Quiet compressors

[davedj1]

Huskee silent flow from the depot, it's so quiet you can have a conversation standing right beside it. I love it!
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-R...table-Electric-Air-Compressor-4610A/205532432

 

[Oldoak]

I got this from my grandpa. Its quiet enough you can watch tv in the next room. I use it for things around the house away from my garage. I guess its quiet because of how slow it runs?

Or put the loud one outside in it's own enclosure.View attachment 575768

Anyone know where I can get another braided cloth air hose? I like this one alot. I know it's old though.

Hey, I'm still using that exact same model air compressor.

I just looked up the sales slip which I had taped to the inside of the manual that came with the compressor. I purchased it at Sears on March 4, 1976 for $199.99, which was a lot of money back then. I almost didn't buy it. But 42 years later and still going, I guess we can say I got my money's worth from it.

 

[4570Man]

THAT is EXACTLY what a quiet compressor looks like!
BELT DRIVEN @ slow speed!
I am not aware of any "cheapies" built like that!

There’s plenty of those to be had used. New something like that cost a fortune. Some cheapies are better than others. I also have to have a compressor that I can carry up stairs by myself. I have seen any belt driven compressor that fits that criteria.

 

[bigtiller]

My 30 gallon Craftsman blows me out of the shop sometimes.. Very loud.. I would like to find something half as loud for sure..

I bought this Craftsman because it said it is 40% quieter. I measured it today with a decibel meter on my phone at 75db & 70db at 10' & 25' away with the overhead doors closed.


The odd thing is, this Quincy is 78db &76 db at 10' & 25' away...... I wonder, 40% quieter than what?:confused3:

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

Decibel ratings are confusing. For ever 20 dB the volume increases by a multiplier of 10. So 60dB is 10 times louder than 40dB. That's the "field" (amplitude) ratio. We all know that marketing uses whatever they please to get the numbers they want. If they use the "power" ratio it is 10 dB per 10 fold increase. So the 40% quieter could be only a few decibels.

My craftsman (it's a red one just like that, not the black "professional" one) is annoyingly loud. So your black one could be "40% quieter" than my red one. :confused3:

 

[newbury]

This is the one I got. Its MUCH quieter than the Bostich pancake I used to have. It still has noise to it though, but I can hold a conversation while standing next to it without shouting. It does have a significant weight to it! If you plan on carrying it around build a cart. Otherwise I'm happy with it (for the most part, had 2 faulty units, 3rd one is good). I got this because I needed the higher CFM for my remodeling work.

It's not as quiet as the ones you're looking at, but I thought I would through this in the ring, in case you or someone else needs more CFM and can handle the noise over the CAT. The noise is more like a riding mower at idle (but not quite as loud) than at WOT like the pancake compressor I used to have.

Makita USA - Product Details -MAC24

I bought a Mac24 a long time ago, at least 10, maybe 15 years. Used it for a few projects, maybe 100 hours run time overall, now mostly used about 1 or 2 hours a year for tire inflation etc.. Used to be I could easily carry it up and down stairs but it seems to have gotten heavier and now it's easier to run a long line

 

[BamaJohn]

I can't post a direct link as this is my first post. Search Tractor Supply for Porter Cable 20 Gallon Portable Belt Drive Air Compressor
SKU # 109376499. This style has a very different sound than the direct drive models and it is much less annoying and does not startle me when it comes on.

The $349 price is good and I got mine on sale for $289 a few months ago. You will see this same unit in different colors and brands for nearer $500.

 

[MossRoad]

I've got one of these from Harbor Freight..... I regret it every time it comes on. Ridiculously loud!

21 gal. 2.5 HP 125 PSI Cast Iron Vertical Air Compressor

 

[California]

I've got one of these from Harbor Freight..... I regret it every time it comes on. Ridiculously loud!

21 gal. 2.5 HP 125 PSI Cast Iron Vertical Air Compressor

I think that's the identical motor as on my noisy HF unit with a 10 gallon horizontal tank. Yes, the noise is unbearable. I see on the more recent version, the shroud opening faces the end of the tank away from the air-outlet fittings. Maybe that has less of a megaphone effect.

 

[rScotty]

THAT is EXACTLY what a quiet compressor looks like!
BELT DRIVEN @ slow speed!
I am not aware of any "cheapies" built like that!

Yep, I finally found an old slow compressor and rebuilt it. When it runs it just sort of say's, "plonk, plonk, plonk....."
Bought new, they do cost more than the new style screamers.

Sometimes I wish it would move a little faster, but the real cure there would be a larger reservoir - or put it outside and pipe the air inside.

I just hate the sound of the modern high speed compressors.
rScotty

 

[Fallon]

Slow oil lubricated belt drive compressors are where it's at. I upgraded to a real 5hp 80 gallon Quincy a year or 2 ago. It's a lot quieter than my previous ones. The 60 gal "5hp" oil lined Kobalt wasnt bad, but not super great. Way better than all the oil free ones.

I hear the new scroll compressors are wicked quiet compared to a piston pump. The rotary compressors are really nice as well but way more than my high end Quincy. You need to use rotarys a lot so they heat up & stay hot, or they don't have issues. They dont work well for occasional usage.

 

[Meghan]

I have this one California Air Tools 5.5 Gal. 1.0 HP Ultra Quiet and Oil-Free Air Compressor and I'm glad about it. What about the cons? I didn't find cons yet. I use it for 2 years :thumbsup:

 

[strantor]

I keep seeing recommendations here for the bigger belt-drive units and I don't see where y'all are coming from. I've worked a few places that had those and they're still pretty loud from what I remember. The last place I worked had a Quincy compressor, low speed, big wheel on the compressor, it was so loud we moved it out of the shop and build a lean-to over it, and afterwards it would shake the shop wall when it was running.

Is there more than one kind of belt-drive low speed compressor, with some being more quiet than others? What should I be looking for? Because when I see the belt drive units all I see is something that's probably almost as loud as a 26gal craftsman oil free compressor.

 

[Jchonline]

I have this Husky from HD. It is considerably quieter than my 6 gal Ryobi pancake. I have to put on ear pro for the Ryobi. Not so for the Husky. I do think there are quieter out there, but this was a pretty good buy.

 

[orezok]

I have an 80 gal cheap compressor in my shop. It has always been very loud. I did some investigating and determined that most of the sound comes from the air intake. The compressor is located on an outside wall so I connected a 1” thick wall hose to the intake, ran it through the wall and put a sound deadening air filter outside under a weather cap. SO MUCH quieter now.

 

[rScotty]

I keep seeing recommendations here for the bigger belt-drive units and I don't see where y'all are coming from. I've worked a few places that had those and they're still pretty loud from what I remember. The last place I worked had a Quincy compressor, low speed, big wheel on the compressor, it was so loud we moved it out of the shop and build a lean-to over it, and afterwards it would shake the shop wall when it was running.

Is there more than one kind of belt-drive low speed compressor, with some being more quiet than others? What should I be looking for? Because when I see the belt drive units all I see is something that's probably almost as loud as a 26gal craftsman oil free compressor.

There was a time when "service stations" were a common landmark in the US. The service stations disappeared, but the tools remained. And for awhile used compressors were common and used tools shops were found in every town. Neither seem to exist much anymore.

We tried several compressors at my repair shop because rarely a week went by when someone didn't show up in a pickup truck with a used compressor for sale. Anyway, I agree & never thought that the Quincys were nearly as quiet as the older examples of that style compressor. Some of those uprights were like the Quincys in that they did look like the old quiet ones, but they were louder. Could have been something wrong with that particular Quincy, too.

There's going to be exceptions, but at our shop the mechanics like to listen to music while they work. And to reduce the compressor noise at our shop we did the traditional things: old style splash oil cast iron long stroke type compressor head run via a belt & large pulley. Kept it outside and piped the air inside.

The problem is that those quieter types is that they are also slower so they need a larger storage tank or more cylinders...and both get expensive. A decent used shop size compressor costs.
rScotty

 

[strantor]

What I'm thinking is, those little 1HP/6gal "silent" import compressors may not put out enough air for a shop, may not be capable of continuous duty, may not last as long as a good quality one, etc., but...

At <$150 each, I could buy 5 of them, plumb them together along with my 26 gal craftsman acting as a storage tank, and I'd have:
5HP
56gal
15.5CFM @ 90PSI
125 PSI max
51db (whisper quiet)
... all For $750.
I could connect an analog pressure sensor to a little programmable control board like an Arduino, which would track the run time of each compressor and when the pressure drops below, say 120PSI, it could switch on a single compressor, whoever has the lowest hours. And if it drops below 115PSI, it can switch on a 2nd compressor, the next-lowest-hours compressor, and so on in cascading fashion until all 5 compressors are running in response to a large air demand. This way none of the compressors has to run continuously and as long as air demand is minimal (which is usually), the run time will be divided among 5 compressors, theoretically extending their lifespan by up to 5X. There is the added benefits of having FIVE levels of redundant backup, being able to easily detach a part of your air system and take it on the road, and if a compressor fails you just replace it for $150 and leave the tank connected to your system, so if ever you do experience a failure it's not a total loss; your volume grows with each failure.

Compare that to a quincy such as this:
$1,399
5HP
60Gal
15.4CFM @ 90 PSI
175PSI max
75db (super loud)
Single point failure if the compressor goes out

The only area I see the Quincy winning in, is max PSI, and I never use more than 100 PSI, so I don't see the justification in paying the extra $650.
(oh yeah, and 4 gal more storage)

 

[ultrarunner]

I like outside the box thinking!

 

[thekkfan]

I bought this Craftsman because it said it is 40% quieter. I measured it today with a decibel meter on my phone at 75db & 70db at 10' & 25' away with the overhead doors closed.
View attachment 575826

The odd thing is, this Quincy is 78db &76 db at 10' & 25' away...... I wonder, 40% quieter than what?:confused3:
View attachment 575827

I can vouch for that exact model craftsman professional. My dad has one and wish I could swap with my red upright. It's half the noise of mine.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Five separate 60 db sound sources would be 67 db additive. There are online calculators. Still less than the smaller IR and Quincy belt drives which seem to be about 75-80 db.