Quality Air Compressor

[JonN06]

My wife and I are working on hopefully getting out of an apartment and into a house hopefully around the start of the next year. I'm trying to decide what air compressor I should look into getting for the garage. My dad has an old Campbell Hausfeld that i'm pretty sure is older than I am and runs like a champ, but I didn't know what a good quality air compressor would be now.

I'm not a professional mechanic so I wouldn't be getting anything to crazy. Its main uses would probably be airing up tires, running the occasional 1/2" impact wrench to rotate my tires, and other occasional projects.

Are newer Campbell Hausfeld's still good quality, or are there other good quality air compressors that you can recommend.

I guess while we're at it can you suggest a good 1/2" impact wrench to go along?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BReeves]

Not sure you can really buy a bad one these days, even the Harbor freight ones are fairly good. You get what you pay for so shop around. First thing is deciding just how big it needs to be. 20 some years ago I bought a 3 HP 30 gal from SAM's club and it has served me well doing exactly what you describe and then some. Reason I stopped at 3 hp was at the time I was renting and didn't have easy access to 220, 3 hp was the largest I could find that would run on 117 v. Sometimes I wish for a larger compressor but in reality I've only needed it to be larger twice in 20 years.

 

[JonN06]

I don't think I would need more than 2 or 3 HP. If I did it would probably be a job that I would need to take to someone with more experience than myself.

 

[reddog1]

get at least 60 gallon, the portable 30 gal with wheeles just isnt enough.

With a 60 gallon, you can at least spin off all your lug nuts before it has to refill

 

[Parks 788]

From what you discribed I don't think you need a 60 gal. I do a lot of wrenching and grinding on my off road toy an was set on getting 60 gal but ended up getting a Craftsman Professional Series with the 27 gal tank and I think a 3 hp 115v. It is oiless and is nice and quiet and does everything I ask it ti do. I would love to get a 60 - 80 gal 5-7hp but I just have better things to spend $1200 on, while getting an average one at best. I checked and compared the Craftsman one I got against the IR unit of similar size and the Craftsman was about $100 less and had a small edge in CFM. I know some here will say Craftsman can be lower end but I have had great luck. BTW, the most important aspect of looking for a compressor is usually the CFM. It is truly what powers the tools and what type of tools can be used efficiently.

 

[reddog1]

From what you discribed I don't think you need a 60 gal. I do a lot of wrenching and grinding on my off road toy an was set on getting 60 gal but ended up getting a Craftsman Professional Series with the 27 gal tank and I think a 3 hp 115v. It is oiless and is nice and quiet and does everything I ask it ti do. I would love to get a 60 - 80 gal 5-7hp but I just have better things to spend $1200 on, while getting an average one at best. I checked and compared the Craftsman one I got against the IR unit of similar size and the Craftsman was about $100 less and had a small edge in CFM. I know some here will say Craftsman can be lower end but I have had great luck. BTW, the most important aspect of looking for a compressor is usually the CFM. It is truly what powers the tools and what type of tools can be used efficiently.

Mine is a campbell hausfeild 60gal 385.00 Home Depot.

Best one I ever bought.

I piped it to multiple locations in the garage / shop and the back porch.

Runs on 220

 

[gaseous maximus]

I've got a 60 gal. C-H with I think , a 5 1/2 h.p motor. Have had it about five years, and never have, I wished it were smaller. As for an impact wrench, had a $20 harbor 1/2", which I pretty well gutted. Even it though, was quite useful. This spring I bought a H-T Earthquake (no kidding) 1/2", It was about $85 with their 20% off coupon. Haven't used it much Yet, but it does put out a lot foot pounds.

 

[Podman]

I have an old C-H 220v compressor for 30 years or so and it is still doing fine job.

 

[JonN06]

I noticed Lowes has a Campbell Hausfeld 20 gallon 200 psi I think it was about a 2hp for $299. I'd look it up and post a link, but their site is down for maintenance. It was a kit that came with a Campbell Hausfeld 1/2" impact wrench as well with a few other items. If that's still available when I'm about to purchase one, I might look that direction.

 

[cyberslider]

I have a C-H I bought at Lowes about 10 years ago or so. It's a 5 hp oil-less with a 20 gal tank. It's portable and runs on 120v. I run my 1/2 impact wrench with no issues. I run a small sand blaster with it that taxes it pretty well. I use a blow gun to blow off the grass off my lawn equipment. The sand blaster and the blow gun are the operations that tax the compressor the most - it runs constantly until I let off the trigger. The blaster I actually lose some pressure as well. I need a bigger, 220v model for some of the stuff I do.

If you're going to try to run a d/a sander or continuous use tool (like the blow gun or sand blaster) a lot, you'll need something bigger than a 20 or 30 gallon. For airing up tires and using an impact wrench, a smaller, portable 120v model will work.

BTW, the 1/2 impact wrench I use is a Kobalt Model from Lowes - I think I paid 40 bucks for it? It works great for me.