Portable Air Compressor Recommendations

[Rich Aldrich]

My Bostitch N376472 took a dump last weekend. It runs but wont make air. Nothing out of the ordinary looks wrong when I take the cover off and run it. Not a fan of Bostitch as this is the second tool out of the three tool set that failed in the last 6 months.

I mainly use it for the 3 standard nailers - brad, finish and framing.

What do you recommend as a replacement?

[Bill White]

The California compressor gets lots of press (no pun). I'm also hearing a bunch about the HF airless comps having lower noise levels. Check 'em both.

[Mike Cutler]

My Rolair, JC-10 has held up well. I don't use it a lot, but it works when I need it. It is pretty quiet.
It's good for finish nailers and staplers, but it doesn't run a framing nailer without waiting for it to recover.

[Clint Baxter]

My Rolair, JC-10 has held up well. I don't use it a lot, but it works when I need it. It is pretty quiet.
It's good for finish nailers and staplers, but it doesn't run a framing nailer without waiting for it to recover.

+1 on the JC-10 for finish nailing. If I need to use the framing nailer, I grab my Enco. Much noisier, but usually that's outside and it's not nearly as obnoxious when we're both out in the open.

Clint

[Dick Mahany]

Another guy here liking the JC10 Plus. It runs 16, 18 gauge nailers with ease as well as my pin nailer. Haven't used it with a framing nailer but I did see a video where it worked fine, but needed recovery time if fired constantly. It is super quiet. Even though it is reasonably light, I put mine on a mobile cart and attached an old systainer lid to the top to hold additional Tanos tool cases.

418529

418530

[Steve Fish]

I’ve had every pancake they sell at the big orange over the past 15 +/- years. To me they are a throw away item. As are the guns they come with. At the first sign of trouble I just grab the next one to go on sale whichever brand it may be

[Mike Cutler]

I’ve had every pancake they sell at the big orange over the past 15 +/- years. To me they are a throw away item. As are the guns they come with. At the first sign of trouble I just grab the next one to go on sale whichever brand it may be

I've had the same Porter Cables for close to 20 years now. The compressor they came with was the worst, loudest, most obnoxous piece of junk, ever produced. I couldn't wait for it to blow it's guts, so I did it to it on purpose. The Rolair, JC10 was a welcome relief. I just used it to panel a room in the house, and never needed earplugs once. I've probably had it close to a decade.
The Porter Cable guns though, which most folks seem to say are junk, have held up extremely well. I don't use them that often, but every time I pull them out, they still just work.

[Scott T Smith]

I have a portable California Air Tools compressor. I really like how quiet it is, but that thing weighs a ton (even with the aluminum tanks). My other complaint is that it does not reach as high of an air pressure as other portables, and this can be problematic with framing nailers.

It’s hard to go wrong with a Rolair product.

[Jim Dwight]

I have a little Senco that is reasonably quiet and pretty light. I have used it with a framing nailer (and flooring nailer) but it is really pretty small for that. It works great for finish nailers. I like my cordless Ryobi compressor for the finish nailers, however. It is even lighter and no cord! My "big" compressor is a Bostitch. It sees little use but worked last time I tried it.

My senco quit on me and it was my fault. I didn't drain the tank enough. Rust got into the valve and I had to replace it. Cost a lot less than a new compressor. Might be something to check out if you haven't done a lot of draining of the tank.

[Jon Nuckles]

Rolair JC-10 fan here also. Super quiet and problem free. Can’t speak to running a framing nailer, though.

[Bernie May]

Another vote for the Rolair JC-10. Quiet and light. I can carry it to use in the house or around the yard. Run the staplers and small nailers, but not the framing gun.

[Bill Lyman]

I have had a Makita MAC 700 hotdog 12.4 amp 2HP 2-1/2 gal. Oiled single hot dog air compressor for some 12 years. It will run a framing nailer, at my speed, which is not fast no more.

[lowell holmes]

Check this site.

https://www.homedepot.com/s/BOSTICH%2520air%2520compressor?NCNI-5

[scott vroom]

For what it's worth, here's a video showing how one guy fixed a running-but-no-air problem with his N376472. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_KcvqN19qI

I'm another JC10 fan...it's rated at 60db which I believe is one of the quieter compressors in it's class. It's rated at 91PSI and ideal for finish/pin nailers, and we also use it for our coiler roofing and siding nailer without issue. Not sure how robust it would be for a full-on 16d framer though...as others have pointed out you might have to work at a slower pace.

[Jack Frederick]

This is larger than the others suggested and likely noisier but it runs any of my nail guns, pin, finish, coil, framing with ease and has a large enough tank to supply my plasma machine.

[Robert Engel]

I've got a Porter Cable pancake and its seems to be fine, but I'm not using it heavily. IMO it is marginal for a framing nailer - works but you have to give it time to recover. Rather loud.

Before that I had a Husky and it really surprised me. When I remodelled my house it got used a lot. Finally died after about 5 years.

My suggestion is a smaller standard compressor with an induction motor.

[Rich Aldrich]

Thank you for the responses and recommendations I can probably get by with the framing nailer with the Rolair JC-10. It’s not like I am a professional carpenter so I tend to go slower on the big projects. The other compressor I was considering is the Makita MAC700 but it is oil lubed. Does anyone have experience with oil lubed instead of dry. I could see issues if there is oil carryover.

[Mike Cutler]

Thank you for the responses and recommendations I can probably get by with the framing nailer with the Rolair JC-10. It’s not like I am a professional carpenter so I tend to go slower on the big projects. The other compressor I was considering is the Makita MAC700 but it is oil lubed. Does anyone have experience with oil lubed instead of dry. I could see issues if there is oil carryover.


In a perfect world oil is better than oil less in my opinion.
We use the MAC700's at work, and believe me, they're robust little buggers. We'll have 10-12 of them paralleled for work inside the reactor coolant pump loops of a nuclear power plant. 240vac is not a common voltage in a power plant, so I can't just get a single, bigger, roll around unit, but 120vac is everywhere, and usually we have to carry these up a few levels of staging and set them up That's why there are so many of them. I have 3 phase 480vac also, but air compressors in that size stop being "rollable" for humans.
I also have a JC-10 to run a 3500psig hydraulic hydro test rig inside the coolant loops. Most normal people will never abuse a small air compressor at home, like I do at work.
Carryover shouldn't be an issue. Most pneumatic nailers need to be oiled to run.
If you need cleaner air for finishing, you'll need to install a coalescing filter on the output to collect any oil mist/moisture carryover.
The MAC is a nice unit. You certainly won't go wrong with one.