6 gal. Porter Cable compressor--any good?

[Pilot]

I've been watching craigslist for a small compressor and have seen a lot of listings for this Porter Cable pancake style 6 gallon compressor. Usually they are a little more $ than I want to spend, but I could go higher. I am a little concerned about why so many are for sale second hand. Do people buy them and decide they are junk? Or maybe they just sell a lot of them?

So, are these compressors any good?

 

[dave1949]

I have a Porter Cable, not the pancake, but the small oblong cylinder type with two female hose outlets and regulator.

It will keep up nicely with two framing nail guns and I can get some use of my 3/8" air impact wrench from it. It's fine for airing up truck tires, max psi is 150.

It is not good for things where you need sustained volume at pressure. It just won't keep up.

So, the answer is partly - what do you need it for?

I think a lot of those pancake models were sold as sets with a brad and finish nailer at the box stores.
Dave.

 

[2manyrocks]

I don't know about that particular compressor. Many are made in China now. You could look at the ratings at Lowes if that's where the compressor came from.

Pancakes are designed for low volume/high pressure applications like nail guns. Not what you want for high volume/low pressure like painting.

Could be an item somebody bought and really didn't need. Could have "walked off" a job site.

 

[ttriff]

There were problems with the unit when first introduced (this was a LONG time ago) Problem was mostly solved by a recommended initial break-in procedure for the motor running without a load.

That said PC has built and sold a bizillion of these, so it's not surprising to see many for sale

 

[Larry Caldwell]

The small oilless compressors are noisy and won't hold up to continuous pumping. On the up side, they are light weight, portable and will operate in any position. The old style oil bath piston compressor will handle a 100% duty cycle and runs quieter, but is heavy, not so portable, and needs to operate on a near level surface.

Porter Cable is a good brand. The small compressor will do most household things, and even run a spray gun for small jobs, but don't expect it to run air tools like grinders, sanders, drill motor, etc.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

There were problems with the unit when first introduced (this was a LONG time ago) Problem was mostly solved by a recommended initial break-in procedure for the motor running without a load.

The directions for my piston air compressor said to run it for an hour with no pressure in the tank to seat the valves before running it up to pressure.

Just as a comment, mine is 120/240v, and I set it up to run on 240v. It sure starts better on the higher voltage. Not that that will be an option on a small pancake compressor.

 

[phiferpharm]

I've had my PC pancake for two years and it has been great with a variety of nailers, impact wrenches, and for lightweight air cleaning. No problems and easy enough to use with it and a portable generator from the back of my Rhino all around the property.

 

[charlz]

I have a small Black and Decker one, works good, the cooling fan continues to run for a bit after it is done pumping which should help extend its life.

I actually just fill it from my 80 gallon compressor which should help extend the small compressors life indefinitely but still gives me the option of a portable air compressor when I might need it.

 

[EarPlug]

After going through a number of small compressors I purchased a GMC SYCLONE model. This is a great and VERY quiet machine. The pump is based on a dental/medical compressor with a 3000 hour service life compared to 500 hour life of the box store units.

Jack

 

[Pilot]

I only need the compressor for small jobs at my hangar where I keep my plane--filling tires, cleaning the engine, doing a differential compression check, maybe running a rivet gun, etc.

I have a little 2 gallon unit which works fine for the tires but if it fills the tank more than twice in 5 minutes the thermal overload switch shuts it off and it takes half an hour to cool down and run again, even though it doesn't feel warm. so I can spray clean about half the engine or do a compression check on 2 of the 4 cylinders before it shuts down and it's time to take a break.

So I figure the Porter Cable unit should work OK, if the design doesn't have problems. Thanks for the feedback on the PC.