Quiet air compressor....

B

Bailey28

Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
192
Location
Gainesville FL
Looking for a nice quiet air compressor. Small shop stand up design or hot dog would work well. Pancake as a last resort. I inflate tires, and use it to blow out carburetor parts etc.

I checked out the PF video and others on YT, but they are a few years old at this point.. The 10 gallon compressor I have now will wake the dead.
 
California Air Tools. Not the cheapest, but high quality, and very quiet. It's not a 100 duty cycle unit, but I've run mine up against the thermal shut off, and after it cooled off, it started back up like nothing happened. Mind you, I don't normally beat the crap out of the thing, but one day, I was stuck, and had a strict timeline that must be met, so I punished the thing. These are truly excellent compressors.
 
I've had a Kobalt Quiet Tech 26gal compressor that I bought from Lowes some years back. It uses an oil-less 2 cylinder compressor of similar design (knock-off) to California Air Tools units. For a "portable" compressor, it's very quiet. It makes about as much noise as a window a/c unit.

It's not the highest capacity unit. The most strenuous use I put it through is when I spray vehicles with fluid film and/or woolwax. It pretty much will run continuously with that type of use. It gets hot, but I've never had thermal overload issues with it.
 
I have a 20 gallon Husky quiet unit, it really is magically quiet vs non quiet units.

I also have a few 6 gallon Ridgids, its not quiet but its the best "residential" compressor i've ever owned.
 
I also have the Kobalt Quiet Tech 26gal compressor, purchased from Lowes. It is reasonably quiet and very similar to one at HF. Went with Kobalt because it has a 3 year warranty.
 
The compressor shakes the house and garage, sounds like a Harley with straight pipes!

The tank is also 15 years old and has mucho rusty water every time I drain it. The tank probably should get replaced soon anyway. Florida humidity is tough on metal.
 
Bailey28 said:
The compressor shakes the house and garage, sounds like a Harley with straight pipes!

The tank is also 15 years old and has mucho rusty water every time I drain it. The tank probably should get replaced soon anyway. Florida humidity is tough on metal.
Click to expand...

My 80 gallon DeVelbliss compressor wakes the dead. Mounted it on thick rubber isolator pads which helped, but it's stupid loud. Built before people worried about things like compressor noise (or so it seems).
 
I'll add another vote for California Air Tools. My CAT compressor is only two years old but I wouldn't trade for anything. You don't seem to have a high CFM air demand so this should be fine. Here's my aluminum tank version.
1759333058662.webp
 
The only quiet compressor I've seen is the Davie hydro-vane. All the rest of the lot have to live outside the work area.
MHO
Smoky
 
I have a 2003 Craftsman 30 gallon. Rated at 6HP (and we all know how false that is). Super loud. Still running.

I have a small 1.5 gallon California Air Tools. Amazingly quiet.

If I have to replace the Craftsman, it will be with a similar size/power California Air tools.

Whatever you get - add a 1/4 turn ball valve on an extension so that you can drain it easily. Then drain it daily.
 
I like the California tools 1 year warranty vs. the HF 90 day warranty. Lowes has a California Air Tools compressor for $205. 2.2 cfm @ 90psi at 60db. However the HF is 4.3 cfm at 69 db. 9 decibels is a very noticeable difference in sound level.
 
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