Air Compressor Size
 

What size of air compressor do you need to handle painting a car? Who makes a good one reasonably priced? Thx

The bigger the better. I have not bought one for 25 years so others would have to chime in. Just paint is one thing but I take it you also want to run a DA and other tools as well.

This is one area that I firmly believe in not to try and be cheap. Buy a good one and for most of us backyard painters it will be your last one. :)

I have a 60 Gal. and that is pushing the limit for painting. I have to give it lots of "Rest" when running my DA.

Shawn

I have a 80 gallon 71/2 hp eaton has alot of bells and whistles and a 5 year warrenty, the best part is the cfm it puts out, i needed 32 for my blast cabinet and it works just fine. cost about $1300 and another $140 by using my own shipping company, got it the next day they shipped it

I have an 80 gal lowes model I picked up on Craigslist for 325. It was barely used. It did a good job when I painted my car and have no problem with it keeping up with my DA and other air tools. I had a 26 gal husky before this one and it could not keep up and was way too small to keep up with my DA and paint guns

The Lowes compressors usually only have 12-17 cfm that is why it dont keep up, it cant make enough air. I run a pressure pot blast cabinet, da and every other air tool without ever having to wait for it to catch up. (not at the same time) and with the free run it never shuts on and off it just free cycles until more air is needed

You can usually paint a car with a 60 gallon unit (I've done it many times). I have a Lowes unit rated at 13.4 scfm at 40. However, keep in mind that air requriements can vary significantly between spray guns. Some are real hogs!! If I had to do it over again I would have gotten a slightly larger unit. There are some really good posts on this subject in the archives.

Figure on 220V electrical hookup in order to get enough HP to make enough CFM. Walking through local stores they are selling a lot of compressors with big tanks but very small compressor heads. Not good for continuous-duty high CFM work like bodywork and painting a car.

5 hp, 80 gallon, 220 volt. Anything less and you will likley regret it.

Don

60,80, or 120 gallon tanks are all fine for storage capicity but you need to match the compressor head output to your tool demand ...if you don't you will always run out of air at some point. Most modern paint guns (LVP) don't require a lot scfm to paint. Sanders & die grinders chew up a lot of air..Depends on what you want to spend $$$$... I make do with my 80 gal. mid priced compressor.
If you do away with "dead end" air lines and use a loop system you can get a lot more air...almost double the volume...
JMO...&...:2cents:

I used to paint cars with a 20 gallon Craftsman compressor that was 220v. It ran all of the time when painting a car. I got a 60 gallon made in USA up right compressor with 6hp motor and it does not run as much when painting a car and there fore I get less condensation too from the compressor heat. :)

Gentlemen:

I under the impression that it takes 5 AMPS at 220 volt to produce 1 HP. Thus, it will require 25 AMPS at 220 volts to run a 5 HP pump. Am I right or does someone see it differently.

Thanks In Advance

Sean

I would agree with that, but only if the supply voltage is really 220V. Isn't it really more like 240V? (it is here in Ontario)

1HP=768W

However, most single phase motors are only ~70% efficient, so taking that into account:

768W / .7 =1097W

1097W / 220V =4.99A

If the supply is actually 240V then draw per HP is actually 4.6A

I have a 7.5HP 80 gallon compressor and it draws 37A while running, which works out to be 4.93A/HP.