My neighbor bought a 2-gallon air compressor at Harbor Fright - the Central Pneumatic model shown here.
In other words, when he uses the blow gun adaptor, he empties the tank faster than the compressor can refill it and after a very short period of time, he has to put the blow gun down and wait until the pressure builds back up.
Is this to be expected of an inexpensive compressor or is his unit defective?
No the unit is not defective. Read the ad. Nailing, stapling, inflating & air brush. All low volume, regulated & intermittent uses. No constant flow. The blow gun just empties the tank. For that use you need a larger compressor & larger tank. Your friend got what he bought; as advertised.
Mike
you've just discovered why the store has all those really big, heavy compressors.
Its not a matter of the cost of the compressor but rather one of capacities. Each compressor will have a CFM rating which is cubic feet per minute of air at a specific pressure. If the attachment requires more air then it will drain the reserve and wont operate any more.
For some things like nail guns it will limit the duty cycle, that is , you can fire x nails and then have to wait for the compressor to rebuild the air pressure.
As others have said, the unit is too small for it's use. That said, I made the same mistake. However, I paralleled the output into a larger tank so I'm filling 2 tanks at the same time. Yea, I know the compressor is not made to keep up with that volume, but it's better than trashing the thing. If it burns out prematurely, at least I've gotten some use out of it.
It's too bad that the manufacturers lie about the CFM ratings -- they grossly overstate compressor specs, and grossly understate air tools' requirements.
It's not quite a useless rating, but almost.
Best regards, Bob
They manual rates it at 3 SCFM air output at 90 PSI. The blowgun can use much more. At 100 PSI, a 1/16" tubing can use 6.5 CFM, a 1/8" hole uses 26 CFM and 1/4" can use 104 CFM of air . It is designed for short blasts, not a continuous stream of air. It may be a handy little compressor, but don't think about big use tools like sanders or die grinders. They need at least double to triple that volume.
A blow gun will tax even the better compressors. Same with air sanders, da's, air drills, etc.
The nice thing about the bigger tank, you can fill the big tank over night, or during the off moments when you're not using the air appliances. I've wondered if a water heater tank would be good as an air compressor tank.
Funny it comes with a 'blow gun' might have to either limit/slow down the use of the blow gun, or upgrade to a larger capacity (tank/compressor rate) machine.
Just a guess...
tom @
I have something similar by Campbell=Hausfeld. I got it cheap and broken at a junk yard, and while I was fixing it, I read about it.
I wondered what I would ever use it for.
So far, only once to pump up a car tire, which a could have done with a tire pump.
I hope some day to staple or nail, if I can only find something to staple or nail to.
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