Portable air compressor

[Ron Morgan]

I am wanting to purchase a portable air compressor to keep the tires on our MH at the proper psi. Since size and weight are issues, I want to know if anyone has used the WalMart compressor (small, round, rated at 110 psi).  Can I expect to get 100 psi into my tires from such a small compressor?

Thanks

[Larry Fisk]

I purchased one like you're describing at Walmart and found it was not sufficient. I could not get more than 90 psi out of it and it just did not do the job for me. If I had to do it again I would have went ahead and spent the extra money for one rated to handle more pressure output.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00915216000P?sid=IDx20070921x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=00915216000P or something similar. The volume of these smaller air copmpressors are not suitable for a full inflation of a tire but good for maintaining correct pressures or running a smaller air tool.

[Bill Sprague]

For size, quietness and durability I want a Makita MAC 700.  Amazon has it here:  http://www.amazon.com/Makita-MAC700-Big-Bore-Compressor/dp/B0001Q2VK0/ref=wl_itt_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1BLBOND9YHAU7&colid=1WTGH7252T47J  Tool Town in Tacoma has it for $220.

But being cheap, when the motorhome was new, I bought a Campbell Hausfeld "inflater" similar to this one http://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Hausfeld-RP4100-120-Volt-Inflator/dp/B001737OQW/ref=sr_1_cc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1299854710&sr=1-2-catcorr  When i bought it, i got it from Wal-Mart for about $40.  I don't use it a lot, but it is now 6 years old and still working.  

Basically an inflater is a compressor without the tank.  You can't build up pressure to run tools or blow things off.  But, why fill a tank to then transfer the air to a tire?  Filling the tire directly works fine.  

My inflater is very small and very light.  It takes a little more than a minute a pound on my 295s.  So if a tire is 5 pounds low I attach the hose and do something else for five minutes.  Then i do the next tire.   It is noisy, so I don't do it early in the morning.  

The coolest thing I've found is more expensive than a compressor.  It can take 80psi directly from the coach air system and boost it to as high as 160psi.  The only place i've seen it is at Bob Dickman's Les Schwab in Junction City, OR.  A link:  http://www.dickmantires.com/air_pressure/air_pressure.html

[Gil_Johnson]

If you have air brakes, have you considered the air tap you probably have off of the air brakes?  It should support 130psi.

Gil
08 Contessa

[Bill Sprague]

Gil,

I tried that when the coach was new.  It was painfully slow.  I think it was because there was only a few pounds difference between tire and coach pressure, especially as the pressure approached the low end before the compressor kicked on.  That is why I bought the small inflater.

[Phil And Carol Upham]

I use the onboard compressor for my tires.  Indeed it is a bit slow but does the job.  Using the onboard compressor requires only the airline thereby reducing weight and space required by an extra compressor.  A fellow camper loaned me a tool called a "doubler" once which improved my ability to air up the tires.  I guess it kept the tank at a preset pressure which made the inflation process more effective.  Good tool but really do not mind the additional minutes it takes to air up.

[LarryNCarolynShirk]

I had the maximum cutoff pressure of the engine driven compressor adjusted from 120 lbs to 130 lbs.  That made the pain of waiting for the air to build a little more acceptable.  I only need to use it occasionally, so carrying a compressor in the bay became a lower priority.  Bay space is limited in my coach.

Larry

[Gerald Farris]

Since I run 120 to 125 PSI in my tires, the engine driven compressor does not run at a sufficient pressure to air up the coach tires. The options that I had was to adjust the regulator for the engine driven compressor up to an adequate pressure or use an auxiliary compressor. Since I was not comfortable with raising the pressure for the engine driven compressor to the extent necessary, I opted for an auxiliary compressor. The route that I went was to mount a three gallon tank and two 12 volt Viair 380 compressors in the basement with a pressure switch that turns them on at 160 PSI and off at 200 PSI. The system airs up the tires very easily with only a couple of minutes wait between tires.  
 
The system uses very little room in the basement, and is very light. There is also no power problem since it runs on the 12V house batteries.

Gerald