Best Air Compressor for RV Tires

[sdennislee]

Originally Posted by Addisons

Just curious? How much PSI does the air tanks for a DP hold? Does anyone use that to add air to tires?

I use my onboard compressor. Mine will go up to 132 PSI.

Take a look at these threads:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f105/comp...on-108877.html

See post 26 in this thread:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/what...-107949-2.html

[10Boomer]

Viair 400 great compressor.


Sent from my iPhone using iRV2 - 2008 Monaco Camelot 40 PDQ

[bruceisla]

I use a Fini .... had a pancake compressor but it was too big and bulky.

[petrel]

Another vote for Viair. They make a tough little compressor that comes in a handy little kit. I've had mine for years.

[FaithBowls]

Yes but have any of you actually gotten 100 psi out of one of these? I've been through 2 portables and they won't fill more than 70-80 psi. I need 110 and can't find one that will actually work. Their ratings are meaningless. They may say 150 psi but that's bull. Which one actually delivers?

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by FaithBowls

Yes but have any of you actually gotten 100 psi out of one of these? I've been through 2 portables and they won't fill more than 70-80 psi. I need 110 and can't find one that will actually work. Their ratings are meaningless. They may say 150 psi but that's bull. Which one actually delivers?

Which one's are you referring too? Most of the pancakes exceed 125 and the Fini will exceed 125 ... I use it to top off the tires whenever necessary.

[pasdad1]

Originally Posted by FaithBowls

Yes but have any of you actually gotten 100 psi out of one of these? I've been through 2 portables and they won't fill more than 70-80 psi. I need 110 and can't find one that will actually work. Their ratings are meaningless. They may say 150 psi but that's bull. Which one actually delivers?

Do you mean the Viair 12 volts? Well I hope you don't need to air your tire from 70psi to 110psi ! If you let your tire get that low you have other problems. All the air compressors small enough to be portable, do well to "top off" your tires....I would hope you aren't letting the tires get more than 15% low on air.

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by pasdad1

Do you mean the Viair 12 volts? Well I hope you don't need to air your tire from 70psi to 110psi ! If you let your tire get that low you have other problems. All the air compressors small enough to be portable, do well to "top off" your tires....I would hope you aren't letting the tires get more than 15% low on air.

You're right of course. The Viair 450 has a 100% duty cycle and will do the trick but as the pressure gets higher, the pressure rise gets slower. At 100 psi it will take 2-3 minutes to put 5 psi in a 295/80X22.5 tire.

[pasdad1]

90-110 psi would take 5 minutes on a typical RV tire

[vapor3000]

Originally Posted by tkcas01

I used to have a Porter Cable, but since the compressor cut-in pressure was lower than my needed air pressure, it made it difficult to keep it running to build up pressure.

I recently switched to VIAIR 400P Portable Compressor and love it!

I use this same VIAIR. It's the way to go. Easy to store in a small package.

[Mr_D]

I tried using the onboard air when we had our 2000 Dutch Star. After an hour I gave up and bought a portable compressor.
Now using a Coleman tank unit that I bought at Lowes a few years back. But with the huge tires this rig has (365/70 front and tag and 315/80's drive) it is woefully inadequate. Will be getting a Viair RV unit, rated for 100% duty cycle and I have lots of battery power with 4 925 CCA starting batteries and 4 8D 12 V house batteries.

[F4Gary]

Originally Posted by Polyian

The Craftsman / Porter Cable CMB-15 shown above has a cut out pressure of 150 PSI and cut in re-start of 120 PSI, much higher than my needed tire pressure of 82 PSI. It does not run continuously when I am topping up my tires. Perhaps your Porter Cable was a different model.
Here is a link to the specs, I highly recommend this compressor...
Porter Cable Product Details for 150 psi, 1.5 gal Oil-Free Fully Shrouded Compressor - Model # CMB15

This is what I got after reading many threads on here.

Works great. Has no problem getting my rears to 100psi. I think I got it from Amazon.

[airmon]

I have the VIAIR 400P-RV, which has an extra-long hose with gauge/trigger valve in the middle of it, so you don't have to kneel next to the tire as you inflate it. If it were to burst, you will be standing a fair distance away, rather than with your head down next to it. I know the risk is low, but it makes me feel better.

I have tested and review the 400P-RV on our blog (Viair 400P-RV Air Compressor Review – JenEric Ramblings ) and found the compressor capable of taking one of our 245/75R19.5 tires from 70 PSI to 110 PSI in about 7 minutes. In a practical test, a few months ago I had to change out a valve stem and had to fully deflate one of my RV tires and the VIAIR had no trouble taking it from 0 PSI to 110 PSI, though it got pretty hot in the process. I think it took about 12 minutes. The motor is heat protected and is rated for a 30 minute duty cycle.

We keep the VIAIR in our towed, where it can be used if we have tire issues when we're away from the RV or if we're going off road. Typically, when we are on rough terrain, we air the 31" tires on our Jeep Liberty down to 16-20 PSI or so ( less for really soft sand ) and then need to air them back up again when we get back to pavement. The 400P needs about 10 minutes to air up all 4 tires back to 37PSI.

I would highly recommend the VIAIR or one even one of the somewhat smaller models, though I don't think I'd go any smaller than perhaps the 300P. The 88P can probably reach the 110 PSI pressures required, but will take longer and might overheat if it has to fully inflate an RV tire.

Do not, under any circumstances, expect a compressor plugged into a cigarette lighter outlet to reliably inflate an RV tire. Too much power is required. You may inflate the tire, or you may burn up your lighter socket or blow fuses. Get one that connects to your batteries directly and run the engine to keep the voltage up while inflating.

If you've got the space for a 110V compressor, most of those small 110V air compressors will work fine. They typically fill their reservoirs to 120-140PSI and have a CFM rating similar to the VIAIR, but they're heavier, larger and require either a strong pure sine inverter or running the generator if you're not on shore power.

We like the flexibility to run the compressor off 12v, whether it's from the RV or the towed.

I personally know a half-dozen or so other folks that have the same VIAIR compressor and all of them are happy with it. It has saved us multiple times.

[Xjaywalker]

Check out the T-Max. I love it and its quite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R65E9Zbz8g