Harbor Freight Compressors

Not sure of the HF but

Mike L

Head over to Lowes they have a Kobalt about the same specs.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-20-Gallon-Single-Stage-Portable-Electric-Vertical-Air-Compressor/1000578469

Re: Harbor Freight Compressors

Dick Coers

hp and psi mean very little about a compressor. cfm at a psi is the critical numbers and your spray gun should have the specifics it requires. Anything from Harbor Freight with a cord on it is suspect for me. Other folks love them. Surely some person who starts out with the greeting "Hello you tubers" has done a video review for those.

Re: Harbor Freight Compressors

Tom Dunlap

For occasional use do you really need new?

My compressor is 35 years old. It got some pinhole leaks so I cleaned up the area and smeared on some steel epoxy. I think that most occasional use compressors would have the same life history.

I look at what's up for grabs on Facebook Marketplace all of the time. Every other day there are compressors for free or cheap. They're pretty dependable so what's the gamble? a few years use then you scrounge another one?

CFM specs are key if you're going to use it for 'work' The catch is that you have to trust the mfgr. to be honest.

When I had my shop setup for work trucks I plumbed in a 100 gallon propane tank to store air. I could run my half inch impact wrench with no slowdown because of having the volume of air in reserve.

Look close at the new compressors heritage. I'll bet the Kobalt and the HF have different paint jobs only.

Yup...

John in NM

CFM at pressure is the thing you want to know.

For occasional use you're ok with just using the nameplate consumption of either the impact wrench or the sprayer and matching that.

For regular use, increase by 50%. If you're like me you don't like the compressor running flat out while you work. Probably fine though.

Oil-free tend to be a lot nosier

Re: Harbor Freight Compressors

David Weaver

i have had two of the 8 or 10 gallon horizontal versions of that compressor...

the first one was 15 amps and 5 scfm at the PSI noted there.

The second one matches that (it's 12 amps now instead of 15).

I keep oil in them and show them no mercy when I spray, and sometimes use them for other things. They have thermal shutoff, but I've never had it trip (maybe if you made one cycle for a half hour straight).

I've never had a situation where I was spraying and the regulator at the gun dropped with either of the ones that I've had. The first one had some pot metal joints on the fitting and it failed after about 7 or 8 years.

I've had the second one now for probably 6, but they changed the fittings to brass. No clue when it will die. The combined cost for both was under $200.

I'd avoid oil free (noise, durability is less if you use them heavily and the good oil free compressors cost a lot). To get something markedly better than those HF compressors, you have to spend something like $400 (many of the branded compressors sold for much more than HF are that type and are made in china - would they be twice as good at twice or three times the price? I doubt it).

Any serious air tool use (grinders, jitterbug sanders or big impact wrenches or drills, etc) would require a 220v compressor, but for someone looking to run a pinnerm, nailer or run a typical HVLP spray gun without spending much, the HF versions of those (8 gallon horizontal or 20 gallon vertical) are hard to beat for cost effectiveness and you'll never feel like you need to be precious with one .