Air compressor: Oil or Oil-less?

[CurlyDave]

I have a fairly recent oil-less compressor (Rigid brand) I got from Home Depot about a year ago. We have had it powered up 8 hours a day, 5 days a week building a house.

It is loud, but it has lasted like a mother-in-law's curse.

 

[Pete Judd]

I have a small cab shop next to the house, The noise from the old oil less would wake us up at night. Made it hard to think in the shop. When It failed went to the oil type, but it is used only for brad nailers in the shop. And filling tires.

 

[rswyan]

What is your opinion about Oil lubricated or Oil less compressors?
Can an Oil-less compressor last as long as an Oil lubed compressor?

Sure ..... even longer sometimes .... provided you don't use it ..... :laughing:

Seriously, they all have there places and uses ....

First "compressor" I ever bought was an old Black & Decker Air Station to pump up tires and the kids stuff:

Still have it, still works .... although I have replaced the hose once because the chuck fitting broke ... the current one is getting a little dicey ...

Also the plastic fitting that connects the air line to the unit finally broke, I replaced it last year with a brass NPT/hose barb fitting.

Oil lubed compressors are your best bet for a long life tho' :thumbsup:

 

[johnrex62]

I had that same AirStation model. Used it for 15+ years and had to replace the plastic connector between the hose and the housing as well. It finally died when exposed to a bodacious amount of water from a broken water. Poor thing corroded up tight before I realized the plastic tub it was stored in had a broken lid and had filled with water.

 

[JDgreen227]

Sure ..... even longer sometimes .... provided you don't use it ..... :laughing:

Seriously, they all have there places and uses ....

First "compressor" I ever bought was an old Black & Decker Air Station to pump up tires and the kids stuff:

Still have it, still works .... although I have replaced the hose once because the chuck fitting broke ... the current one is getting a little dicey ...

Also the plastic fitting that connects the air line to the unit finally broke, I replaced it last year with a brass NPT/hose barb fitting.

Oil lubed compressors are your best bet for a long life tho' :thumbsup:

We have a pair of those B&D's like you illustrate that are the same model and rebadged Craftsman, my wife purchased hers back in about 1988 and it still gets used for filling tires, works fine. I have another that I purchased from a Goodwill store for $8 three years ago, it was still in the box and looked barely used. Yup, as someone here says, oil less compressors last as long as oiled, or longer, IF YOU DON'T USE THEM.

 

[ultrarunner]

In 95 I bought a commercial Thomas Oil Less Compressor for my Service Van... it has never missed a beat through the vibration and temp extremes... I think it was about $500 without tank and it very quiet.

I also have an 1950's DeVilbiss Body Shop low Speed compressor the just keeps ticking and the only I added was an automatic condensate drain from Grainger for about a $100 and drain the oil every 2 years.

I've gone through two Sear Oil Compressors... got a lot of use and eventually, both threw connecting rods.

I don't think you can compare cheap Oil-Less to a commercial high duty cycle Oil-Less and the same for conventional oil compressors vs the cheap ones.

 

[Richard]

How often do you suggest changing the oil in an oiled compressor?

(presume moderate home owner use, not daily use in construction or other business)

 

[Bird]

How often do you suggest changing the oil in an oiled compressor?

(presume moderate home owner use, not daily use in construction or other business)

Richard, I found it interesting that the manual for my compressor says to check the oil and drain condensation "regularly". It then tells how to change the oil, says it came pre-filled with a 10W-30 synthetic oil and that's what they recommend when you change it. But I've never found anything to say how often they recommend changing oil.:laughing: Personally, I try to remember to do that once every year or year and a half, but I know a lot of folks never change the oil. And I do use the synthetic 10W-30 oil made for compressors.

I do know that at least some ingersoll-rand air-compressor manuals recommend synthetic oil, but also say you can use a non-detergent petroleum oil. They then recommend oil changes every 3 months or 500 hours of service for petroleum oil and 12 months or 2000 hours of service for synthetic oil whichever comes first. They also say the compressor can run continuously on synthetic oil but only 36 minutes of every hour on petroleum oil. So it sure appears that if you follow their instructions, synthetic oil would be cheaper in the long fun.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Unless you use larger wire gauge extension cords, yes you will burn up your compressor motor. Bad stuff to run electric motors on long small gauge extension cords... IR drops will kill them.

I have my compressor set up to run on 240 volts, and put together a 50' 240 volt extension cord because it was cheaper than buying another 50' of hose.I had a spool of 14/3 stranded, which had a lot to do with my decision.

A 5 horse compressor draws serious amperage, but my little Coleman 2 hp doesn't draw much at 240 volts.

I run all my electric motors over about 1/2 hp on 240 volts. They start quicker and run cooler.

 

[schmism]

ive burnt up a couple of oil-less... had a crapsman that i replaced the diaphram in twice before the bearing on the crank disintegrated....

Ive have a oil'd pancake HF that ive been brutal to and it still runs fine 10 years later.

my dad has a Quincy oil'd that puts along in the back of the garage... you can easily carry on a conversation standing next to it vs the wicked loud oil-less

ill take my oil'd (HF or not) over any oil-less.... (oh and i have a large 2 stage oil'd also)