Quincy 4153DS12HCA46 QT Pro - 15 HP, 120 Gallon, Two-Stage, 460V 3-Phase

Every oil-lubricated compressor puts some oil into the air it makes. Most product pages never say how much. Quincy publishes the figure for this machine - oil blow-by held to less than 5 PPM - and that is the honest reason to shortlist the 4153DS12HCA46 ahead of a cheaper 15 HP unit. It decides whether the air arriving at a spray gun, a plasma table or a blast cabinet is clean enough to use, or whether your downstream filtration has to do all of the work and get changed twice as often.

Around that sits a cast iron four-cylinder two-stage pump that Quincy rates for more than 50,000 hours of service, a Baldor industrial-duty motor wired for 460 Volt 3-phase supply, and a 120 gallon horizontal ASME tank. Delivered air is 51 CFM at 175 PSI, and it leaves through a 1 inch ball valve.

The oil carry-over figure, and why it is worth arguing about

Blow-by is the small amount of lubricating oil that slips past the rings and leaves the pump with the compressed air. It causes trouble in three predictable places. It contaminates paint work, where it appears as fisheyes that nobody can polish out afterwards. It loads up coalescing and desiccant elements, so your filter spend climbs quietly year after year. And it pools in the low points of a shop pipework run until it eventually reaches a tool all at once.

A figure below 5 PPM does not make this an oil-free compressor, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. It means the pump keeps carry-over low enough that a normal filtration train finishes the job rather than fighting the machine for its whole life. If your process genuinely requires oil-free air - breathing air, food contact, some medical and laboratory work - this is not the machine, and no amount of filtration turns an oil-lubricated reciprocating compressor into one. Tell us what the air is for and we will say so plainly.

The outlet is sized for the output

A 1 inch ball valve at the tank sounds like trivia until you try to push 51 CFM through a narrower fitting and a length of thin hose. Restriction at the tank shows up as pressure drop at the tool, and it is the most common reason a correctly specified compressor feels undersized a week after installation. Size the header pipe to match the outlet rather than to match whatever was already hanging on the wall.

The same reasoning applies to the receiver. A 120 gallon tank does not create air, but it absorbs demand spikes, so the pump runs in longer and cooler cycles instead of short hot ones. Long cool cycles are the duty that actually gets a pump toward the service life its maker quotes; short hot ones are how compressors die early.

Will it fit, and what your electrician needs

This is a horizontal machine: about 78 inches long, 28 inches wide and 55 inches tall, weighing 995 lbs. Horizontal is the layout to pick when ceiling height is your constraint - under a mezzanine, in a bay with a roller-door track overhead, or tucked along a wall. The trade is floor area, and it is a genuine trade: a vertical tank of the same capacity hands most of that footprint back and asks for the height instead.

Set it on level, solid concrete with clear space on every side for cooling airflow and for service access to the belt guard, the sight glass and the drain. Measuring the pad, the clearances and the route in through your door is the customer responsibility, and it is far better done with a tape measure before the order than on a kerb with a driver waiting.

Electrically it needs 460 Volt 3-phase service. The industrial-duty magnetic starter is wired and mounted at the factory, so your installation is a supply run rather than a control panel build. Quincy does not publish a breaker size for this unit and neither will we - the specification says to consult a certified electrician, because conductor sizing depends on the length of your run and on local code. Get that answered before the machine is on a truck.

Specifications

Perfect For

• Body and paint shops. The published carry-over figure and 175 PSI at the tank are what a booth and a set of guns actually need.
• Fabrication and plasma cutting. Continuous 51 CFM supports a torch and a grinder at the same time without the pressure sagging.
• Multi-bay service shops. Enough air for several technicians on impact tools, with the 120 gallon receiver soaking up the spikes.
• Light manufacturing. Where the building already has 460 Volt 3-phase and the demand is steady rather than occasional.

It is the wrong machine for a home garage: no house has a 3-phase service, and a smaller single-phase unit costs far less to install.

What Is In The Box

The compressor arrives as a factory-assembled unit: pump, motor, belt drive and guard on the 120 gallon tank, with the industrial-duty magnetic starter already wired and mounted. Quincy warranty documentation is supplied with the machine.

Not included, and worth planning for: the electrical supply run and disconnect, shop pipework and fittings beyond the 1 inch tank outlet, any filtration or drying you need downstream, isolation pads, and initial oil if your installer prefers a specific grade. This unit is not fitted with an aftercooler or an air dryer - if you need dry air, that is a separate purchase.

Certification, stated honestly

The manufacturer certification line for this model lists an ASME tank together with UL and CSA marks. Those are certifications of the equipment as it was built, and they are worth having. They are not the same thing as approval of your installation.

No mark on the machine says your feeder, your disconnect, your overcurrent protection or your ventilation meet code in your jurisdiction - that is decided by your electrician and your local inspector, on your site. If an insurer, a landlord or an authority having jurisdiction needs the compliance paperwork, ask us for the manufacturer documentation before you order rather than after the machine is bolted down. We would rather send you the file than have you discover a gap at inspection.

Shipping and delivery

This compressor ships by freight to the lower 48 states. The freight cost is quoted live at checkout against your delivery ZIP code, so what you see is the real cost to your address rather than a national average. Residential delivery carries a residential fee. A commercial address with a dock or a forklift is cheaper, and terminal pickup is cheaper again if you can collect it yourself.

You must be able to unload. The driver brings it to the kerb and no further. Have a forklift, a dock, or arrangements to move 995 lbs safely off a trailer - or choose terminal pickup and bring your own equipment.

Inspect before you sign. Walk the crate, check the tank shell, the pump, the motor and the belt guard, and write any damage on the bill of lading while the driver is still there. A signed clean receipt makes a freight claim very hard to win.

Warranty

Quincy covers this unit with a 1-year factory warranty, and it is eligible for the extended 3-year No Bull terms when the registration and maintenance conditions are satisfied. Those conditions are set by the manufacturer and change from time to time, so confirm the current requirements with us in writing before you rely on them.

One warning that applies to any compressor, whoever made it: do not strip the pump, the motor or the starter before a claim is raised. A unit that has already been opened is very difficult to warrant, however obvious the fault looked at the time. Call us first, keep every part, and photograph what you found.