Which air compressor?

[GR8ADV]

GR8ADV- I hear what you are saying- but how often an I filling up these tires? I will be in this rig pretty much full-time- so 30 minutes here and there hardly makes a difference. Week-end warrior- I will be bringing the entire pit-crew with me. Funny, what being on a blue-water sailing cat for 5 years does to your "hurry-hurry".

That's why I am interested in your review. I gave up on rush rush a long time ago but I still don't like waiting around for 10 minutes a tire, which only gets worse as it gets warm. Again I want to climb back up to 90 psi; not sure about you. Keep us posted.
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Ps my wife would quickly ante up the additional $200 to me if she didn't have to sit in the rig at the side of the road for 30 extra minutes listening to a compressor with every airup. ymmv :smiley_drive:

 

[pugslyyy]

That's why I am interested in your review. I gave up on rush rush a long time ago but I still don't like waiting around for 10 minutes a tire, which only gets worse as it gets warm. Again I want to climb back up to 90 psi; not sure about you. Keep us posted.
.
Ps my wife would quickly ante up the additional $200 to me if she didn't have to sit in the rig at the side of the road for 30 extra minutes listening to a compressor with every airup. ymmv :smiley_drive:

I realized I'm the outlier here (what else is new), but the max pressure of the M608Z is 125 psi. My challenge is I need a compressor that can get close to that. My Outback Extreme can get there at sea level, but not above 10,000 feet.

 

[nick disjunkt]

Because of the cutoff pressure on my engine mounted compressor, it's all but impossible to inflate my truck's tyres past about 105 psi. This is plenty to get some air back into a tyre in an emergency but the tyres give better mileage at about 115psi. I looked at the compressors made by Oasis when I was in the US but decided that I couldn't justify the cost:

http://www.oasismfg.com/

The look great though, with the pricier model providing 200psi at 100% duty cycle, and both models giving around 8cfm at 100psi. Alas they are nearly US$1,500 for the smaller model with no tank.

 

[GR8ADV]

I realized I'm the outlier here (what else is new), but the max pressure of the M608Z is 125 psi. My challenge is I need a compressor that can get close to that. My Outback Extreme can get there at sea level, but not above 10,000 feet.

So pugs school me a bit here. What weight do you have that you need that high of pressure? Also how much time do you spend airing up above 10,000 feet? Seems like for those instances you could get with a measly 100 psi.

 

[pugslyyy]

So pugs school me a bit here. What weight do you have that you need that high of pressure? Also how much time do you spend airing up above 10,000 feet? Seems like for those instances you could get with a measly 100 psi.

The only thing that needs that high a pressure is my tires (rear tires, to be specific). The issue is that my compressor does not have a readily adjustable setpoint, so if I have it set to go to the pressure I need for tires, when I go up to high elevations it can never reach the target pressure so just runs all the time. I need air 100% of the time (my seats and horn need it) so just turning the compressor of is not a good option.

I've thought about wiring in a switch to have the compressor 'always on' for tires and a lower setpoint for daily use, but haven't got around to it yet.

 

[SkiFreak]

I am a bit confused here pugslyyy... (not uncommon with me)
Are you running the compressor as "air on demand", or do you have a receiver in the system?
If you have a receiver, even a fairly small one, the cutout set point should be irrelevant, as the compressor will simply turn off when the pressure in the receiver gets to that point and leave you with stored air for use by the seats and horn.
Am I missing something simple here???

 

[tgreening]

Because of the cutoff pressure on my engine mounted compressor, it's all but impossible to inflate my truck's tyres past about 105 psi. This is plenty to get some air back into a tyre in an emergency but the tyres give better mileage at about 115psi. I looked at the compressors made by Oasis when I was in the US but decided that I couldn't justify the cost:

http://www.oasismfg.com/

The look great though, with the pricier model providing 200psi at 100% duty cycle, and both models giving around 8cfm at 100psi. Alas they are nearly US$1,500 for the smaller model with no tank.

Those are essentially winch motor driven York A/C compressors. If you were of the fabricating mind I'd wager you could put one of those together far short of $1500. The compressors can be found used on older Fords and Volvos as well. Myabe others but ose I know for sure. I dont know what the salvage yard business is like in the UK but the last time I went I bought 3 Yorks for my parts shelf and paid a whopoing $35 a piece. A bit of used winch scavenging, a salvage York, some bits of fab, and you'd be in business.

 

[tgreening]

Pugslyyy: why not pick up a used 10# power tank and be done with it? It'll certainly pick up whatever pressure slack your compressor suffers from at altitude.

 

[yabanja]

Are you thinking of Trailhead?

Yorks are air conditioning compressors. Their 'secret sauce' is that they are externally lubricated, which makes them suitable for air as well as freon. They work really, really well and can be either engine or electric motor driven.

The most desirable application is engine driven, using an electric clutch to engage/disengage (just as if you were using it for air conditioning). You can also use a winch motor to drive it (winch motor is preferable to a starter motor because it is higher duty cycle).

I really wanted to go engine driven as it is much less complex, cheap, and doesn't tax the electrical system. After looking at the engine I just didn't see a way to make it work. My truck(2000 FG) has zero space!

 

[SkiFreak]

My truck(2000 FG) has zero space!

Obviously there are significant changes in the engine bay between year models, as I have a 2010 FG and it is fitted with an engine driven compressor.

 

[pugslyyy]

I am a bit confused here pugslyyy... (not uncommon with me)
Are you running the compressor as "air on demand", or do you have a receiver in the system?
If you have a receiver, even a fairly small one, the cutout set point should be irrelevant, as the compressor will simply turn off when the pressure in the receiver gets to that point and leave you with stored air for use by the seats and horn.
Am I missing something simple here???

I have a 5 gallon-ish tank. The issue is getting the system, including the tank, to pressure at altitude.

 

[pugslyyy]

Pugslyyy: why not pick up a used 10# power tank and be done with it? It'll certainly pick up whatever pressure slack your compressor suffers from at altitude.

It's hard to come by the 10# tanks here, it is pretty much only 5# or 20# exchanges. I keep a 20# at the house but I don't carry it on trips. In my experience CO2 runs out when you need it most, unless you are willing to blow of a partial tank and refill/swap often.

I've also found the diffusion of CO2 through rubber to be much higher than that of air.

 

[SkiFreak]

I would think that a simple on/off switch that allowed you to bypass the receiver's pressure switch might be a simple option.
Just turn it off when at altitude to let the compressor run for as long as it needs to, assuming that the compressor can actually deliver the required pressure that you need when at altitude.

 

[pugslyyy]

I would think that a simple on/off switch that allowed you to bypass the receiver's pressure switch might be a simple option.
Just turn it off when at altitude to let the compressor run for as long as it needs to, assuming that the compressor can actually deliver the required pressure that you need when at altitude.

Yeah I actually regulate it down for the air seats. It's just a bit of a bodge to do it that way.

 

[tgreening]

It's hard to come by the 10# tanks here, it is pretty much only 5# or 20# exchanges. I keep a 20# at the house but I don't carry it on trips. In my experience CO2 runs out when you need it most, unless you are willing to blow of a partial tank and refill/swap often.

I've also found the diffusion of CO2 through rubber to be much higher than that of air.

Hard to come by? Ok, that I don't get. Buy your own and have it filled, not exchanged. It only takes a few minutes to fill, even a 10#. Barring that, what's wrong with a 5 lb tank? If all you're doing is picking up the pressure difference from where your compressor falls short it should get the job done with minimal dilution.

Everything you mention about it's performance I agree with, and I'd usually never have one as my primary air source. The only way to know what's left in the tank is weigh it, and that can be problematic, but as a fill-in what's the drawback?