plainly

The receiver is an ASME certified pressure vessel and BelAire states every one is tested at full pressure at the factory. Those are the certification claims made for this machine, both concern the tank, and both are checkable.

We do not hold a North American third-party electrical safety listing from an accredited testing laboratory for this compressor. A pressure vessel certification is not a substitute: it says nothing about the motor, the starter or the control wiring. Some insurers, some corporate facility policies and some local electrical inspectors require that electrical listing by name. If yours is one of them, resolve it before you order and ask us in writing — we would far rather answer the question than have you fail an inspection.

Delivery

This item ships free within the lower 48 states, so there is nothing to add at checkout.

Make sure you can receive it: a forklift or a dock at the delivery address, or take terminal pickup and collect it yourself. Residential delivery is available and carries a residential fee. This one travels standing tall, so check the crate for lean or tipping as well as the usual dents in the tank ends, distortion in the guard and oil on the trailer deck. Record any damage on the delivery paperwork and photograph it before the driver leaves. Signing clean and raising it afterwards rarely ends well.

Warranty

A 2-year factory warranty applies. Write down the serial number when you uncrate the machine and keep it with your invoice; a claim without it moves slowly.

Do not take the pump, motor or pressure switch apart before a claim has been opened. Dismantling a component to prove it failed is the most reliable way to lose the cover on it. Report the fault first. After that, keep to the oil schedule, re-check belt tension after the first weeks of running, and drain the tank at the end of the working day while there is still pressure behind the water.