Air compressors

[Rick del Monte]

First I bought an Airhead, which made me realize I'm too old to lie on a concrete floor to work on a bike. This led to buying a Handy motorcycle lift. Now I need a compressor to operate the lift (and some other tools). I think a 20-26 gallon talk should meet current and future needs. I've been to Harbor Freight and they have a $400 compressor that looks good. However I do not want to buy a compressor that has no service or spare parts and will end up in a land fill with the first problem.

Do you have any recommendations for a sub $1,000 compressor that will be durable and serviceable? Ingersoll Rand has one for $850 that looks good, but I have no experience with them.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[stevenrankin]

Ingersol and Rand

They have been around a long time. Parts are available for most of their units. A couple of people I know have IR compressors and have had good luck with them. St.

 

[Omega Man]

My experience is that the “Husky” brand from Home Depot is reasonable. Last time I needed one in a hurry to run the air systems at one of the fire stations, it’s what I purchased to keep the air systems up.
Ideally, it really depends on how much you need to use it.
I think a compressor head the uses oil cooling is a must. Even better would be a cast-iron compressor head but that gets into extra money.
Another consideration is what you have for power (voltage/amperage) availability. My “spare” compressor is an upright, on wheels, roll with handle, “compressor head on tank” unit.

My current shop air is Kellog-American, circa 1952…all cast iron.

OM

 

[stevenrankin]

Depends

Oh yeah, what you buy depends on how you are going to use it. I have an 80 Gallon two stage unit because for awhile I was doing a log of media blasting. To just pump up a lift requires a lot less of a unit.

Theoretically, you could buy the cheap unit from Harbor Freight and it would last your lifetime. I mean if you only use the lift one or two times a month and inflate tires twice a week, it is hardly a strain.

My dad had a small compressor he used to inflate tires, and paint with. It lasted 67 years and was cobbled together from bits and bobs from milking machines. It is still in use at a relative's house to add air to tires.

My unit is a Devilbliss, I think they are gone now, Ingersol Rand may have bought them out. I have been using it for 25 years, the first 10 was hard because of the media blasting. So far, it has held up fine other than a few minor air leaks. St.

 

[drost]

I have a Handy lift that utilizes the air bag to raise the table. Years ago I received a small Husky piston style air compressor for filling tires. That compressor will lift my airhead or my wethead rt with no problem. With the rt it goes a little slow the last when going all the way up. I was pleasantly surprised that my compressor worked as well as it does.

 

[akbeemer]

I have a Handy lift that I've used for 11 years. It is a terrific product. I've used a 30 gallon single stage Lowe's brand compressor for as long as I've owned the lift and it is more than enough to do the job.

 

[motormike]

Like everyone here, I have a cheap Home Depot 20 gal. compressor. While it's more than enough for my lift table, I hate the noise. I have to grab hearing protection before I turn it on. For inflating tires and such I have one of these: https://www.californiaairtools.com/ Amazing how quite they are. Wish I'd spent the extra $$ to get one of their larger ones for my lift.

 

[Paul_F]

When I got my lift eleven years ago, I used my tiny compressor to lift and assemble it with the extensions. Figuring it would not work with a bike on it, I gave it to one of my sons and bought a ten gallon compressor.

A couple of years later I bought a used trailer hitch from a man with a very large garage that included a massive air compressor. Imagine my surprised when he used a tiny compressor (similar to the one that I had given away) on his lift when he installed the hitch on my bike. Apparently the large unit was used for painting.

My 10 gallon unit takes awhile for filling tires or lift use and is much too noisy than I’d prefer. I leave the garage when it is filling.

If I were buying again, I would certainly buy a quieter compressor.

 

[stevenrankin]

Noise

Oh yes, my big compressor when it is running requires hearing protection. I used to use a set of noise cancelling headphones when media blasting and ruined my hearing with the loud music instead of the noise from the compressor, LOL, not really.

I have my system sealed pretty good so that I can shut the main valve off at the compressor tank and it will hold 150 to 120 PSI for weeks without starting up. That is more than enough air to inflate all the tires in all the vehicles I have plus lift the lift one time. The unit does not kick on until less than 120 PSI.

The nice thing about such a big high power unit is that with a good impact wrench, most nuts and bolts will either come off or break off. I have to use air ratchets on a regulated line there is no need for 120 to 150 PSI using them. St.

 

[Rick del Monte]

It's good to hear that a small compressor can handle the Handy lift. I have a 3 gallon pancake lift in storage that could probably handle it. But this is my retirement shop/man cave I am building and I have always envied the shops with the air hose on a big reel. I have no idea what air tools I may want in the future: media blazer, paint gun? Plus I can slip it into the home renovation budget

 

[MichiganR80RT]

I found an old Ingersoll Rand compressor for under $100 on Craigslist. The seller was getting rid of it since the starting current for the motor would trip the 15A breaker in his garage, which required a trip to the basement to reset. My garage is wired at 20A so it is no problem. I use the compressor for my Direct-Lift, for tires, and for air tools.

 

[Omega Man]

It's good to hear that a small compressor can handle the Handy lift. I have a 3 gallon pancake lift in storage that could probably handle it. But this is my retirement shop/man cave I am building and I have always envied the shops with the air hose on a big reel. I have no idea what air tools I may want in the future: media blazer, paint gun? Plus I can slip it into the home renovation budget

A small compressor like a pancake (framing) compressor can easily be augmented into more than it is by putting a portable air tank in line. The difference the extra inline tank makes is substantial.
OM

 

[jagarra]

I bought a DeVilbiss 20 gal unit off Craig's list for $50.00. When the time came to rebuild it the parts to replace the valve plate and renew the cylinder were readily available for about $100.00 in total. So parts for that model are still available. Buying some of the Chinese models parts are always an issue. After looking at a particular unit, I would google parts availability, if that is of a major concern, before making my purchase.

 

[Paul_F]

I have my system sealed pretty good so that I can shut the main valve off at the compressor tank and it will hold 150 to 120 PSI for weeks without starting up. That is more than enough air to inflate all the tires in all the vehicles I have plus lift the lift one time. The unit does not kick on until less than 120 PSI.

Steve, correct me I’m wrong but I have always emptied my 10 gallon compressor at the end of each day that I use it as I was under the impression that water build up inside would rust the unit. I do have a ten inch 1/2 copper pipe with a valve release attached to drain water without the need to tip the machine to reach the drain and to collect any water if I should forget to empty it.

Are you saying that leaving the air in while switched on will not harm the tank?

 

[akbeemer]

I drain the water out of my compressor twice a year and very little comes out. Ours is an arid climate for most of the year, but when we lived in places like Georgia draining the water was a regular chore. My compressor feeds two manifolds in different areas of the shop and each manifold can support five lines. I leave it pressurized unless I'm going to be out of town and I have it on time meter so it will not run from 6 PM to AM.

 

[stevenrankin]

Drain

I periodically drain my tank at least once a month. I have never had more than a teaspoon if not less than water come out. My last seal I had to replace was the main tank seal for the outlet, and pressure switch. When I had that off the tank, I looked inside with a very bright flashlight and found no rust of any kind.

Okay, so water does come out of the air when a compressor runs, the more the compressor is used or the longer it runs the more water. Once the water is in the tank, it doesn't matter if the tank is full of air or not so in my case the tank standing with 150 Psi for a week or so isn't going to get anymore water in it then was pumped into it while running. I just drain off for a few seconds the petcock at the lowest part of the tank and any water goes out with that. Totally draining the tank from the bottom petcock would do the same thing except the next time I need to fill tires or use the compressor I would have to wait until the pressure builds up.

The worst case of water in compressors was at a garage I used to work at. Multiple bays with air over hydraulic lifts and lots of tools in use all the time. I bet at the end of the week I drained a gallon out of the tanks. Same went with the air line dryers.

One thing if you are going to paint and want to do a good job, you must have dry air. The new paint guns require little pressure little volume but the air must be dry. There are various air drying systems for different applications and all costs.

For media blasting I have two moisture capture systems on the system to the cabinet, one on the main compressor line and a smaller one with a built in pressure regulator on the cabinet. I used the same set up for painting. St.

 

[dieselyoda]

Noise from reciprocating compressors

I hate, hate to post this and they may take my CDN citizenship from me but hockey pucks screwed to the feet reduce compressor noise, big time.

Please use worn out pucks. The best are the ones from street hockey with neighborhood kids.

Please do not use new pucks. They haven't got any character our experience yet,

 

[Omega Man]

I hate, hate to post this and they may take my CDN citizenship from me but hockey pucks screwed to the feet reduce compressor noise, big time.

Please use worn out pucks. The best are the ones from street hockey with neighborhood kids.

Please do not use new pucks. They haven't got any character our experience yet,

Good point DY. I have never used a hockey puck but have many times used machine isolation pads-

Example- https://www.isotechinc.com/product-...s-mounts-pads/vibration-isolation-pad-mounts/
From floor mount compressors to 70 Ton chillers, isolation mounts cut noise, vibration and can extend unit life.

OM

 

[Rick del Monte]

Do you have to let the air out of the tank to drain the water?

 

[Omega Man]

Do you have to let the air out of the tank to drain the water?

Drains are usually at the bottom of the tank. Cracking the valve and venting until no water is in the air stream will do it.
It’s good to wear leather gloves when draining the tank as 110psi can spit rust particles into the skin.
For heavy usage, there are 110volt automatic drains that work well.
OM