Tell me about air compressors.

13bullets

13bullets

Chris
Joined
Dec 14, 2008
Location
Lincolnton
I'm wanting an electric air compressor for my garage. 120V/240V doesn't matter, I'll wire to suit. Doesn't have to be portable, but DOES need to be quiet. 175 PSI or higher, will be using it to grind, chisel, ratchet, etc...the usual.

What do I need to look for, and what do I need to avoid? Will probably be buying from Sears, Northern Tool, or Lowes/Home Depot, since they are all fairly close.
 
175 CFM??? you will need a diesel tow behind for that kind of volume.

Probably the most CFM you will need for air tools would be around 20.
 
ill guess he needs 175 psi... northern industries makes a good one. i just got rid of a ingersoll beacuae it wasnt big enough and ingersoll makes it so if anything breaks you cant replace it with anything but original parts. that being said i bought a speedaire by dayton which is a grainger house brand. its 10hp 3 phase 120 gallon tank and i am much happier. they have many models to choose from and they are american made
 
Big (60 gallon+) air compressors come with two motor speeds. My numbers might be off but they are something close to 1620 and 3460 RPM. I have the faster motor and it's considerably louder than the variety with the slower motor. Also, faster doesn't mean more capacity (PSI or CFM), it's just a different design.

If I knew then what I know now I would have bought a quieter air compressor. Having said that, in my experience my 11.x CFM 135 PSI 60 gallon A/C can do anything I've ever asked it to do including air grinders, drills, etc. Unless you're a busy multi person shop you're going overkill, which isn't a bad place to be but I thought I'd point it out.
 
Oh yeah, when comparing air compressors the key number to look at is the CFM at 90 PSI. That's the pressure that most of the tools I've seen run at. The PSI number is just something to be combines with the tank size to get a feel for how often it will kick on and how long it will run when it does kick on.
 
Another thing to look for is oil-less vs oil air compressors (AC). An oil-less AC will usually run at a much higher decibel level than an AC that uses oil, you just have to do a little maintenance on the oil one.
 
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