# Air Compressors



## jr in va (Apr 15, 2015)

TSC has their Porter Cable air compressors on sale.The 30 gallon has what looks to be a two cylinder pump and the 60 gallon a single cylinder pumpAny thoughts on which pump is better.?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

The porter cable name has been purty whored up the last few years but if the price and warranty is right.....for my shop the 60 gal. But then again I am a male and sometimes subscribe to the "bigger is better theory"  think that's almost a genetic disposition.....


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Just be careful when you size a compressor, most are sized by their maximum capacity when full, one with a 30 gallon tank at 125 PSI might be called a 5hp when it has a one horse motor or smaller on it. I think they call it peak capacity.

Took me a long time to convince father of this when we had to replace ours, I spent more on just the pump than the whole unit was going for at TSC, Rural King, etc. But I had a sixty gallon tank from the salvage yard and a 5 HP 3 phase motor already lined up, so we just had the cost of the pump. Look at duty cycle as well, if your going to be doing a lot of air intensive activities a low duty cycle will leave you unhappy. They might have changed this, but a duty cycle of 30% means for every three minutes it runs, it should be off for 7 minutes to cool. Ours has a 90% duty cycle, sometimes wish it was a 100%.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

I agree, the motor size was way over stated in my case also. Just look at the amperage draw on motor and cross reference an amperage table for an idea of what size it really is. And I agree sometimes I like the 'bigger' size, too (especially if it is a homemade, rhubarb / strawberry pie).

Larry


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