Gas powered air compressor. Harbor Freight

[Jose Cuervo]

Does anybody have any experience with Harbor Freight's 30 gallon gas powered air compressor? I need a compressor with a higher cfm rating than I can get with a 110v unit and I can't run another 220v circuit to my detached garage.

I'm curious to find out how well it takes to being left outdoors and how loud it is.

 

[flyingw]

A couple years ago I was on the same quest. I looked at all the readily available gas powered compressors. The ones offered by HF had horrible reviews. I ended up buying the Northstar 30 gal 25CFM from Northern Tool. It was a little more but it had the best output for the money and it does have a Honda motor. So far I've got about 45 hours on it with no issues. I have mine mounted to a dolly so I can move it around. These compressors are intended for service truck applications so they do well left outside and they have a 100% duty cycle.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200596488_200596488

 

[flyingw]

If you do get a gas powered air compressor, buy an inductive type hour meter so you can keep track of actual runtime for maintenance scheduling. The Northern Tool compressor was intended to be wired in to the trucks battery system for the electric start so I mounted a lawn tractor battery to the dolly and ran a couple of battery cables to it. It works great. As far as noise, not sure but you probably don't want to run it late at night if you have neighbors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Water-Proof...ash=item41a415c7f7:g:~LwAAOSwv0tVYh2X&vxp=mtr

 

[Jose Cuervo]

Thanks for the info. I might stop by Northern Tool this weekend.

 

[flyingw]

Good luck. For the performance you get, the price is good. I looked at many different gas air compressors from cheap to expensive and kept coming back to the Northstar compressor. I use mine to run my pressure blast cabinet and even at 25CFM, its still not enough but it gets the job done. I put a regulator on the outlet valve of the tank. It could use a pre-cooler because here in Oklahoma in the Summer, it does generate allot of moisture but I deal with it. Let us know how you make out.