Air compressor for home garage

[flaps10]

I picked up a harbor freight in a pinch and later on got smart and found an old single cylinder unit that had been around for years. It's way less annoying to listen to than a Harbor Freight or one of the newer small units and I promptly went gave away the HF unit. Old school is on Craiglist for under $100 most days and will get you set up.

Mine runs at 100 psi and it's plenty for most of the jobs I use it for.

[rexcramer]

I would suggest that you make a list of the air tools you anticipate using and verify their CFM requirements. Each tool will have a minimum requirement. Use JayG's chart and verify the compressor can supply the necessary CFM. In my experience, air sanders and grinders use tons of CFM. The bigger the motor HP and holding tank the better, with the exception that a bigger tank takes longer to come up to pressure. Are you going to use it daily, weekly, etc.?

Make sure the holding tanks are larger (volume wise) than the tires you want to inflate from flat. Otherwise they take bloody forever to fill with a pancake style unit.

I would also recommend that you use an oiled pump instead of an oil less. Small oil less units are great for bike tires, nail guns, short duty cycles.

Hard to imagine a house built in the last 40 years that doesn't have 220V.

You'll be amazed at how many neighbors you meet, when the word gets out you have a compressor.

[cas951]

It will depend on what type of air tools you're going to use. Your average impact gun or ratchet will be fine. Once you start using air grinders, sanders you will need a lot of volume. It will be fine for the first few seconds of use. After that you have to wait for the compressor to build up again.

[jb92563]

Another thing to consider is mobility.

I had a beefier compressor that died and for a substitute I got a 6gal pancake compressor for $90.

Surprisingly it runs all the car tools, framing nailers etc very well and the fact that I can carry it to my project and use 120v is more handy than I ever imagined.

Many time I just charge it up with air 150 psi, unplug and carry it to the cars to inflate the tires.

For HVLP painting (Regular pressure spraying is fine) and high volume sanders, grit blasters etc a higher volume tank is better so you don't have to wait on the pressure to rebuild.

Mobility and convenience is something to consider.

[lkchris]

Air tools are an exercise in testosterone excess.

Mostly you'll use a home air compressor for filling tires, blowing things dry, and maybe for a nail gun.

You don't need a 220V compressor for his. You're going to finish off any tightening with a torque wrench anyway and you could easily tighten from the start with that same wrench. You're not "on the clock" for any home work.

Most folks that care about their cars don't deface the fasteners with impact wrenches.

[jaykay]

Think about what you may need for cooling system work.....it's a pretty stout compressor

[Pdwight]