In the market for a new air compressor, recommendations?

[Modena]

Hello all,

I am looking at a new compressor for the shed. I currently have a GMC (eek!) that is, hmmm...rubbish...and has struggled to do the job. It is only piston powered , not belt driven, and only 30L. Air ratchet, saw, etc, will hammer it and it just can't keep up. It's starting to make a few odd noises too, and I feel it is time to upgrade, this thing is starting to make me feel unsafe.

Yes I know I need to go bigger...bigger...as big as possible! But I have a very limted amount of space, so looking at a belt driven either 50 or 90L, limited to 2.5hp as I only have 10A power.

Looking at this or the 90L variant, both 2.5hp;

Ironair - Air Compressor Belt Drive 2.5HP 50L - LB1350 | Total Tools




Anyone have any recommendations on brands, or brands to stay away from?


Cheers
Ben

[madmaxx]

If it is never going to be moved get a 60 gallon compressor with cast iron pump. if you are going to move around go oil less, much lighter cheaper although noisier. The one you have above is in between, big heavy compressor but small tank, worst of both worlds. ask how i know i have one. If i did it again i would have bought 60 gallon upright or an oiless 25 gallon. They are cheaper and noisier but much easier to move around.

[deano59]

I just bought a 18cfm with the triple piston set up its 15 amp but I just made a little lead that goes into a 10 amp power point and the other fits onto the 15 amp plug the other end and it works fine . I got it as I just bought a tyre changing machine and do a fair bit of die grinding heads ect ect .

it's great that the tank holds a lot of air so it's not running all the time my old 12 ft ingersol rand could never keep and still works and is plugged in as a spare the new one is a lot quieter as well I got it from paramount browns paid around 1180 for it .AIR COMPRESSOR - 100LTR - 3.0HP - 18.6CFM » Paramount Browns'

[dhs.buckley]

I have had the Total tools 2.0hp belt driven twin piston compressor since 2006 with the 90litre tank,
i have used it to spray a car, jack hammar, rattle guns and die grinding, it has never missed a beat
it has twin water drains and filters, also an oiler for some of the air tools.
would recommend, i think i payed about $600 for it and it came with some cheap air tools it was one of total tools do or die weekend sales.

[750hp]

A mate of mine has Boss brand air compressors at his engineering workshop and in his own shed. The motors are surprisingly quiet and he's never had an issue with any aspect of them.
Here's a similar size/price to the Total Tools one.
Boss Compressors - BOSS 12.3CFM/ 2.5HP Air Compressor

[Dimis]

I picked up 2.5hp 40lt compressor years ago.

It was a refurbished, 2nds job, made in China, that I bought to tie me over for simple jobs around the hous, till I struck it rich and could afford a real one...

After years of abuse, including running hours on end, non-stop for days at a time, while air-sanding an aluminium car from filed finish to 5000 grit. It cost me under $100 at the time, and has only just died on me... So I popped down to the same place and got another...

Check-out the Gassmate factory outlet (33-35 Lionel Rd, Mt Waverley, VIC) - Not too far from you. All sorts of cheap stuff in there, and you may even walk out with a new BBQ too.

[renovationinnov]

I have 3 compressors 2x 90 lt 10amp tri head renegade that sit on the trailers for building & a 11 cfm up rite at home made by smc all good machines & fairly quite smc is the quitest as it's under my house in the garage / workshop /cobra carspot
rob

[DaveW]

Hi Ben,
I've got an old "Able Cook" branded compressor I bought from CIG about 20 years ago.
Who knows who made it.
It was cheap, but it hasn't missed a beat, drained the water from the tank a few times, all good, rattles and all.
Built 2 houses and a studio with it, painted stuff, some air tools etc, like die grinders rattle guns, spray pots.
I've never cleaned it or replaced the oil, my bad
it does have water seperator which works great and i lube my air tools.
Tanks about 900mm long..
It holds air and that's all that matters to me about it, if it buggers up, I'll probably buy a cheapy Total Tools replacement.

[deano59]

a mate of mine has a almost new 3 phase unit for sale with a 200 litre tank for 1200 bucks triple head pump is located near Adelaide if interested

[Gav]

Go 3hp Ben and just fit a 10 amp plug (or grind the earth pin down ), your power circuit will be protected by a 20a circuit breaker so it will be fine.

[deano59]

I went fot the biggest single phase one I could find . I may add a old car lpg tank into the system as extra air storage when I het around to it

[guye]

Originally Posted by deano59

I went fot the biggest single phase one I could find . I may add a old car lpg tank into the system as extra air storage when I het around to it

Ohh I didn't know you could do that! That's a great idea!

I bought mine off fleaBay for $150 (I wasn't ready to buy actually, I was still researching was just watching, but it was SSSOOOOO cheap with only 2 mins to go, so I put a ridiculous bid in and won!). It is a belt drive 2.5hp unit with 155ltr free air delivery. This 'just' works ok with my spray paint unit (no probs just runs continuously), and handles everything else I've used it for so far . It has an ok size tank, 50ltr I think, but more would be better!

Your TTI unit is better as it supports 222 ltr FAD (better for paint spraying).

[stephen low]

Ben

I think I've got exactly the TT model you've pictured.

Had a faulty sensor from new but they changed that over quick smart and it hasn't missed a beat since.

I've used it to sprayed two pack paint onto my boats and though it tends to run continuously for this work it hasn't caused any problems for this painting. I'd not go any smaller though if painting is high on your priorities list.

Otherwise it has been a great asset into the garage.

Good luck with your search.

Slo

[Rog246]

Originally Posted by deano59

I went fot the biggest single phase one I could find . I may add a old car lpg tank into the system as extra air storage when I het around to it

Great minds !! I was going to use an old car LPG tank but used an upright LPG gas cylinder that was used to run a gas oven/water heater and its given me soo much more capacity. I fill it using 2 small compressors bought from Supercheap when they were $99 complete with spray guns and stuff ! Been using it forever.
Best thing about the lpg cyl. is that it stands upright & takes F-all space

[Modena]

Some good input here thanks fellas. I might cannibalise the old unit and see if I can hitch on the tank for an extra 30L on top of whatever I buy.

Painting is never on my high priority list

[Aussie Mike]

I bought a McMillan 12CFM compressor back in 1991 and it was still going strong when I sold it a year ago.

I replaced it with another McMillan that I picked up from TT. Much bigger unit this time @ about 16 CFM and runs at 130PSI. I'm very happy with the new one. It keeps up with the sand blasting cabinet which is very hungry for air.

[YerDugliness]

I like the Craftsman products and recently bought one of their 20 gallon vertical (upright) compressors because the space I had to fit it into was only 18"X18". I notice that they regularly put their 33gallon model upright model on sale at a price that is lower than what I paid for my 20 gallon, which was slightly over $200. If I had enough space for the 33gallon model I would have jumped all over that.
I also own a 220V 33gallon horizontal tank model...it's a space hog in the garage but keeps up with everything I throw at it, including spray painting/varnishing with older style SCFM-hungry spray guns.

Cheers!

Dugly

[LoBelly]

Peerless

I too have one of the cheapies - but my brother had a Peerless which did a lot of work for a many years until it stopped.

Upon inspection we found some of the electrical 'stuff' that controlled the pump had melted.

Sent Peerless a photo of the parts and they sent back a bunch of parts...

...eventually it turned out there were deeper problems, but a top response from Peerless in my book

LoBelly

[jcraigau]

Dunno how good it is but I saw at Supercheap they had a Stanley 2.5HP, 50L tank with a claimed 190L p/minute for $399, 45% off

[Beejay]

I have that Stanley and I am happy with it.

It was the only reasonable priced compressor I found for home use that has a full trade use warranty.

Ben