HF 95275 Compressor Advice

[jackellis]

This one. It's on sale for $40.

I'd like to have a compressor I can move more easily than the 4 gallon Campbell Hausfeld I have in the shop, which weighs about 50 pounds and is too heavy to haul around very easily. I could leave this one in the garage for topping off car tires, or take it over to the airport when the airplane tires get low.

There's a favorable review by Vanguard but I'm wondering if anyone else has one and what their experience has been.

[william_hunter]

For $40? It seems like a pretty good little compressor for that dollar amount. I had a similar one from Central Pneumatic, worked well for pumping tires and for shooting a few brads here and there. As long as you don't intend to pump tires up from 10 PSI to fully inflated, it should handle the work quite nicely. Seems like a good value if $40 is all you have to pay out to get it. Silly wal-mart 12v ones are usually more expensive than that!

[jbrain]

The reviews are decent. $40.00 only ? I'd get it. Good HF return policy if it's a dud.

[LCHIEN]

I'm thinking a compressor like that would be a great portable source for brad nailers. But I've got too much stuff to get another compressor right now.

[cabinetman]

That model would be adequate for your light applications. Good for stapling, brad nailing, pumping up tires. People have the propensity to overwork it like for spraying paints and finishes. Like most oil less compressors it will be noisy.

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[JimD]

I gave my son one of these for Christmas. Last time I checked with him he had not used it yet. He bought a house late last year and it has no garage. He likes working on cars but has limited space for tools. Eventually he will want a larger compressor but for light duty right now, it looked like a good deal. I also gave him a 18 gauge brad nailer but didn't give him a HF spray gun. I bought it but then thought better of it. I am afraid it would just be a frustration until he has a bigger compressor. (he's saving up for a huge garage, literally bigger than the house right now)

Jim

[jackellis]

Thanks gentlemen. As soon as I have wheels I'll head down to San Jose, pick one up and report back when I've put it to use.

[sweensdv]

At 0.6 CFM @ 90 psi , it would struggle to fill a car sized tire. My pneumatic grease gun needs 2.0 CFM @ 90 psi to work.

[jdon]

I just did some quick and dirty calculations re: tire filling:

Found a web site calculator for "tyre" volumes (a UK site, naturally), based on tire size. The volume in my 215/60R16 tire is 14.85 liters ("litres" )

Let's say the pressure is 25 psi, and I want to increase to 35 psi. Using the old PV=nRT formula, assuming V and T are essentially constant, P is proportional to n, so I would need to increase n (moles of air) by 40%: (35-10)/25, or ~ 6 liters.

6 liters is 0.21 cubic feet, so at 0.6 cfm, it would take about 20 sec to pump up to 35 psi- not too bad, IMHO.

[TheChadNC]

I have had that same model for almost a year now. I bought it to run an airbrush to paint my model cars with and although I have not yet used it for that purpose I have filled several car/bike tires and used it to run my HF brad nailer for small jobs. It will only drive 5~6 brads before the compressor kicks on again but for what it is, I think its a pretty good unit. I usually grab it instead of wrestling with my big compressor. Thumbs up from me.

[LCHIEN]

I just did some quick and dirty calculations re: tire filling:

Found a web site calculator for "tyre" volumes (a UK site, naturally), based on tire size. The volume in my 215/60R16 tire is 14.85 liters ("litres" )

Let's say the pressure is 25 psi, and I want to increase to 35 psi. Using the old PV=nRT formula, assuming V and T are essentially constant, P is proportional to n, so I would need to increase n (moles of air) by 40%: (35-10)/25, or ~ 6 liters.

6 liters is 0.21 cubic feet, so at 0.6 cfm, it would take about 20 sec to pump up to 35 psi- not too bad, IMHO.

And don't forget the .6 CFM spec is for pushing against 90 PSI... into 35 PSI it would probably do twice or more CFMs, halving the time.

[jackellis]

If the tire volume is about 15 litres, the volume of air at standard (~15 PSI) pressure in the tire is close to 30 liters if the tyre pressure is 25 PSI. Practically speaking, it makes little difference because you can still increase the pressure to 35 PSI in a relatively short time.

[cabinetman]

If the tire volume is about 15 litres, the volume of air at standard (~15 PSI) pressure in the tire is close to 30 liters if the tyre pressure is 25 PSI. Practically speaking, it makes little difference because you can still increase the pressure to 35 PSI in a relatively short time.

I agree. I have a small lubed compressor (1/2 HP, 7 gal) compressor that goes with me to the jobsite. The times I did use it to pump up tires, adding air would deplete the tank pretty quick. There were times I needed the air supply when there was no power supply.

As for CFM's necessary, when the tank depletes to the 'kick on' of the compressor, it has to run to fill the tank and fill the tire. It doesn't take much to fill a tire. Those 12V plug in so called "high pressure" automotive compressors-tire inflator (some are listed as 250 PSI) can take 15 - 20 minutes on a completely flat tire.

.

[Raffi]

I just did some quick and dirty calculations re: tire filling:

Found a web site calculator for "tyre" volumes (a UK site, naturally), based on tire size. The volume in my 215/60R16 tire is 14.85 liters ("litres" )

Let's say the pressure is 25 psi, and I want to increase to 35 psi. Using the old PV=nRT formula, assuming V and T are essentially constant, P is proportional to n, so I would need to increase n (moles of air) by 40%: (35-10)/25, or ~ 6 liters.

6 liters is 0.21 cubic feet, so at 0.6 cfm, it would take about 20 sec to pump up to 35 psi- not too bad, IMHO.

Thank you, I now have a head ache.

[jdon]

Thank you, I now have a head ache.

Sorry!

To prolong the misery, thanks to jackellis and cab'man for rightfully pointing out careless errors in my calculation. I forgot that tire pressure is relative- i.e. compared to atmospheric pressure: a tire with 0 psi at sea level would have 15 psi on the moon.

It occurs to me that the limiting factor is probably how quickly air can pass through the valve stem. Anyone have an estimate of the effective area of a Schrader valve, so we can drag this discussion to an even lower level?