X-post to A.H.R and A.B.C.
I bought a new air compressor and received it today from HF. It's a Central Pneumatic 2 HP, 8 gallon, 115 psi. It replaces a CH compressor that went belly up. My main use for a compressor is to fill up tires and pool floats, and maybe blowing some dust around. I do have some air tools left here by my deceased F-I-L (hammers, chisels, paint sprayers), but rarely use them, other than for a framing nailer used to build a very small deck, or more correctly, a small porch deck. I discovered that it was not an oilless compressor. They put enough oil in it to test it, but did not fill it, nor include any oil to fill it. The oil fill viewer on the side is empty, but there are indications that some oil was put in there. Before I even assembled the wheels and air cleaner to it, I opened the valve and air came out under pressure. I looked up compressor oil on the web and found some sites that say you could use regular 30 weight motor oil instead of compressor oil, and other sites saying you can use 10w30 motor oil, and even other sites that say you can use synthetic motor oil. It appears that the only oils not recommended are salad oil and baby oil. :-) I have some 10w30 motor oil and some 10w30 Mobil1 handy. What oils have you used without destroying the compressor?