Quote:
Originally Posted by Digmenow
What type of portable air compressor do YOU have and why? Pics will be appreciated.
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There is a story that goes along with mine. We where out camping and I ended up with a slow tire valve leak. I found this on a pressure check at the CG before the left for home. At the time I had no portable compressor. Since the trip home was about 1.5 hrs, I had to deal with this tire before we where home and reach highway speeds. I was 10 psi low.
We left the CG in search of a gas station with a tire pump in the local town. While this sounds easy, with a 32 ft camper and a large truck I needed to find 3 things.
1. A gas station that had an air compressor.
2. The compressor at the gas station had room for me to pull the camper close enough to have their short hose reach.
3. The compressor needed to go high enough in pressure. 80psi tires.
It was Sunday morning and after passing 6 gas stations, 3 of them met item 1. None of those 3 met item 2. Somebody was parked in front of the air pump or there was no way to get the trailer next to the pump.
The 7th station I lucked out to find, I could get past item 1 and 2, but then it would not go above 50psi for some reason. I was letting air out of the tires trying to pump it up....
This is not good... frustration was now at an all time high. So I was now way off the route to go home and out in farm country. Low and behold I found a John Deere dealership selling large farm machinery. Combines, very large tractors etc. It was harvest season and they where open??? (yes, on a Sunday) H'mm, OK they have bailed me out in the past during my farming days, so here we go.
I pulled in, DW sat in the truck and I went in to plead my case. I started with, years ago we use to have a lot of your equipment on the farm but today I have our camper and I'm in a jam..... The service manager said pull around back. I asked will I fit? He said they have semi's do deliveries all the time. OK, if they can fit, so can I.
I pulled around and to go behind the shop to turn around and by the time I pulled up to the side of the building, a shop mechanic was standing there with a 100 ft long air hose ready for me. He had an air gage in hand, I said I had that just needed the air. By now, 2 more shop mechanic's showed up. I now have 3 of them adding air to my tire and checked the other 3. It was like a NASCAR pit stop...
I said, what to I owe you? Nothing. I tried to give them something, they would not take it and I thanked them profusely. Made it home fine after that.
I said, I need to deal with this issue. For both the truck and the camper. Trying to find a gas station or a repair garage now a days that I can count on just is not going to happen in a short distance. I never had much luck over the years with 12 volt compressors and I need to air up 80psi tires. Getting a normal convenient store gas station to go that high is not likely.
So for $50 I bought this 2 gallon Alton 120 VAC portable compressor. It's a 1/3hp and can go to 100psi. I added quick couplers to make it more usable and I carry a 25 ft, 12 awg extension cord in the camper for other things. If I am at a power source, I can plug in and use it. When we go camping, our Honda E2000 generator always comes with us. This gives portable power where I need it.
While I only use this small compressor once in a while for myself or to help a fellow camper every now and then, it does take a while to pump up a 80 psi truck or camper tire, but it works. I have a big unit at home in the shop for air tools etc but it is not practically portable and my generator will not like it.
In my case, this fits the need. The top handle folds down and it rides in the truck bed under the tono cover up by the cab wall. It is small enough to be handy, and large enough to fill all my needs. It just takes a little while.
I have seen this same compressor under other names.
Hope this helps
John