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Then a few years later, after having had my eye on a Quincy model 210 pump, I ran across one, brand new, on Craigslist for $100. It is the Holy Grail of small compressor pumps - 1 to 2 hp. capacity and pressure lubricated! I really wanted a 310 pump, which is the two-stage version, but the BARE PUMP weighs 177 lbs!!! The 210 pump I got was a bare pump - no head unloaders or other controls. I wanted to run a pressure switch but I also wanted to unload the pump before starting, so I bought a pair of unloader towers and also a hydraulic unloader that unloads the pump after it stops or if it would lose oil pressure.

The motor is only 1hp, but it's built on a 182T frame - which is about the size of a 5 hp modern motor. BIG sucker. It is rated at 1hp, but it pulls 18 amps at full load, and yet runs barely warm. It can run 100% duty cycle and outlast me.

With the 30 gal. tank, I have plenty of "burst" capacity, but anything that takes large air volumes for long periods of time - especially sanders and grinders, will suck it down rapidly and then you've gotta wait for it to pump back up. For those you need a minimum of a 5hp two stage.

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My dad had a Binks compressor he bought new in 1967. It was a 20 gal. 1hp portable, made by Quincy for Binks (using the model X8 pump). It ran his piano shop for years, then countless other projects as I grew up. It needed a new valve spring once.....and a set of motor bearings. Finally, the tank rusted out and he gave the pump and motor, wheels, handle and other bits to me. I pulled the pump apart to re-ring it and overhaul the valves, which it didn't need. Put it together and installed it along with the motor on a new 30 gal. stationary tank. Since it was originally set up for spraying, the pump had head unloaders and a continuous run control. The motor ran all the time and when it reached 100 psi, the control would send air to the unloaders which would hold the intake valves open. Once the pressure dropped, the control would vent the unloaders and it would begin pumping again. This is much easier than starting and stopping all the time.Then a few years later, after having had my eye on a Quincy model 210 pump, I ran across one, brand new, on Craigslist for $100. It is the Holy Grail of small compressor pumps - 1 to 2 hp. capacity and pressure lubricated! I really wanted a 310 pump, which is the two-stage version, but the BARE PUMP weighs 177 lbs!!! The 210 pump I got was a bare pump - no head unloaders or other controls. I wanted to run a pressure switch but I also wanted to unload the pump before starting, so I bought a pair of unloader towers and also a hydraulic unloader that unloads the pump after it stops or if it would lose oil pressure.The motor is only 1hp, but it's built on a 182T frame - which is about the size of a 5 hp modern motor. BIG sucker. It is rated at 1hp, but it pulls 18 amps at full load, and yet runs barely warm. It can run 100% duty cycle and outlast me.With the 30 gal. tank, I have plenty of "burst" capacity, but anything that takes large air volumes for long periods of time - especially sanders and grinders, will suck it down rapidly and then you've gotta wait for it to pump back up. For those you need a minimum of a 5hp two stage.

Don't be confused by the sources telling you that CFM doesn't really go up as compressor output pressure goes down. That is only true if you are reducing the output cutoff pressure right as the air exits the compressor before the storage tank. If you reduce the output pressure on a two stage compressor to 90psi it is not running very efficiently anymore so the CFMs aren't much better than at full pressure. If however you go ahead and let the IR compressor push out air at 175psi like it wants to, it is running efficiently and you have much more actual cfm capability and air tank headroom when you start to run tools at a lower 90psi downstream. Think of how long you can run an impact wrench before a large 104 gallon storage tank would drop from 175psi down to 90psi without any compressor trying to refill it. You will have that extra capacity plus a bit more every minute with something like the Ingersoll Rand.

http://www.aircompressorsdirect.com/Ingersoll-Rand-2340L5.230-1-Air-Compressor/p705.html

I haven't looked at the specific specs, but most of the consumer type compressors run the motors and pumps at around double the rpm of the commercial units. That makes them noticeably louder, and if you are thinking of having two of them that would increase the noise even more.

After saying all this, I want you to know that it was just for informational purposes, not as a recommendation as to what you should do. I don't own an IR compressor and I know nothing about current quality levels of what they are putting out. The older ones are very good though, and the type 30 pump has been a standard pump for many years.

Just so you know, the IR compressor that uses the two stage type 30 pump is rated 14cfm, but that rating is at 175psi, not at 90psi like the Husky from Home Depot. That means after 1 minute of running, the IR compressor can put out 14 cubic feet of air (equal to a 104 gallon air tank) at 175psi, whereas the CH from Home Depot can only put out 11.5 cubic feet of air (equal to a 86 gallon air tank) at 90psi. That is a large difference in actual ability between the two even though the 14cfm vs 11.5cfm doesn't seem like much of a difference.Don't be confused by the sources telling you that CFM doesn't really go up as compressor output pressure goes down. That is only true if you are reducing the output cutoff pressure right as the air exits the compressor before the storage tank. If you reduce the output pressure on a two stage compressor to 90psi it is not running very efficiently anymore so the CFMs aren't much better than at full pressure. If however you go ahead and let the IR compressor push out air at 175psi like it wants to, it is running efficiently and you have much more actual cfm capability and air tank headroom when you start to run tools at a lower 90psi downstream. Think of how long you can run an impact wrench before a large 104 gallon storage tank would drop from 175psi down to 90psi without any compressor trying to refill it. You will have that extra capacity plus a bit more every minute with something like the Ingersoll Rand.I haven't looked at the specific specs, but most of the consumer type compressors run the motors and pumps at around double the rpm of the commercial units. That makes them noticeably louder, and if you are thinking of having two of them that would increase the noise even more.After saying all this, I want you to know that it was just for informational purposes, not as a recommendation as to what you should do. I don't own an IR compressor and I know nothing about current quality levels of what they are putting out. The older ones are very good though, and the type 30 pump has been a standard pump for many years.

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