Air Compressor for drying !

[Eliran]

Hey guys,

I am looking to buy an air compressor to basically dry the car quicker and dry all those nooks and crannies and I found this great deal on a DeWalt Air Compressor:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...air+compressor

What do you think guys on that air compressor?

[Setec Astronomy]

You`re better off with a blower, will be cheaper. An open blowgun takes about 10HP to feed with compressed air, that is a 5.5HP gas engine, with a small receiver. Maybe it will keep up with what you are doing, maybe not. Is it worth $400 to find out? You could get an electric blower for half that, or a leaf blower for 1/8, or one of those hand blowers for even less.

[Eliran]

Thank you for your post!

Can you point me to an electric blower to get an idea on which type to use.

And also, the main reason I liked about that compressor that it is gas powered since I use 240v in my country and for that price 400$ instead of 1229$ its really cheap and in the future I might buy some air tools.

[Setec Astronomy]

Oh...that changes things, if you want a compressor for air tools, then that`s a different story. It`s just that`s a portable contractor compressor, it has a small receiver (small amount of compressed air storage), which is kind of backwards for what you are trying to do with blowing off the car.

[Eliran]

I will mainly use it for blowing and maybe in the future I will use air tools too.

For drying a car what would you consider a good receiver?

[Setec Astronomy]

This could be a really involved discussion. That compressor puts out about 10SCFM. That`s perhaps a third of what you need to supply high pressure to a blow nozzle in an industrial environment.



I bought a cheap little Sears electric compressor to do what you want to do, and found that I could only get a really short amount of blowoff time (perhaps 5-10 seconds)before I had to wait for a minute or more for the tank to pump back up. Maybe with the compressor you linked you`ll only have to wait 10 seconds, or 8 seconds, or maybe you will be able to get a continuous stream of 10psi air which won`t blow out the cracks, or maybe you will get 25psi and it will.



A 1/4" open blow line takes 10HP to maintain...your performance at your nozzle will depend on the interplay between the compressor and your storage volume. Will it do what you want? Yes, you will be able to blow out your cracks. Will you be able to do the entire car without stopping? I don`t know. The pictured compressor looks like it has perhaps a 5 gallon receiver. A fixed (non-portable) compressor might have a 40, 60, or 80 gallon receiver.

[Eliran]

Yeah you right it does look like it has small receiver but it got 10.5 gallons.

Also, I found this two:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...keyword=blower

Which seems really nice and I found a shop vac that include an electric blower which can be very useful since my metro vacnblo does not have the amount of power I wish it had and it is not wet/dry vacuum.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...keyword=blower

[Setec Astronomy]

Wait...you already have a Vac n` Blo? And that doesn`t work for you?

[Eliran]

Yeah I do but it does not blow that good. I thought about getting the Master Blaster which got 8HP but it still 300$ so I thought why not go with a compressor.

[imported_Jakerooni]

I`ve always used a compressor. Works perfect. I have a medium sized craftsman for mobile uses (little overkill but I originally didn`t buy it for detailing either) and then at the shops I`ve always had a commercial upright. I personally think a compressor is a absoulte must have for interior work anyways. So it just does double duty when getting all the wet out of the cracks and crevices as well.

[Pats300zx]

I would just get a leaf blower. It would be cheaper and would probably work better than a compressor.



Something like this should suit your needs.



http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...keyword=blower

[MichaelM]

I would just get a leaf blower. It would be cheaper and would probably work better than a compressor.



Something like this should suit your needs.



http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...keyword=blower

I have two of these in my shop. They get abused daily and have held up great. Find something similar and you should be set.

[Accumulator]

I would just get a leaf blower. It would be cheaper and would probably work better than a compressor...

A leafblower with an AirWand is one of my favorite detailing tools, but note that Eliran needs something in 240v.



I use the AirWand for getting most of the water off and the compressor (I have a big two-stage unit) for the nooks and crannies. Drying with just a compressor is, IME, an exercise in frustration as the airstream is too tightly focused to dry large panels efficiently.

[RaskyR1]

I have an 80gal compressor that I use for blowing out the cracks, which is much better than using a leaf blower. It`s also a must for interior detailing. However, a leaf blower is much better for actually drying the car.

[ABQDetailer]

This is what I`m putting in my new garage:



FREE SHIPPING — Ingersoll Rand Electric Stationary Air Compressor — 3 HP, 10.3 CFM @ 135 PSI, 230 Volt, Model# SS3L3 | 10 - 30 CFM | Northern Tool + Equipment



10CFM @ 135psi. Sounds good to me.



I agree compressors are great for blowing out cracks and stuff but not for drying off big panels of the car. I`d do a leaf blower for that for sure.