240V air compressor

[Steve]

I'm looking to buy a small air compressor, mainly to blow out the dusty insides of stuff I'm repairing or maintaining, but it would be great if it could do other stuff as well, such as inflating car tyres and maybe some spraying of fence panels.

I don't want to spend a great amount of money on it so I've got it down to the choice of two - I think :-)

Any thoughts on which to go for between these two on Ebay (I visit both towns regularly so could pick up in person from either of them):

(a 50L tank)

(a 24L tank)

Thanks

[Bob Minchin]

Both have very similar compressors. Despite the description, both will run at 2850 rpm on UK mains.

50 litre will be marginally better for spraying initially but you will run out of air and it will take longer to refill the bigger one. Both will be appallingly noisy. The 24 l one comes up at Lidl and Aldi at regular intervals for less money (£80 I think) and sometimes have accessories. They are OK for the other applications you suggest.

Make sure you drain out the water from the tank from time to time.

hth

Bob

[Newshound]

Well the big one has slightly more CFM and a bigger tank so will be better for high demand tools. But it's bigger.

Check how many CFM fence sprayers require. ISTR that machine mart lists the CFM demand of all their air tools.

Small one will be fine for car tyres.

Not sure what sort of things you want to blow the dust out of; for larger things you will be better with a vacuum cleaner. You won't need many CFM for that.

You might find that you can manage with something smaller.

[MuddyMike]

I have had an Aldi one for about 8 years and its still going. I couldn't spray a car with it but is quite adequate for less demanding spray jobs such as wood preserver and powering a nail gun, tyre pumping etc.

Mike

[John Rumm]

I find my 25L one is more than adequate for most activities. I use mine for dusting, tyre inflating, impact wrench, and light spraying. As long as you are not planning on spraying continuously (i.e. without letting go of the trigger now and then) for minutes at a time its not a problem.

[Dave Liquorice]

And with a vacuum cleaner the dust and muck gets sucked up and trapped not shoved up into the air you are breathing and that which doesn't end up in your nose/mouth/lungs settles out around the space you are in...

For cleaning dusty kit I'd much prefer to use a small soft brush and a vacuum device of some sort.

[RJS]

For some dusting tasks you can't beat a 'blast' of air, be it from a can or compressor. Just spent ages cleaning partially jammed shreddings from a big cross-cut shredder using a springhook and vacuum cleaner. I then acquired a toy compressor which, driving a long reach blow gun. has proved to be far more effective. The blow gun delivers a blast of air where it is needed far more effectively than the suck from the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner has been relocated to catch the dislodged debris and all is progressing well - except that I can't find out why the wreteched shredder keeps stopping - but that's another story.

Also used the same blow gun to blast the debris out of holes prior to setting Chembolts - so much easier and more effective than little bristle-brushes and puffers.

Richard

[Steve]

Cheers chaps - I just love the wealth of knowledge and helpfulness in this group :-)

[Steve Firth]

There's a great deal that I clean with compressed air rather than a vacuum cleaner. My tractor, computers, paintwork after sanding, brickwork prior to pointing for example. Wear a mask and the dust isn't a hazard.