Dan is a DIY kind of guy. He wants to do everything on his own from installing the wood floors to painting his son’s bike with airbrush. Right now he needs a new air compressor because his old one just past it’s lifetime. He wanted a new one for a long time but his wife insist that he will keep using the old one until it broke off. It finally did. He felt no love for his old compressor and happily loaded it onto his truck and drop it off on the dumpsite. Now that he got rid of the old guy it’s time to find a new one.

Dan really wants to buy an air compressor that will give him allot of bang for his buck. Mind you, his wife won’t let him spend big bucks to buy one. She think it’s such a waste to spend lots of money to buy a big boys toys.

He decided to spend some time thinking about it . Grab his little notepad and starts jotting down to list what are the essential things that he wants from his new air compressor. Luckily he agrees to share us what he just wrote there so let’s take a peek :

Quiet

Dan lost count on how many times his wife complain about the noise his old compressor gave. He wonders if she couldn’t stand it why doesn’t she just let him buy a new one a long time ago. Anyway, Dan never really mind about the noise because he thought that is just normal. But a couple weeks ago he visited his friend’s workshop and found out that his buddy’s air compressor make noise just as if a vacuum cleaner is running next door. It was so much quieter that his. He asked and found out that it was an oilless type so it has lower noise factor. He is making note to make sure he’ll buy an oilless compressor this time to make his wife complain less when he’s working.

Wheels

His old compressor was a stationary type so he was relying on really long cords and hoses when he wanted to work other that in his own workshop. He doesn’t mind if he get one with wheels made of hard plastic. As long as he can move it around easily he is more than happy.

Fast

The old compressor took almost two whole minutes just to reach 150 psi. Dan think it’s a bit overkill just to reach that pressure. Just like anybody else he hates waiting. He want a compressor that is fast enough especially when he’s doing non-construction works like pumping the bike tires, etc.

Space saving

As a long non-believer of the cliche “bigger is better” Dan prefers small tools to do the job. His workshop is already too crowded with everything else anyway so after asking left and right he want to buy one with space-saving vertical design.

Easy maintenance

Dan really hates getting on his belly to open and close the drain plug off his old compressor. And he also hate how the drain just can’t drain the water completely from the tank in either the vertical or horizontal positions. He decided that before buying he will asked the seller to demonstrate draining the compressor and if seller is making ugly poses while doing it then he ain’t gonna buy it.

Now, those five factors on Dan’s note aren’t the only signs of quality air compressors. You will need to add your own personal preference of course. But i sincerely hope that the short list can help you finding the best compressor from all those choices in the market.