Continuous Duty Compressor for Service Truck

[maxpower_hd]

I do service work on semi-trailers and am considering a continuous duty air compressor for doing PM's or testing brakes in the yard as opposed to bringing everything to the shop to save time.

I am considering something like the one in this link. http://www.extremeoutback.com/produ...+Output+12+Volt+Compressor+Part#+007-000.html

I know it isn't meant for heavy duty repairs. I would be using it to charge the air system to test for leaks, check brake adjustments, maybe run an air impact gun to remove a couple of nuts on an air can, top off tires that sort of thing. Bigger jobs will still go into the shop and use shop air.

Anyone have something like this that can tell me if it would do the job? This one had the most CFM from the ones I have seen so far except for a military duty Oasis which was just too much money for what I want to do.

If anyone has any experience using one of these, your advice and comments would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[maxpower_hd]

BTW, I do have a gas powered IR T30 but it is just too damned big and heavy to put in the back of my 1500 GMC.

 

[crewchief888]

i think i'd be looking for a gas powered compressor for mobile work.

i have a honda powered compressor in my service truck, we use a couple different versions, twin tank & 20/30g tank versions.

JMO, but running a 12v compressor might kill your truck battery faster than you expect, and leave you stranded with a dead battery.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Definitely need a 20-30 gallon tank.

With 49A @ 100 psi, you will need a good, auxiliary, deep discharge mounted close to the compressor. and connected with 4 gauge wire. You will also need a battery isolator to prevent discharging the vehicle battery. Modern vehicle charging system don't do a good job keeping a deep discharge battery top off, so you will also need a DC-DC battery charger AND a an AC-DC power supply for over night charging.

Lots of parts. Yes, it will be lighter and smaller, but more "fiddly" !

 

[CompressorPros.com]

There really is no piston air compressor that can handle 100% duty, regardless of marketing info.

What you need is a lot of air. The BelAire 6G3HV and Chicago Pneumatic RCP-C1633G both produce 35 CFM at 100 psi, max pressure of 175 psi. Tank size is the typical 30 gallon. Both carry a two year warranty.

 

[doctordirt]

With 1.5 cfm, I would vote no. Simple math if I am correct says 5 minutes per gallon, an hour and 50 minutes to fill a twenty gallon tank. Go gas or pto driven.

 

[Bondo]

With 1.5 cfm, I would vote no. Simple math if I am correct says 5 minutes per gallon, an hour and 50 minutes to fill a twenty gallon tank. Go gas or pto driven.

Ayuh,.... Ditto,.... You'll be waitin' days just to charge a trailer to release it's brakes,...

 

[JJThrasher]

Why not drive a compressor off the engine when needed?

 

[Sycan]

You really don't need alot of compressor if your not running a 1" gun pulling wheels. You can do everything your wanting with a 5hp single stage wheelbarrow compressor. Trailers don't have that much air capacity, would air up and release brakes in 30 seconds. Plus if you do a two stage you'll want to regulate it down to 120psi anyways. Don't want to put 175psi in a system that never sees more than 120.

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[woody6904]

Puma PD1006 12 volt 100% duty cycle 1.5 gallon tank

Its a great package for the money and a good size.

Put one in my service truck this spring and love it. Truck has dual batteries and have not drained the truck yet. If I know I'm gonna run it continuous for a long time will just run the truck awhile.

Have ran impacts, aired up tires up to tractor/combine size, used to blow stuff off, used on a HF air bottle jack, and even aired up my semi's 30 gallonish air starter tank once. Didnt take that long.

I do plan on adding another tank at some point underneath where the spare tire went. But have gotten by so far without a bigger tank.

Best part is it fits perfect in one of the rear compartments of my service body and its in out of the weather. And it wont walk off.

Just ran 2/0 welding cable from the front to the back with an inline fuse by the battery. I just use the compressor switch to turn off when not using.

Got to thinking about it, you wouldnt need to run that big of wire just for the compressor. I had to cause I'm running an inverter in the back of the truck.

 

[Farmall450]

You really don't need alot of compressor if your not running a 1" gun pulling wheels. You can do everything your wanting with a 5hp single stage wheelbarrow compressor. Trailers don't have that much air capacity, would air up and release brakes in 30 seconds. Plus if you do a two stage you'll want to regulate it down to 120psi anyways. Don't want to put 175psi in a system that never sees more than 120.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

I definitely agree with this. It'll cost you but you can run it up a ramp or off a loading dock with ease.

 

[Olafur]

With 1.5 cfm, I would vote no. Simple math if I am correct says 5 minutes per gallon, an hour and 50 minutes to fill a twenty gallon tank. Go gas or pto driven.

Viair 480C is rated 1.07 cfm @100 psi according to "Fill Rate" specs on the website it fills 5 gal tank from 0 to 145 PSI in 6 min. 02 sec. (± 10 sec.)
http://www.viaircorp.com/480C.html#tabs-2

So it should fill 20 gal tank in 24 min. With 1.5 cfm @ 100 psi the Extremeaire should do the same thing in approx 16 min.

 

[Olafur]

My Truck has on board air from belt driven York a/c compressor. There are 3 sizes of York and mine is the middle size 8.6 cubic inches. It has rather large pulley and the engine has rather small crank pulley. So @ idle the compressor isn't turning very fast. Perhaps 600 RPM. Educated guess is it delivers very similar amount of air @ idle as the Extremeaire does.

I have 2 gal tank and I have run 1/2" impact to remove lug nuts and such. I have also loaded up stranded trucks for towing with it. Granted to speed up that process I did rev the engine quite a bit.

I am sure the Extreme Air or dual pack of Viair 480C (similar price) or the Puma mentioned above would do what you are talking about with ~ 10 gal tank. I wouldn't bother with deep cycle batteries, just run the service truck while using the compressor.

 

[gte718p]

My Truck has on board air from belt driven York a/c compressor. There are 3 sizes of York and mine is the middle size 8.6 cubic inches. It has rather large pulley and the engine has rather small crank pulley. So @ idle the compressor isn't turning very fast. Perhaps 600 RPM. Educated guess is it delivers very similar amount of air @ idle as the Extremeaire does.
.

If you own your truck and can do what you want this is the way to go. My old F350 had the larger York. I used it to support my off road rig. 12 cfm at 120 psi with the idle slightly turned up. It was amazing.

I actually used it to paint one of my trucks because it produced more air then my electric compressor. I trailer the crawler to the trails, but many of my friends drove. I could fill 37 in tire from 5 psi to 32 in about a minute with a high flow chick. The guys who tried to use 12v compressors took 10-25 minutes a tire.

I haven't adapted one to my newer F350, but it is on the todo list. I miss having it.

 

[ovrrdrive]

My Truck has on board air from belt driven York a/c compressor. There are 3 sizes of York and mine is the middle size 8.6 cubic inches. It has rather large pulley and the engine has rather small crank pulley. So @ idle the compressor isn't turning very fast. Perhaps 600 RPM. Educated guess is it delivers very similar amount of air @ idle as the Extremeaire does.
.

I was going to suggest the same thing, you beat me to it.

The 4x4 forums have plenty of info on these setups. It's the best solution for this situation.

 

[sberry]

Does the OP really need continuous or was it just part of what came to mind or something he heard?
We have some real ideas here but this sounds about like a 5 hp engine job. 12 v still f2f is small and does a guy really want to add stuff ' blnder the hood as likely great expense?

 

[Olafur]

Considering most 12v air compressors are consumer grade (if not plain junk) on top of that they are low flow units and will have to run for considerable time to run even 1/2" impact for short burst, let alone filling trailer air-systems and such. So the "continuous duty" seems very reasonable requirement for service truck. I wouldn't consider anything else in the 12v department.

While the a York is a great setup - it can be a big hassle to install. Even impossible in some vehicles. The bigger 12v units can be fine compromise, way better than no compressor.

 

[maxpower_hd]

Thanks for the input guys. I admittedly haven't checked this thread in a few days. Sorry.

I will try to clear some things up. First off, I contacted a retailer of the compressor I was considering and they even said it would not likely hold up to my use. They suggested an Oasis for what I want to do which is more of a commercial grade version but costs about $1700. I little steep for my limited use.

I indeed will not be taking tires on and off with this thing. Just adding 10 psi or so to them. Mainly it would be used to charge the brake system. The air gun I have is a 1/2" drive Snap On MG725. I would likely only use it to replace an air can or something so just a couple of nuts or bolts per use. Big jobs I would tow the trailer into the shop.

I figured 100% duty cycle would be best simply because there is no tank.

I mentioned in my second post that I do have an Ingersoll Rand T30 with gas motor. They think is an elephant though and weighs TON. I put it on a cart and have it currently in my trailer but it would not be manageable in my current truck.

My truck is a GMC 1500 so it isn't very big. I don't do road calls at the moment. I just work in the terminal which has a shop for big jobs. This would be to save time and to service trucks that they don't want to remove from the dock until late at night when they get unloaded and I am not there.

I will look into the York under the hood options but there isn't much room under there. In fact I already ruled out installing a second battery under there because there isn't enough room.

I also have a utility cap with side boxes on the bed which limits the bed space and height for trying to get the gas compressor in there and running it. Thus the thought of the tankless unit.

I will look at the Puma as well. That might be a viable option too.

I am already planning on installing an inverter from my old truck in the cap with a second battery, isolator, etc and maybe even a trail charger. I have everything to do that except the isolator already.

Thanks for the ideas. At least I have more to look at now.

Thanks again.

 

[sberry]

You don't need a continuous duty comp, if you are topping off semi tires a 2 stage is helpful but you can buy a comp unit for your pickup for 800 or so for this work, You need a tank. Doesn't need to be huge but the correct cheap comp will do this work, nothing about this needs to be continuous.

 

[sberry]

Puma PD1006 12 volt 100% duty cycle 1.5 gallon tank

Its a great package for the money and a good size.

Put one in my service truck this spring and love it. Truck has dual batteries and have not drained the truck yet. If I know I'm gonna run it continuous for a long time will just run the truck awhile.

Have ran impacts, aired up tires up to tractor/combine size, used to blow stuff off, used on a HF air bottle jack, and even aired up my semi's 30 gallonish air starter tank once. Didnt take that long.

I do plan on adding another tank at some point underneath where the spare tire went. But have gotten by so far without a bigger tank.

Best part is it fits perfect in one of the rear compartments of my service body and its in out of the weather. And it wont walk off.

Just ran 2/0 welding cable from the front to the back with an inline fuse by the battery. I just use the compressor switch to turn off when not using.

Got to thinking about it, you wouldnt need to run that big of wire just for the compressor. I had to cause I'm running an inverter in the back of the truck.

Does this truck have a heavy alternator? As for some of the other schemes, I am not likely to want to wait 24 minutes to built a fart of air.
This screams something a guy can shove in a pickup , open the side window for exhaust and pull the cord to a 5 hp Honda engine.

 

[sberry]

If I was really building a truck would mount the air tank saddle fashion under the bed. Even a couple small tanks in series.

 

[maxpower_hd]

Puma PD1006 12 volt 100% duty cycle 1.5 gallon tank

Its a great package for the money and a good size.

Put one in my service truck this spring and love it. Truck has dual batteries and have not drained the truck yet. If I know I'm gonna run it continuous for a long time will just run the truck awhile.

Have ran impacts, aired up tires up to tractor/combine size, used to blow stuff off, used on a HF air bottle jack, and even aired up my semi's 30 gallonish air starter tank once. Didnt take that long.

I do plan on adding another tank at some point underneath where the spare tire went. But have gotten by so far without a bigger tank.

Best part is it fits perfect in one of the rear compartments of my service body and its in out of the weather. And it wont walk off.

Just ran 2/0 welding cable from the front to the back with an inline fuse by the battery. I just use the compressor switch to turn off when not using.

Got to thinking about it, you wouldnt need to run that big of wire just for the compressor. I had to cause I'm running an inverter in the back of the truck.

May I ask what you ran for impacts and for what purpose for comparison?

Thanks

 

[maxpower_hd]

If I was really building a truck would mount the air tank saddle fashion under the bed. Even a couple small tanks in series.

This is an option. I also have access to a couple of tractor air tanks. I could fab a bracket pretty easily and I already don't keep my spare under the bed.

 

[maxpower_hd]

There really is no piston air compressor that can handle 100% duty, regardless of marketing info.

What you need is a lot of air. The BelAire 6G3HV and Chicago Pneumatic RCP-C1633G both produce 35 CFM at 100 psi, max pressure of 175 psi. Tank size is the typical 30 gallon. Both carry a two year warranty.

Thank you for the response. I tried to look at the two you referenced but cannot find them. However they look like they are large gas powered units which I already have. I was hoping to find something more compact and maybe in the $1000 or less range with all the spare parts I have access to.

 

[sberry]

I have a large comp on my truck and if I was to do it again would buy a small 13 hp contained unit for 1/2 what I got in to this and don't use anymore. I can,,, but don't really anymore add to my building air for blast work. (, yes, thru a 1/2 pipe, 68 cfm.) with it all running.