Looking for a new compressor

[Jay Jolliffe]

for my shop. 10 to 20 gal & quiet....at least quiet as possible...I only use it for nail & staple guns...maybe a little spraying. Any suggestions?

[joe milana]

263585 I've got one of these. A bit spendy, but not much louder than a refrigerator when running.

[Bill White]

Get one with an oiled compressor. Much quieter than oil free, and they last longer.
Not familiar with the Panther that Joe posted. Joe, can ya post more information?
Bill

[John Hays]

A bit spendy...

Understatement of the year there Joe. For over 4k, that thing better do more than spit out a little air. LOL

Don't get me wrong, there's a reason superior tools cost more than the average mainstream product and I have no problem with that, but wow, their pricing seems a little extreme.

[joe milana]

Bought mine around '98. I'd have to check my records, but I don't think I paid anything near 4k. It ran (silently)8 hours a day for 10 years without a hitch.

[Bill Neely]

Quincy makes some nice, quiet, smaller compressors in their Air Master line - they cost a bit more that what you'd pay for a comparable compressor at big box stores but worth it IMO.

[Denny Rice]

I own a 5HP 80 gallon 2 stage Ingersoll Rand compressor I bought about 15 years ago new. This thing is built like a tank. I change the oil and blow out the filer every couple 100 hours and it has never caused me any problems at all. I drain the tank every time I am finished and have a good air dryer hooked to line to keep water out of my air tools. (paid less than a grand for the compressor back then) I know they are probably more but I know they still make this 230 volt compressor today.

[Greg R Bradley]

"quiet as possible" can get a bit carried away as Joe Milana showed. Those types of compressors are great where it has to be very, very quiet but they are expensive. You can justify them when they are used all day every day as they will run for a very long time.

Don't ever make any assumptions that oiled compressors are quieter than oil-less. The very quiet AND the horribly loud ones will tend to be oil-less with the oiled covering a wide range of sound level in between. The virtually silent one Joe mentioned above is oil-less as are virtually all of the really quiet ones.

Does it need to be portable? 120v or 240v? Nail guns don't take much but spray gun might. How much flow does your spray rig require?

Many of the people I know building airplanes are finding http://www.californiaairtools.com/quiet-air-compressors-ultra-quiet-oil-free/cat-10020/ to be very quiet, take up little space, and still be able to move around. They are almost $500 and are quiet enough to have a normal conversation 5-10' away. I bought one of theirCAT-6310 during a promo recently and it is well worth the $150 I paid but only so-so at the regular price of $250. It is a big step down from the CAT-10020.

[Duane Meadows]

Don't ever make any assumptions that oiled compressors are quieter than oil-less. The very quiet AND the horribly loud ones will tend to be oil-less with the oiled covering a wide range of sound level in between. The virtually silent one Joe mentioned above is oil-less as are virtually all of the really quiet ones.

.

Hmm.. not necessarily.

http://gtek-automation.com/products-3/panther-silent-air-compressors/

Pricey, Yes! Quite, Yes 30-40+ dbA anyway. And oil cooled.

California Air tools ultra-quiet?

* (2) 2.0 Hp Oil-Free Motors
* Ultra Quiet - Only 75 decibels

That's a bunch more noise!

[Greg R Bradley]

Hmm.. not necessarily.

http://gtek-automation.com/products-3/panther-silent-air-compressors/

Pricey, Yes! Quite, Yes 30-40+ dbA anyway. And oil cooled.

California Air tools ultra-quiet?

* (2) 2.0 Hp Oil-Free Motors
* Ultra Quiet - Only 75 decibels

That's a bunch more noise!
I said those are quiet but they are not oiled compressors just because they have the word oil in the description. Those are oil cooled, not oil lubricated. They are simply stacking up oil-less compressors sealed into a oil bath container to muffle noise. The problem with that entire series of units is that the technology was created for air conditioning compressors and they are small units, generally around 0.25-0.5 hp per unit. In order to get the kind of air flow that the OP may need for spraying, it might need 4-8 heads for a big bundle of money.

You aren't going to accomplish ultra low noise, enough flow for most spraying, at a reasonable price. Gardiner Denver has some good info on their website regarding the different compressor technologies along with advantages/disadvantages of each.

[Dave Winters]

I'm in the market as well, in my case a vertical stationary 60 gallon, don't care about noise, but I run sanders and sprayers often. My Porter Cable has sadly bit the dust.. see my recent posts.
Do I necessarily want two stage?

[joe milana]

I said those are quiet but they are not oiled compressors just because they have the word oil in the description. Those are oil cooled, not oil lubricated. They are simply stacking up oil-less compressors sealed into a oil bath container to muffle noise. The problem with that entire series of units is that the technology was created for air conditioning compressors and they are small units, generally around 0.25-0.5 hp per unit. In order to get the kind of air flow that the OP may need for spraying, it might need 4-8 heads for a big bundle of money.

You aren't going to accomplish ultra low noise, enough flow for most spraying, at a reasonable price. Gardiner Denver has some good info on their website regarding the different compressor technologies along with advantages/disadvantages of each.

Interesting Greg, I always thought the panther compressor was oil lubricated because it has the little moisture trap as you can see in the pic, and when full, it is typically half water & half oil. I swear I paid about $1200 for it, but noise was a huge factor at the time. Not exactly a power house, but it met our needs. Largely used in dental offices at one time, but oil contamination became a factor so everyone went to loud screaming high dollar oil-less "dental" compressors. I think they are sweet little compressors for the right application, and at one time could be found used for cheap.

[Greg R Bradley]

Joe,
I'm not sure about that exact brand but the ones I've seen that are oil cooled were derived from refrigerant compressors and were oil-less. They needed to have no oil that would contaminate the freon so needed to be oil-less design. I suppose manufacturers could have developed a similar design that were oil lubricated. I suppose they could use the same oil for sound insulation and lubrication but then you would gradually lose oil and risk overheating. Is there a way to top up the oil level on yours? I'm thinking if you are getting oil and water in the trap, it must be oil lubricated.

Regardless, my point of them being ultra quiet was that they were muffled in a bath of oil, not because a unit is naturally more quiet because it is oil lubricated or oil-less. The Silent Aire oil-less unit I setup to run an airbrush made about the same amount of noise as the airbrush, about the same as a home refrigerator.

That CAT-10020 is quieter than my Makita MAC700 and MAC2400 oil lubricated compressors, both famous for being quiet. Its owner thinks it is quieter than the IR Garagemate in his other shop, another oil lubricated compressor famous for being quiet. $3500 more to get ultra quiet seems hard to justify for most people.
Part of the price difference would be that your unit seems to have 2 pump units and the $4000 unit in the link seems to have 3. Looks like the 4 pump unit is $5000. Ouch.

[Rick Fisher]

If I where buying another compressor today, I would have waited and bought a 5hp Rotary Screw, simply due to noise.. Chicago Pneumatic, Ingersol Rand or Quincy.. They start $4000 .. 62 db - 68 db

I have a 5hp Champion.. Great machine, works well but it sounds like a freight train .. Amazing noise it creates..

[Bill Graham]

for my shop. 10 to 20 gal & quiet....at least quiet as possible...I only use it for nail & staple guns...maybe a little spraying. Any suggestions?

Jay,

I'm a big fan of Rolair compressors, they strike a good balance between noise level and cost(plus my framing crews have run them for years with no complaints). I bought their VT-20 (http://www.rolair.net/products/spec_pages/hand_carry/VT20TB.html#specs) for my shop, using the 13-gal. tank from my old C-H for storage I can easily spray with a small HVLP gun or run a framing nailer . Without the added tank I can run a brad nailer, small stapler or even a 15-ga. trim gun efficiently, not at production rates with the trim gun but good enough for what I use it for anymore. I added a larger silencer (http://www.amazon.com/Solberg-FS-15-050-Compact-Silencer-Compressors/dp/B00153AIVC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370386029&sr=8-1&keywords=Solberg+FS-15-050) to it and removed the rattling toolbox, it's pretty quiet, less than the 79 dBA they advertise.

They make a 24-gal. model, the FC250090l (http://www.rolair.net/products/spec_pages/hand_carry/FC250090L.html#specs) with similar specs but a 3400 RPM motor, rated at 80 dBA. Looks like it could benefit from a better silencer as well.

They're pricey compared to the big-box models but they're top-notch in quality and have great support. Last year one of our wheelbarrow compressors went down with a small part that broke off its' stem in the regulator. I called the local dealers, no parts available, they'd sell me a new regulator for $140. I called Rolair tech service, found they'd changed regulators a few years ago(the compressor is almost 10 years old), their tech guy put me on hold while he searched the parts bins. He came back and asked for my address so he could mail me the part at no charge. Works for me.... :)

Anyway, just tossing some thoughts out for you.

Best,
Bill