Larger compressor pumps (garage)

[mike diesel]

I had a 60 gallon, 20 year old, Campbell Hausfeld compressor that I picked up off the local classifieds 2 years ago for $200. It was slightly underpowered with 10.0CFM @ 90psi. I resold it this past Wednesday for $300. I went to Lowes and picked up a Kobalt 60 gallon compressor rated at 11.5CFM @ 90psi, thinking it would be a decent improvement. Paid $450 for it ($180 out of pocket after tax).

I am not all that impressed with it and feel like the old Campbell Hausfeld actually filled the tank faster. I did the proper break in on this Kobalt before using it. It took 7 minutes and 46 seconds to fill the tank from empty to 155psi.

So now I am interested in larger pumps for this tank and of course Google searching led me right to Harbor Freight. Specifically this one....

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-HP-145-PSI-Twin-Cylinder-Air-Compressor-Pump-60754.html

For the most part it has positive reviews and some guys are claiming 1.5 minutes to fill a 60 gallon tank from 0-140psi.

I can have this pump for roughly $135. Does anyone have any experience with this pump? I've got a buddy who offered to buy the brand new Kobalt pump off of me for $100, making this swap about $50 out of pocket. But I also don't want to end up with a brand new piece of junk compressor.

 

[mike diesel]

Here's the new Kobalt

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I would see if you can take it back, and get a bigger compressor to start with. The problem with going to a bigger pump, is will your motor run it. Most likely it will fail in short order as the cheapies from the box stores have mexican motors that don't hold up with the small stock pumps. Otherwise you will have to change the pulleys, then you're right back to the same output. And unless thats a 2 stage pump, don't go beyond 135 psi. Single stage pumps just make heat more than anything else once they get much past 125 psi.

 

[Chevy1925]

ill time mine tonight mike from 0psi to 130psi i run it at. i have that harbor frieght pump on my 80 gal tank and 5hp motor. i have it running at 600rpm instead of the max 1100rpm it can run at. its quieter this way and IMHO, i should last longer. i seen guys break the little reed type valve inside the head. been using the heck out of it. keeps up with my die grinders and impacts with no issue at all.

 

[Harbin_22]

I have a single stage 5hp ingersol 60gal from tractor supply. I like it alot. Can't out run it with any tool I have, is quiet enough to hold a conversation comfortably 10' away from it. Takes less than 45 seconds from the time it kicks on to full. Think it kicks on at 90 and runs up to 130 or so. No problems in the last 3 years with it what so ever.

 

[six5creed]

My dad bought a pump from Harbor Freight and put on his old tank when the compressor went bad. It wasn't 6 months later he went and bought a new 60 gallon Ingersoll Rand from TSC and carried the old one to the crusher.

 

[mike diesel]

A buddy also told me to turn the pressure down to around 130 psi like ferm mentioned. Seems it takes as long to go from 0-120 psi as it does from 120-155 psi. I think it'll help alot.

James, very interested to see the results!

 

[mike diesel]

Plus I have another 22 gallon compressor that I can link together. I'd rather have 82 gallons at 120ish psi than 60 gallons at 155 psi. Probably take the same time to fill either way but with a good bit more volume considering I regulate it down to 90-100 psi anyways.

 

[Chevy1925]

i plan to bump my pressure to 140-145 before the reg just for the extra capacity. plus when i crank the reg up to 120 for the impact to make a little more juice, i dont have to wait for the compressor to kick on to get me back up to 120. i have a 30 psi sway before the compressor kicks on

mine fills pretty much the same speed from 0-90 as 90-130 and pumping slower, i notice there is hardly any condensation build up even running all weekend long and very little heat on the fill line.

i know its china freight and i honestly planned on this pump being a throw away pump till i rebuild the dual stage that came on mine originally but its really surprised me at how it holds up and keeps up.

does that setup you have now have a 5hp motor on it?

 

[mike diesel]

The motor is rated at 4.5hp, so I'm sure it'd be ok atleast for awhile. It has a ton more torque than the old Campbell Housfeld that was rated at 5hp. First time i kicked this compressor on, the torque of it shifted the compressor about 3 inches on the cement. The reviews I've been reading on the harbor freight pump seem pretty good.

 

[Chevy1925]

Nice!! pullying it down will help some too worse case. the 5hp baldor i have spins it over without a struggle at all.

 

[Harbin_22]

Did a test for you. I know it's not the harbor freight pump in question but my 5hp, single stage, 60gal Ingersoll took 2 minutes 35 seconds to fill from absolutely nothing in the tank(I drained it for this test) to 130psi. I than ran it down to 90psi, where it kicks back on, and it took 38seconds to fill back to 130psi. Just putting it out there. I think I paid around $800 for it

 

[mike diesel]

That's awesome, I should have stashed the cash and held out for a better compressor.

 

[Porno Joe]

Mike if you do the math that compressor is only putting out 6.34 cfm on average. That is really low.

Anyone who wants to calculate your compressor cfm

Time you compressor from empty to full.
Tank your tank size x .536
Multiple that by max psi.
Divide that by seconds to full to get cfm

So that kobalt is 60x.536 x 155 / 786 = 6.34.


Harbin those times are freakish for a compressor. Your numbers would be like 26 cfm. Honestly I have not single stage put out anywhere near that cfm


Edit. I just looked at the pic and that looks like a single stage pump. Single stage is generally only good to 135psi. Over that they really struggle.

 

[mike diesel]

You did the math wrong. I rounded up to an even 8 minutes fill time. Which is 480 seconds. The math comes out to 10.3 CFM for this Kobalt.

Edit, the actual math for mine comes out to 10.69CFM.

Kyle's compressor is a monster at almost 27CFM.

 

[Harbin_22]

I've been very happy with it all around. Really surprised me the first time I really used it, how good it really was

 

[Harbin_22]

Mine is the SS5L5 fwiw. It says it is rated at 18.1CFM@90psi.

 

[Porno Joe]

Yup fat fingered the math. thought I edited the correction guess not.

Honestly if you felt 10 cfm was underpowered 11 isn't going to feel much different. I prefer two stage pumps over single, but that depends how much air you use.

What types of air tools are you running, i.e. How much cfm do you need?

My compressor puts out 20 cfm and I can drain really quick sandblasting. I'm nuts though. I'm hooking two vintage(circa 1970) compressors together for a combined almost 40 cfm.

 

[Porno Joe]

Harbin I remember looking at that compressor. It's a damn fine compressor but I couldn't use it since my tire machine needs 130 psi inlet. Needed a 175 psi compressor.

 

[mike diesel]

Well honestly, I really don't need that much air. This Kobalt unit will work just fine as is....it's more of the "want" factor.