Portable Air Tank

[Jim Hill]

I'm looking for a portable air tank to top off my truck tires. Stretching a hose from my basement compressor isn't convenient. I have looked on Amazon. I don't see much difference in the tanks other than size. Any thoughts.....brands to stay away from, or should I just go to Sears or Napa and buy what they have? 5 gal or 10gal? Thanks!

Jim

[Ken Garlock]

Hi, I bought a portable tank at Tractor Supply last spring. It works very nicely for my 15 ga. nail gun. The price was reasonable, about $40.

[Doug Gilluley]

Campbell Hausfield makes a rechargeable(cig. lighter or 110AC) compressor about the size of a large shoebox for around $40 @WallyWorld. Since I spend my days on construction sites, nailed tires are afact of life. Between the compressor and a plug kit, I've never been more than 10 minutes late getting to the house at day's end. Money well spent

Doug

[Joe Pelonio]

Where are you? If you were in my area (Seattle) I'd give you one that I don't need, I find myself with a total of 3 compressors, one has a small tank built in and is portable so I don't need the air tank any more.

[Jim O'Dell]

I've also heard of people taking unused propane tanks and retrofitting them to make an air tank out of. Possibly Harbor Freight or Northern Tool would have a kit to do this with? Jim.

[Perry Holbrook]

My Advance Auto store had them on a sell display last week. Sorry, I didn't check the price.

Perry

[Charlie Hans]

If you know a A/C service guy ask for empty Freon Tanks they work really great and the price is sure right (Free) They usually handle pressure in the 125psi range and only need to be fitted with the proper guage and fittings
Chuck

[Rob Russell]

I've also heard of people taking unused propane tanks and retrofitting them to make an air tank out of. Possibly Harbor Freight or Northern Tool would have a kit to do this with? Jim.

You have to be really careful doing that - must ensure that ALL propane gas residue is out of the tank or you're asking for boom-booms.

[Jim O'Dell]

Maybe I'm thinking of the freon tanks as Charlie mentioned. Probably so. Jim.

[Bill Lewis]

The problem with "freon" tanks is that they don't have much volume. Great for running a brad or finish nailer for a quick remote job, but not so great for airing up truck tires.

As far as the difference between tanks, I'd say that the bigger the tire, the larger the tank you'll need, or you'll still be making lots of trips. Unfortunately the bigger tanks are also heavier and bulkier.

I have a 5 gallon tank which I use from time to time when a hose won't reach, but I also have my basement compressor piped to the garage with a hose reel and a wall port. I adapted my tank with quick disconnect hose couplings so I can attach standard air tools/hoses to it. I can also fill the tank using a special hose adapter (double ended male QD) that I made instead of using a tire filling tool (air chuck). This makes for an eaiser and faster fill, but I do have to remember the proper sequence of hooking up and disconnecting from the air source. Which could be solved by adding a valve to my adapter.

[John Hart]

I have two compressors but still keep a 12V tire inflator in the cars just in case. They were $20 at Autozone. The only drawback is the time. Usually takes about 15 minutes to fill a flat tire starting at 10 psi...going to 35 psi.

[Tyler Howell]

I have 2 of the large freon tanks. They are always hooked up for extra capacity with quick disconnects.
I agree not enough volume for tires. At one time I had a line that ran from the garage to the house but now I have an AC at each location.

[Al Willits]

I'd bet its freon tanks your thinking of, propane is gonna stink every time you use it, plus they're quite a bit heavier than freon tanks.
And there's the danger of propane itself if there's any in the tank.

Being in A/C I used to have a couple of them set up with the adaptors you can buy to make air tanks and they kinda worked ok, found the little 12v compressor from Sears to work better, I made longer electrical cables for it and used alligator clips instead of the cigerette lighter fitting.
Must of been a bit larger version of what John has, as it only took about 3-4 mins to fill an flat tire.
I'd bet there's some sort of cfm rating they have??

Al