Compressors: Which is better oil or oil free?

Looking to buy a compressor with a brad nailer. Which is better oil or oil free?

Any experiences good or bad appreciated.

Thx

Dean Hummel

Reply to
Dean Hummel
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The oil-less are fine - so long as you're already deaf.

Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email)

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Reply to
Tom Watson

Oil is better than oil free. For your application with JUST a nailer, a direct drive oil type will be quieter than an oil free direct drive. Better yet but with a loss of portability compared to direct drive units, oil type and belt driven.

Reply to
Leon

Oil Free Cheaper Lighter, Noisier Good for light duty. OTOH, there are some in commercial service for medical applications where oil is a contaminant that cannot be tolerated..

Oil Lasts longer Usually heavier and less portable Quieter

If you are going to use a nailer, inflate an occasional basketball, oiless is suitable and can last a long time. If you plan to advance to larger air tools, spray painting trucks, get a larger oil type. Both have a place. I've had an oiless for four years and it suits me just fine. YMMV.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

If you are looking primarily to power brad nailers and finish nailers, there is a Senco combo comp+brad nailer that is quite small and reasonable. As I recall, most of these packages are oil-free. Will the compressor be somewhat stationary or do you need more portability?

However, I run fram>Looking to buy a compressor with a brad nailer. Which is better oil or >oil free? >

Reply to
Thomas Kendrick

"Dean Hummel".

As other have said, an oil type is better, quieter and will last longer. The oil-less is cheaper, lighter and noisier.

My suggestion would be to get a good one, you'll be happier longer.

Dave

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Reply to
TeamCasa

Dean:

I have been contracting for about 30 years now. I like oiless because we use them for roofing every day. No worries about oil leaks, breaking the site glass, snapping off the fill/dip stick, and not problems with the oil leaking out of the head when the compressor is on its side or oil thickening up when on a frosty jobsite.

I have had plenty of both. In my shop, I run an oiless. It goes nowhere, never is at any kind of damage risk, and has only seen one or two jobsites. It lives in a quiet corner under a noise barrier/dust shroud. It isn't THAT much quieter than my three oiless comps. But it was on sale and had the specs I wanted to run a couple of large finish nailers at a time.

My oiless comps kick ass though, as they are almost indestructible. Here in South Texas it easily hits 100 degrees plus in the summer, and hoisted onto a papered roof, the surface temps hit 145 or so on the surface where we put them to run two to three roofing guns. Never had one of my CH Extreme oiless comps fail.

Think about this when you want to decide about reliability: One 28 square roof has about 10,000 nails in it. This is only a box and a half... some more some less. So when we do three roofs a week after hail season, this is about 30,000 nails. A week...

Go to a month... 120,000 nails. We don't use them that hard all the time, so I'll say 7 months a year. 840,000 a year. (You should see my fastener bills!) These compressor still shoot more though. When we go inside, they also power our finish guns and we have done a lot of room addition type framing with Bostich and Hitachi framing nailers. We have no other compressors in the field BUT oiless.

Oh yeah, remember my newest CH comp is about three years old. We did have to buy a new regulator for that one though, since one of my knotheads screwed down the knob as tight as he could get it to get more pressure.

Good luck on this. If I were you I would go with the best deal and house the compressor (oiless or oil) some way if it is for your shop to cut down on the noise and the dust it will eventually suck in to the intake.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Reply to
Phisherman

I like the oiled compressors best. I have 5 compressors that I run now and all of them are oiled. I have run about 10 or so oiless and I was not pleased with their durability. In my shop at home, I have a 35 year old Sears Craftsman 20 gallon compressor which has had regular duty for all of its 35 years. I have had to change the oil about every 6 months and I did a rebuild on it about 15 years ago. During that time I have gone through numerous oiless compressors.

The oiled compressors MUST be kept on flat level surfaces and you have to change the oil, but they just keep going and when they get weak, the rebuild is only about 40 bucks. A rebuild on an oiless can be as much as $150 depending upon the brand, and they need it more often.

Reply to
Robert Allison

Reply to
Wilson Lamb

Are filters available that do a good job of keeping compressor oil out of spray guns?

Is this more an issue with a well-used compressor?

Reply to
Art Greenberg

Yes.

Yes

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

======================== Well they both work.... no problem there... and for ocassional use either will do just fine...

I have owned both types... and absolutely hated the Noise the oil less compressor put out... just drove me bonkers... This is not to say the oil tyes are quiet...not by a long shot... er... just much quieter...

I now have a 8 Hp 80 Gallon upright compressor and to be honest if I have to drive a few brads I will fill a small portable tank with air and just hook up the nailer to it... I need the large compressor because I restore cars ( another hobby) and need it.

Bob Griffiths

Reply to
Bob G.

Just curious here - what oilfree compressors have enough cfm to run a spray gun?

Reply to
mp

Lots of them.

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enough power for you? How about a Grimmer Schmidt. 10 HP 35 cfm or a

50 HP 222 cfm? That would set you back over $40k.

Fini has a line that includes medical air.

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There are many more that the little PC pancake models.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

All the best ones - but they'll be screw compressors, not piston or pancake. Screw compressors are quiet, efficient and very expensive !

Reply to
Andy Dingley

I vote for oiled. They last longer and, while noisy, arent as obnoxious as the oil-free. Oiled machines cost more but will outlast the oil-free machines by a pretty good margin.

Reply to
RonB

Hi Dean,

I'll chime in here and say if you plan on keeping your compressor for a while and plan to use it for a lot of other things get an oil lubricated compressor. It'll last longer and if you sell it it'll have a higher resale value. Lubricated compressors run quieter too.

You can always rebuild oilless compressors but sometimes the cost or time involved outweighs the effort put in and/or the value of the compressor. Personally I would never buy a used oilless compressor. However, if you plan to use your compressor on uneven surfaces, like a rooftop go with oilless. Or, you can use a lubricated compressor on the ground and use a longer hose.

Hope this helps,

Layne

Reply to
Layne

snip

Yeah, but Home Depot doesn't carry this one!!! :-)

Layne

Reply to
Layne

yes and the screw compressors have OIL in them:-)

EXPENSIVE oil too....

William....

Reply to
William

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