I'm in the market for an air compressor to work on my car.
The wiring in my garage is 120v.
Sears has the 33gal one for $300, but the review said that it would
trip a 20A breaker even though it is 15A. Any recommendations?
My budget is $500.

 

Depends on what you are going to do with it. I was looking at the smaller portable compressors but have changed my mind. After looking at the limitations of the smaller compressors I'm going to buy a 60gal 2 stage compressor. If you just looking to run a impact or ratchet once in a while the portables will be ok.

 

I would highly recommend the Husky PRO line of compressors. I have one and its very quiet and works great for air ratchets, impact guns, and cut off wheels. I've also used it with an air hammer and grinders and it held up very well. Just stay away from the regular Husky line, go with the PRO models.

 

I'm pretty sure this is the one i have, its been about a year since i bought it. I can't find it on home depot's website any longer but i'm sure they still have them. (i think).

Husky: VT6315. ($377)

26 gallon tank. 135 max PSI. 6.6 SCFM @ 40 PSI. 5.8 SCFM @ 90 PSI.

 

sorry, i found it on a canadian home depot site lol, check it out...

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...0_level1_HUSKY

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?CategoryID=521&pricetype=

Harbor freight is really cheap, but amazing quality.. they have a store near like 40 minutes from where I live and it's worth the drive every time..

 

Get a nice Craftsman ~$300 compressor. Those handle a lot of usage from air guns.

 

check the CFM rating. then check to see what air tools you want to run and what their CFM requirments are.

if you want to die grinders or angle grinders it's going to use a lot of air. that also includes cut of wheels.

when it's just impact guns or air rachets where you pulse on and off instead of constant run then you can probably get away w/ a smaller compressor.

2 stage units are generally a little quieter than 1 stage units.

honestly buy the biggest one you can afford and hope your electric is up to snuff.

 

I run that Craftsman for hours taking apart third gens. The only problem I've ever had is the belt coming off from time to time.

 

Make sure your circut breaker won't pop when you run the compressor along with other appliances on that circut.

My air compressor can't be run on an extention cord (the big heavy guage ones from Home Depot) because it will pop the circut. I had to make a long hose (parts from Home Depot ) to run it around my car and all the other junk in the garage.

 

It seems like the cheaper ones pass a lot more oil into the air stream. At my last job I went out and bought a nice one and no oil whatsoever in the air or tank drain which was very nice.

Birken