DeWalt vs Husky Air Compressor

[finn]

Can this Quincy compressor run on a standard 20A circuit? It says FLA is 19A and they recommend a 30A breaker. That sounds like you need to run a dedicated circuit for it, no?

The 30 amp breaker requirement makes the Quincy a no go, in most likelihood. It’s not going to work on your 20 amp breaker, so modifications to the garage wiring are in order.

The Husky and Dewalt certainly aren’t industrial rated compressors. They are, however designed to work in a homeowner environment with standard spec garage wiring.

Lots of experts here, but you really have to look at the big picture, and consider not only equipment life expectancy, but also ease of installation / compatibility with your infrastructure, cost, noise, and performance.

The box store compressors sort of balance these checkpoints, while it looks like the Quincy comes up short on one of them, ie electrical power requirements.

 

[Hohn]

I can tell you that my disposable CH "ironforce" compressor has been perfectly adequate for my home shop use for going on 15 years. It's oil free and direct drive and I bought it knowing it was a major step down from a proper home gamer compressor like the Quincy or the IR Garage Mate. It's also loud as all get out.

I'd not automatically run from a box store compressor. If it has a decent cast iron oil-lubed pump on it, doesn't have an absurd pressure rating for a single stage and such, it can be perfectly useful. Just limited.

In my day job, I engineer and validate pumps that have output pressures up to 2600 bar. These are dual stage pumps, but the first stage is only running at 5-8 bar.

It's not that a single stage pump can't make 200psi and do it reliably. It's that doing so must come at the cost of actual airflow-- the CFM that actually determine compressor performance. On paper, any set pressure higher than necessary is wasteful and likely caused the pump designer to give up efficiency and actual CFM performance. For a given amount of work performed (and thus electrical power consumed) pressure and volume work against each other. A higher compression ratio requires a smaller swept volume (i.e. CFM) for the same electrical loading.

It's not the only game in town by any means, but a basic IR Garagemate is an honest single stage compressor that can last a long time and favors real CFM vs marketing PSI. Also, I believe it is 100% duty cycle rated so feel free to add extension tanks if you want a bit more storage capacity.

 

[Hohn]

Screen grabbed from a big box compressor advertising 200psi (husky). See how they dropped actual airflow down to a meager 4scfm at 90 psi? This is what you get from higher pressure-- lower actual performance.

If you want longer "run time" just get a bigger tank. And hope your cheap compressor won't burn up.

 

[jonesg]

yep, I plumbed the garage with blue rapidaire 1/2 inch kit.
eliminated the moisture trap at the compressor etc, V fittings made a difference at the stubby impact gun.
HF 21gal compressor , sounds like a harley, is in the basement of the house, I have to strain to hear if its running.