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LPWash · Guest

Which Air Compressor?

Baltimore MD Roof Cleaning 410-482-4367 · guest

I am using this and loving every minute of it

http://www.eatoncompressor.com/catalog/item/537473/7423951.htm

14 cfm 10 gallon $719. A very good warrenty but you have to keep it dry for them to honor it, making it unlikley. I would bet that the others we look at have the same condition in the warrenty. Slow 850 RPM with 3 cylinder heads. Mine was shipped for $119. It does vibrate a lot, but runs like a dream. It will come on a pallet with cardboard riser crating to keep it unstackable. Note that for every cykinder head you get a seperate air intake and filter. This makes the compressor much less lickley to fail from air flow loss as my last one did. Whatever you buy change the filter often or the compressor will pull oil if it can't get air. I used that rigid for 2 weeks and took it right back. Mine had a wad of plastic mesh for a filter?? The compressor is very small on it and the secret to a better operating AOD pump is to supply it with as much cfm as possible.

Baltimore MD Roof Cleaning 410-482-4367 · guest

Also wanted to mention we had to turn the idle up on the Honda when we got ours, it was mis-set. This happens with anything sometimes so it wasn't a surprise.

Guest

I just bought the 13hp 30 gallon tank from harbor freight for 999.99 electric start and twice as much cfm as the 9 gallon rigid. WOW..

Roof Cleaning Corpus Christi TX · Guest

Bill, how long have you been using that 3-head air compressor?

Was that brand popular or reputable?

I am looking for an air compressor right now.

Thank You.

LPWash · Guest

miked wrote:

I just bought the 13hp 30 gallon tank from harbor freight for 999.99 electric start and twice as much cfm as the 9 gallon rigid. WOW..

boy, with that thing, you could sit in your truck and squirt the love from your drivers seat. Do you really need that much power? That thing is a beast. I'm listening....I want to place an order in the next few days. I'm all ears on this one.

Iannacchione · Guest

I have the Ridgid and it works every time. Just my two cents. Bought it at Home Depot, $700 or so.

Baltimore MD Roof Cleaning 410-482-4367 · guest

That Rigid may well work fine. I can see it has the round paper element were mine just had a wad of mesh in a flat compartment bolted over the hole. There is not a huge difference in most of them. We still use a Dewalt single head 8gallon on the main truck. We ceased a connecting rod in the compressor and replaced it, then rebuilt the old one and saved it as a spare. That's when I found these. I almost just bought the compressor itself to bolt onto the Dewalt. I was looking for a larger tank and higher cfm. Your all-flos want 17+cfm and a larger tank allows your motor to cycle less. It should mean more air and less rpm/ and less cycles per hour. We have only had it for about 45 days so I can't really tell you guys if it will last long or not.

When I called Eaton about the compressor they seemed like reasonable people.

LPWash · Guest

Bumping this post.

NoPressure · guest

Northern Tools has a good one. I've got a Seally Beal I bought from a guy for 300 dollars but my generator wont handle it, so i got one from Harbor Frieght thats bad ass. Runs good. No problems so far. Plus just turning a key is easy to.

LPWash · Guest

Which one did you get from Harbor Freight?

Morgan Booz · Guest

Harbor Freight has a big electric start 30gal for about $1k. We almost bought that one, but when I saw it up close was not impressed. The one I saw had a generic engine of some kind. Maybe Bill remembers what it was? They do however offer on site repair in their warranty!

LPWash · Guest

Traveled about a half hour to a Harbor Freight store. Great store, but didn't have the compressor in stock that I wanted of course. Or anything close to it either. Just my luck. I was ready to buy.

Tom C · Guest

Hey Bill Booz,
How's that Easton 6.5 hp air compressor holding up? I've been looking at both the Northern Tool and the Ridgid mentioned in the original post, but the Easton seems like a better unit. No way will I go with a Chinese motor, Honda is the only choice for me.
Tom

Guest

i ve had mine from harbor frieght now for over a year and there is no problems with that chinese engine. Starts everytime either with a pull or turn the key. I may switch to a 12 volt set up next year for the added room ill get by getting rid of the air compressor,we'll see.

Tom C · Guest

Really switching from air to electric, I thought that it was usually the other way. The Harbor Freight didn't make the selection for me, cause I've had such good luck with the Honda engines in the past for many applications.
But I am interested in that Easton 6.5hp Honda powered unit, if it's been holding up.

Guest

one thing to consider the air system depends on the compressor to always be functional. if the compressor goes down then so do you. That is the reason for the possiable switch to 12 volt.

RCIA Founder

air pumps will "run" on just about any amount of air, but will never be the super pumps they can be until you get about a 17 CFM Compressor, or more, for larger 3/4 and one inch pumps.

I ran Rigid Gas Compressors for years on my 1/2 inch Yamada Kynar Pumps. They worked good. Then I ran across a larger used Rol Air Compressor. it was like I got a new roof cleaning pump! The difference was shocking! It shot much farther for the same air pressure, and flow was increased so much we had to go down one nozzle size.

The big Rol Air is just loafing, the Rigid is working it's ass off, so go figure ?

Sep 22, 2011

Almost 2 years old and still kickin butt...starts every time.

Soft Wash Wizard - Harrisburg, NC · Guest

When we build our rig in 2010 there was no question for me to have a AlFlo air pump with a large capacity storage tank. We purchased from Eaton Compressor - Clayton Ohio a Polar Air an 8HP electric start Honda belt drive with a two cylinder compressor on a 60 gallon tank. This unit generates 19.5 CFM @ 100 PSI with 150 PSI max. This gives us plenty of air for the pump that is not over working the compressor. We never have had a pump problem with our system setup. Also, I have used this twin cylinder air compressor for pumping up flat tires & running air tools with plenty of air reserve. I know some of you would not want to spend $1,500 but I feel the extra dollars up front run we are further ahead in the long run regarding our air compressor pumping system. We will never be concerned about not having enough air & it doesn't run all the time on the job verses a smaller air compressor tank system.

I have attached these pictures of our compressor mounted on our soft wash skid when we first built it. Since then we have a trailer mount hose reel, ladder rack & other items on our trailer.

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum "Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"