Does anyone make a quiet air compressor, with a decent CFM spec, that doesn't cost an arm and a dick?

3/1/2017 12:31:46 PM

You could build yourself an insulated enclosure if it's going to stay in one spot.

At work we have a small California Air Tools compressor on one of the machines. It's nice and quiet. Not sure how much they cost, but probably arm and dick territory for a large one.

3/7/2017 8:39:24 AM

there aren't any that are quiet enough i would want to have them in an enclosed space with me. build a small shed and pipe it into the space where you're working.

i have mine in the shop and it annoys the hell out of me. i will eventually move it outside under a lean-to and run some pipe.

[Edited on March 7, 2017 at 8:07 PM. Reason : s]

[Edited on March 7, 2017 at 8:09 PM. Reason : what is your use? ]

3/7/2017 8:06:57 PM

I'd like something in the 5-6 CFM range; good for short cycle impact gun use and some light die grinding at the most. I don't need to run a 5-inch air grinder for 10-minutes stretches or anything like that.

I don't have good options for moving it out of the garage. So, it needs to be quiet enough not to rattle my teeth out and not wake my kids while they nap or sleep.

I know building a soundproof enclosure is an option, but I'm trying not to get into something with too big a footprint. That said, I expect that putting a reasonably quiet compressor in an enclosure is cheaper than paying out for a super-quiet compressor.

My ideal format is probably a compressor with a 30-gallon vertical tank on wheels.

3/14/2017 3:40:37 PM

Forget the compressor, how do you plan on grinding without asking the kids?

[Edited on March 14, 2017 at 8:16 PM. Reason : Asking = waking]

3/14/2017 8:16:06 PM

so just get whatever 30 gallon wheeled unit is in your price range and roll it outside the garage and around the corner when in use. i have a 30 gal kobalt brand from lowe's and it does fine. i would highly suggest belt drive.

3/14/2017 9:42:15 PM

^^ The louder uses probably wouldn't be at night. But being able to blow dust off the bench or driving a few brads without waking the house would be nice.

3/15/2017 3:07:20 PM

if its not a lot, just get a large tank and turn the air compressor off when you need to be quiet. run the tools off the tank, and then later when you can be loud turn the compressor back on to refill the tank.

3/15/2017 4:28:40 PM

if you wheel it outside, make sure the extension cord is 12 AWG

3/15/2017 7:20:30 PM

you can also run several tanks in series

3/16/2017 12:34:08 AM

If you run them in parallel though you'll get more air capacity

3/16/2017 5:00:32 PM

Scroll compressors are pretty quiet

3/20/2017 4:38:25 PM

All the scroll compressors I see are either low CFM or cost an arm and a dick.

3/20/2017 5:04:57 PM

a decent sized tank is your solution

3/20/2017 5:21:15 PM

For reference, I have a ~1550sq ft house.

I run a small pancake compressor (loud as balls) in my garage all the time, and my wife can hear it in her office directly above my garage, but it's not very loud at all.

My son's nursery is also upstairs separated from my wife's office by a small bathroom. You can only barely hear the compressor from his room. He sleeps with a sound machine (ocean waves crashing) but it isnt very loud, and it completely covers the noise of the compressor.

In fact, I've yet to wake him up from any tools I use in the garage - air compressor, table saw, grinder, shop vac, etc.

The only thing that woke him up once was me pounding nails into the wall.

3/21/2017 11:32:31 AM

That's nice to know. My house isn't the best insulated so I don't know if my experience would be similar.

Of course, with the amount of time I've spent waffling about this, my kids will be old enough where I can just tell them to be quiet and go back to bed or else help with the work.

I suppose another motivation is wanting a compressor I can used in an enclosed space and not need or want hearing protection.

3/21/2017 12:56:13 PM

My house likely has shitty insulation too. I was suprised how well just the flooring and sheetrock blocked noise.

But if you want something you dont need hearing protection for, good luck. Just get something with a yuge tank so it wont have to run very often.

3/22/2017 10:19:21 AM

Low CFM scroll compressor + Large tank

Details on how to size a tank -

http://www.blakeandpendleton.com/uploadedfiles/pdf/06-010504.012%20Compressed%20Air%20Storage.pdf

3/23/2017 9:12:18 AM