dayton air compressor

[nunan0219]

i'm thinking of picking up a Professional Dayton Speed Air horizontal 3 cylinder 3HP, is that a decent compressor? it has a 40 gallon tank, but i was going to piggy back my 33 gallon tank off my beat craftsman compressor

 

[Full Size 66]

As long as the speedair is a 3 cylinder V style. The only other thing to check is the condition of the Craftsman tank. Sometimes the bottom of the tank can be rusted pretty bad. I actualy had a compressor tank let loose. It went real slow, first a strong hiss, then it just peeled open with a whoosh...

 

[nunan0219]

it looks like an upside down T

 

[nunan0219]

so would that b considered a 3 stage compressor than?

and i'm assuming with more stages, the faster it refills the tanks, correct?

 

[Greatbear]

A three cylinder compressor can be a single or two stage. The simplest way to tell is to count the air filters. If each cylinder has its own air intake filter, it's a single stage. If two of them do and the third has a pipe connecting to the other two, it's a two stage. In the case of small air compressors, there's no such thing as a three stage. A single stage uses one or more pistons/cylinders to pump air from the atmosphere directly into the tank. A two stage uses at least two cylinders, a larger one takes air from the atmosphere and fills a second cylinder that is smaller in displacement, raising the pressure in the process, that second cylinder then compresses the air further, raising it to tank pressure. A single stage is cheaper, but less efficient than a two stage, a two stage also tends to run cooler and last longer.

Putting things into perspective, the human heart is a two-stage design with two individual complete "pumps."