How to power a moble air compressor?

[davidc11291]

So I just bought a Tornador and am about to pick up a 110v 21 gallon air compressor that puts out 4.7 cfm at 90 psi. Now the question is, how do I power this thing while I'm mobile?

I don't know much about compressors, tools, and electricity in general, but from what I've read, using an extension cord at a customer's house can pose a real fire hazard and will almost certainly trip their circuit breakers. Even unloading it with a dolly and plugging directly into their outlet runs a big chance of tripping their breaker if anything else at all is drawing power on that circuit at the same time.

It's already going to be noisy enough, plus I don't have extra space, so I'm hoping I can avoid using a generator. I've read a little about using a marine battery, but rigging that up is way above my knowledge level. What are my options? Is the marine battery a good idea? Is plugging into the customer's outlet a viable option?

 

[davidc11291]

Anyone?

 

[AutowerxDetailing]

Some sort of high quality generator rated with enough wattage to power all your tools would be the best bet I would think. Make sure if you get one that the "peak" wattage matches more than what your tools will draw... especially with the compressor because when an electric tool first kicks on it uses a larger amount of power momentarily over what it does during continued use.

 

[shokunin]

21 gallons is pretty big for being mobile. There are gasoline engine powered compressors that many contractors use for new home construction that you'd probably could look into. The tanks on these are smaller, but the CFM output is pretty high to compensate.

 

[wangotango]

You might want to just ask your customer and see if that's ok with them. It's a legitimate question.
Otherwise it's probly generator time. The sound level of the compressor AND the generator will certainly rival a Deep Purple concert circa late 70's. You can probly regulate the noise level with the amount of money you spend on each device. Nicer gear-runs quieter-costs more...typical.
That's a pretty good size compressor, maybe 4 feet tall?
You'll need somewhere around 13-18 amps to start/run that thing.
If you use an extension cord of maybe 50' you'll need a 12 gauge cord.
Probly be ok with 14 gauge but why put the stress on your equipment. Any further than 50' and you'll be wanting a larger size wire.
Remember that the longer the cord the less power is available at the end (in general).
If you are running a compressor that is barely starting with a 50' cord at 14 gauge it will probly not start at all at 100' of cord. Although it mite start quicker with 12 gauge wire or a shorter run of 14 gauge.
See where I'm going here?
If your cords are warm - you are undersized and a potential shock/fire risk let alone ruining equipment plugged into them.

The battery concept involves an inverter.
Just like the little things you plug into the cig lighter on your car and then plug in an AC device to that (laptop, phone charger, etc).
Just think of everything you wanna run off your battery (12VDC) is 120 volts (AC)...if your AC device draws 5 amps you will need a minimum of 600 watt inverter. Amperage (of the unit you want to run) X voltage (120VAC) = power in watts, is how that's done. Good inverters are expensive. Bad inverters are cheap and don't last. Unless you have a pretty nice setup with some very nice batteries and a very nice inverter and some pretty heavy wire you're not doing the battery deal for your compressor. Of course there are belt-driven generators you can run of a truck motor too. Any of these items done right is going to be expensive, require some elect knowledge/capabilities, be very loud, use a lot of gas, etc.
Lots of options.
How much ya got?

You might want to just ask your customer and see if that's ok with them. It's a legitimate question.

 

[davidc11291]

Thanks for the info. The main reason I got the Tornador was to cut down my time since I'm about to try to pick up a few dealerships. They'll definitely be bringing the cars to my house, so powering the compressor won't be a problem. I was just hoping that I could use it when I'm mobile, too.

I've got no problems running extension cords and powering my DA at a customer's house, but I wouldn't want to have to deal with over-loading their circuits with the compressor and having to find their breaker boxes and flip their circuit breakers back on. I like to show up, do my work, and stay out of their way.