Ultra Quite Air Compressor | GTAMotorcycle.com

Ultra Quite Air Compressor

frekeyguy

frekeyguy

Well-known member
Have a Regular Old piston driven twin-tank 5 GAL air compressor - which I've had for a few years which works fine.

Looking for a recommendations for a ultra quite air compressor that will run on 110V. I don't use a lot of air, budget it around $300 or less.


Found HomeDepot selling the california tool compressor....how are these ? says it will run 65 decibels ? http://www.homedepot.ca/product/por...ultra-quiet-oil-free-steel-tank-63-gal/998791

Also, hows the life of these 'oil-free' stuff ?
 
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For quiet, makita isn't bad (Mac700 (3.3cfm@90psi) or 2400 (4.2@90)), you can carry on a conversation while standing beside them. Rolair JC10 (2.4@90) is even quieter but moves less air.

Ignore advertising that shows decibels without a distance, it's just marketing and cannot be compared to anything. The space shuttle is also 60 dBA, you just have to be at 50 km to get that reading. Also, in most of these ratings, they really mean dBA (a weighting is applied to better approximate human hearing), but the marketing people know so little about sound that they miss that part too. That being said, the HD reviews say the California tools compressor is quiet.

As an example, Makita rates the Mac700 and Mac2400 at around 80 dB, rolair jc10 says 60 dB. There is no way in hell they are 20 dB apart (4x difference in apparent loudness). My guess is more like 5 dB, but I've never bothered measuring any of them. I can measure the 2400 next week if you care, it will take me a few more weeks if you want readings for the rolair and mac700.

All 3 of these compressors are <$300, life on all 3 is long enough that it doesn't matter. Makita's are oiled, rolair is dual piston oilless. If portability matters, the 2400 is a pig (~80lbs), the 700 is tall so it tips over easily but it has a small footprint (~50 lbs), the jc10 is basically a 16" cube (~35 lbs). All 3 will run nailers no problem, an impact gun or air ratchet on the rolair would be painful. The makita's are 50% duty cycle, rolair is 70%.

Good luck
 
frekeyguy said:
Have a Regular Old piston driven twin-tank 5 GAL air compressor - which I've had for a few years which works fine.

Looking for a recommendations for a ultra quite air compressor that will run on 110V. I don't use a lot of air, budget it around $300 or less.


Also, hows the life of these 'oil-free' stuff ?
Click to expand...

oil-free=more operating noise and less durable
 
There is a highly touted American made brand on Amazon that's super quiet as well..

Can't find the name in the few minutes I spent... must be on garagejournal somewhere..
 
GreyGhost said:
For quiet, makita isn't bad (Mac700 (3.3cfm@90psi) or 2400 (4.2@90)), you can carry on a conversation while standing beside them. Rolair JC10 (2.4@90) is even quieter but moves less air.

Ignore advertising that shows decibels without a distance, it's just marketing and cannot be compared to anything. The space shuttle is also 60 dBA, you just have to be at 50 km to get that reading. Also, in most of these ratings, they really mean dBA (a weighting is applied to better approximate human hearing), but the marketing people know so little about sound that they miss that part too. That being said, the HD reviews say the California tools compressor is quiet.

As an example, Makita rates the Mac700 and Mac2400 at around 80 dB, rolair jc10 says 60 dB. There is no way in hell they are 20 dB apart (4x difference in apparent loudness). My guess is more like 5 dB, but I've never bothered measuring any of them. I can measure the 2400 next week if you care, it will take me a few more weeks if you want readings for the rolair and mac700.

All 3 of these compressors are <$300, life on all 3 is long enough that it doesn't matter. Makita's are oiled, rolair is dual piston oilless. If portability matters, the 2400 is a pig (~80lbs), the 700 is tall so it tips over easily but it has a small footprint (~50 lbs), the jc10 is basically a 16" cube (~35 lbs). All 3 will run nailers no problem, an impact gun or air ratchet on the rolair would be painful. The makita's are 50% duty cycle, rolair is 70%.

Good luck
Click to expand...

The weight isn't an issue for me. It is going into my basement and live there. There is a direct line from the basement into the garage - where it splits up after a ball valve.

The mac700 / mac2400 seem small, anything you could recommend I should lookinto for larger units? I need 5 gal min. Was hoping for a recommendation for a larger unit which was quite?

Dirty Frank said:
oil-free=more operating noise and less durable
Click to expand...

That's why i was shying away from Oil - free..

MSRP said:
There is a highly touted American made brand on Amazon that's super quiet as well..

Can't find the name in the few minutes I spent... must be on garagejournal somewhere..
Click to expand...

I will poke around.
 
direct drive= noisier. Smaller compressors , which are usually the oil less ones compensate for smaller pistons by running at higher rpm = noisier. Go find a decent volume tank, which means less on/off cycles and a belt driven cast iron pump. The King Canada and a couple models of Husky are American made pumps from Wisconsin. They are decent quality and not that loud.
The next level of compressor is in the thousands of dollars. Webster/DeVilbiss, Atlas are not in your snack bracket. Hard pipe it to the garage with 1" black pipe so you have no pressure drop in the line. Then use the shortest hose to get to where you want to be to eliminate pressure reduction and air loss so the machine cycles less.
Consider if its sitting on a concrete basement floor the vibration translates so put a matt under it
 
crankcall said:
direct drive= noisier. Smaller compressors , which are usually the oil less ones compensate for smaller pistons by running at higher rpm = noisier. Go find a decent volume tank, which means less on/off cycles and a belt driven cast iron pump. The King Canada and a couple models of Husky are American made pumps from Wisconsin. They are decent quality and not that loud.
The next level of compressor is in the thousands of dollars. Webster/DeVilbiss, Atlas are not in your snack bracket. Hard pipe it to the garage with 1" black pipe so you have no pressure drop in the line. Then use the shortest hose to get to where you want to be to eliminate pressure reduction and air loss so the machine cycles less.
Consider if its sitting on a concrete basement floor the vibration translates so put a matt under it
Click to expand...


Think most of my noise issue is from the intake, these mufflers might help a lot with that. My little compressor has rubber feet, but I will throw some mats under it - it would only make it better.

What is this 1" Black pipe?

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
Princess's Man was recently in your shoes looking for a super quiet air compressor. Princess's Man lives in a condo, so the compressor had to be very, very quiet.

Well, Princess's Man did find and buy one, but it's about $1,000. Princess's Man's compressor is actually quieter than his refrigerator, and he's very happy with it! :happy5: Might not be powerful enough for a mechanic's needs, but it's plenty powerful enough to run an industrial keyhole buttonhole machine.

Maybe you will consider it? It's the Sil-Air 50-15 (pdf). Princess's Man got it at bearair, too. They were very good, too!:bunny::tweety::cat:



Oh, and you can look at this video of this young man:

[video=youtube_share;By9YDnDArQU]http://youtu.be/By9YDnDArQU[/video]
 
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The sil air units are very quiet, they are often what you will find in dentist offices. But the CFM is for sewing machines with down pressure foot things and smaller dentist drills, not for impact guns or die grinders. Frekey,, black pipe is the steel painted pipe you'll see in the industrial plumbing section at lowes/hoe depot ect. , its used for natural gas line ect. Some folks will tell you its ok to use white pvc pipe for air conduit, don't.
 
I was researching compressor options recently including quiet ones. The california ultra quiet models are very quiet by the reviews so you are on track for that option. But your link spec is pretty weak. Your price goal doesn't help.

This california model is much better imo. Look at the specs and google it for the many US reviews that show just how quiet it is. But it is oil-less.
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/100...iet-oil-free-steel-tank-air-compressor/857149

I ended up going with a Makita MAC5200 for the better spec, output and price, discussed on this subforum earlier. There are some great prices on the MAC5200 at a few places. Also it is an cast iron oil lube compressor which I prefer by far. But it is loud. Don't expect quiet. So I don't see the lesser Makita 700 and 2400 models being much quieter, let alone to the level of the California compressor I linked to. The nice thing is it recycles really fast and holds higher tank pressure than many other compressors.

I found a 3000 hr rated life for the oil-less california compressor in the link I gave. I don't know what it is in the real world. The MAC5200 oil compressor is bullet proof and as for life expectancy, with basic maintenance it will be handed down in the family.
 
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rotary vane or screw compressor is happiness but a little spendy for most.
If it going to be a permanent basement tool, don't buy anything but a cast iron pump, oil lube. And depending on what happens in the basement (wood working dust, whatever) have a good filter and check it once in a while, I see more valve and ring wear on compressors from environmental grit than old age.
 
The rotary screws are amazing. But no way I can afford something that like that. My dream is to eventually move to the country side - at that point, i'll just find a big old compressor and put it in the raftors and let it be.

Will look into this further. thank you for all your input. If there is is more - please keep adding.
 
with most compressors changing the air filter/silencer assembly to a larger or better unit will knock off a couple of db
on my old iron CH changing out the assembly with one branded solberg made quite a difference in noise and i would say that it filters the intake air better as well
look on ebay under compressor silencers, not much dough for a quieter shop
 
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