Altaros compressor booster mini review

[KnifeMaker]

Spot on, Bob.

For the record, this is the unit I use from tractor supply. It just happens to be on sale right now for 50 bucks  off list!  It is capable of 100% Duty Cycle. Porter cable has a similar unit a little over 400 bucks that is a 50% Duty Cycle unit. both made in the USA.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ingersoll-rand-5-hp-air-compressor-60-gal?cm_vc=-10005
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ingersoll-rand-5-hp-air-compressor-60-gal?cm_vc=-10005

The ones you listed are only single stage.  You've said yours is a 175psi unit, which would be 2-stage.
These listed would still be a MAJOR improvement over what most are using.

This is the best deal there.  A 2-stage 175psi 80 gallon unit for $999 on sale.


http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/ingersoll-rand-5hp-air-compressor-80-gal?cm_vc=-10005

Mike, you said 175 psi/two stage. Not I. I said 220volt, 135-145 max output. It does have two cylinders, but is NOT a 2 stage. You simply cannot argue the point, when you make up the numbers, then argue about them.  Geesh!

[KnifeMaker]

Nike, I also saw that you said that all you do is apply the silicone and run it. That is NOT the recommended procedure from Tom. It will greatly reduce the life of the unit if the proper procedures are not followed.

On a side note, I took the cf bottle on the Talon/Dor off and remove the valve two days ago. It was saturated with silicone. I mean, a LOT!!! Guess that keeps the barrel well lubed. LOL!!!

Mike, I don't quite understand your agenda. I know you like your SB, and I like mine just fine as well. But there are other units out there. I see no reason to put other units down, especially as you have no first hand experience but merely supposition. Just seems self serving for the sake of an argument.

One area where you completely misunderstood, was heat possible causing detonation with a shoe box is oil is present. You seem to assume we are talking about in the bottle.  The danger area is in the tiny amount of room left in the high side cylinder, at the end of the stroke. Tom Kay talks about this on the Shoe Box site, and is the very reason he says NOT to do it!  (Same principle of the detonation that will occur in a spring gun, when the piston has reached the end of the tube under force, and high heat). and teh very principle in Diesel engines operate. The shoe box end of chamber gets darn hot! If you don't' believe it, unplug the fan, run it for an hour, and wrap your hand around the end of the cylinder. OUCH!!!

The Altaros does not get hot. (It cools itself).  In fact, i will be cooler than room temp at the end of the fill. So no danger from oil in the air supply. 

 Knife

[n2omike]

Mike, I don't quite understand your agenda. I know you like your SB, and I like mine just fine as well. But there are other units out there. I see no reason to put other units down, especially as you have no first hand experience but merely supposition. Just seems self serving for the sake of an argument.

One area where you completely misunderstood, was heat possible causing detonation with a shoe box is oil is present. You seem to assume we are talking about in the bottle.  The danger area is in the tiny amount of room left in the high side cylinder, at the end of the stroke.

The Altaros does not get hot. (It cools itself).  In fact, i will be cooler than room temp at the end of the fill. So no danger from oil in the air supply. 

 Knife

I don't have an agenda.  It's simple physics that when you run a compressor near continuously, it gets hot an spews lots of water.
People with smaller compressors were considering the Altaros.  Your large compressor runs 50% of the time with it...  filling at only 90psi... and a smaller one would run 100%.  Anyone with a smaller unit, like most oil-less ones out there, would be better served with the Shoebox.

Heating comes from compression.  Diesel Engies don't have to be warmed up to 100+ degrees in order to start.  Compressing air to 4500 psi, regardless of the temperature of the unit, provides enough heat to ignite the oil/fuel.  Whether one is using a Shoebox or Altaros to do this is irrelevant. 

YOU have used your oil sump compressor for YEARS on almost a daily basis with an old Shoebox...  and had no problems.  Unless there is a MAJOR malfunction with the pump, there won't be a problem...  and IF there is a problem, the amount of air/oxygen in one stroke of the Shoebox/Altaros will not be enough to support significant combustion.  Dieseling is fairly common in Spring Guns, and it rarely ever hurts anything...  and one shot of a spring gun contains FAR more oxygen than one stroke of a Shoebox.  Dieseling within a Shoebox is NOT an issue.  You will never read about someone blowing up their Shoebox.  There's just not enough oxygen in a single stroke to support enough combustion to cause a significant problem.

It comes down to what I've said from the beginning...  The Altaros uses the first stage compressor to both RUN the motorless Altaros, AND provided the first stage air.  If using a small compressor, it will run continuously, it will produce a ton of moisture, and take forever to fill a tank.  If a person has a small compressor, they are better off with a Shoebox.  If they have a large, commercial style compressor, they have the capacity to choose the Altaros. 

[DocMortal]

We really have to put in perspective what is considered a small compressor and go from there.

Is mine considered small. ? OR Midsize at 30 gallon 175 psi max pressure 5.1 cfm at 90 psi?

If you consider my compressor small to midsize and my Altaros runs fine and love it.. For the price you cannot beat the Altaros even if you have a smaller compressor.

In my definition of small compressor is anything under a 20 gallon tank. That's my personal opinion though.

And would be difficult unless you have the cfm and can run a 100% duty cycle which most smaller compressors cant.

Altaros $ 600  plus $100 bucks of water seperators and dessicant.

Freedom Shoebox is $1100

Thought there was a cheaper version that's just what I found on pyramid air.

[rsterne]

As I tried to explain on the previous page, a small compressor won't "produce" any more moisture than a large one, however if you don't cool the air before feeding it to your high pressure compressor (no matter what brand it is) the hot air will contain more moisture.... Also, the tank size has nothing to do with the CFM capacity of the shop compressor.... The Altaros fill rate will be proportional to the CFM of your shop compressor, it doesn't matter if it has a 6 gallon tank or a 60 gallon.... If you don't understand that, please go back and read it again....

Bob

[DocMortal]

Fact is even if you have a compressor like mine oiless 5.1 cfm at 90 psi 30 gallon 175 psi you can run the Altaros . I dont want people thinking they need an industrial sized compressor to run the Altaros. Though alot slower.
CFM is king And you want the biggest you can afford IF you want fast fills.
The bigger the tank the longer the runtime before the compressor kicks on important to keep things a cooler.
Im about 7 minutes on and 7 minutes off and yes lots of moisture is produced and planned ahead of time on my setup including a diablo filter after the Altaros & 2 stage dessicant and water seperators before it goes into the Altaros.

 I think hope MOST know cfm is all about how much your compressor setup can produce not how big your tank is.

And running the compressor motor as little as possible is always something that will aid in less moisture.

I'm no expert but it runs great.

[Bizill]

No bickering...

http://www.harborfreight.com/compressed-air-dryer-40211.html

[Taso1000]

No bickering...

http://www.harborfreight.com/compressed-air-dryer-40211.html

I was thinking about something like this yesterday.  A bunch of coiled copper tubing with a trap at the bottom in a mini fridge.  Like a moonshine still I've seen on tv   

Taso

[straightshooter]

Wow same price as a Alpha Filter.

[Bizill]

At any time one can download a 20% off Harbor Freight coupon.  My buddy had this in use with his plasma cutter which worked well enough but doubt it'll completely strip the moisture for our intended purpose.  Perhaps it would.  But of course now we're getting once again into the price range of the Omega.  Well, sort of.

[KnifeMaker]

Hummm--I have a mini fridge in my shop, that I haven't' plugged in for years now! LOL 

Knife

[n4spd]

Here are some stats and numbers from my small home compressor setup with an Altaros booster.
Yes, it runs slow but I don't mind waiting as long as it's quiet and low maintenance.

super quiet CALIFORNIA AIR TOOLS 5510SE
- 2.20 CFM @ 90 PSI
- 5.5  Gallon Tank
- 60  decibels
- added 2 fans always switch on when boosting (1 fan on each cylinder head)
- long hose between compressor and booster with extra separator and desiccant filter just before booster

I set the output pressure from air compressor to 90 psi and set the Altaros air flow valve to run compressor 60 seconds on, then 100 seconds off.



I filled 2 small tanks in succession:
- 13ci/3000 ninja tank from 1500psi to 3000psi: took 29min
- 68ci/4500 tank from 1500psi to 3000psi: took 2hr 20min



Flir camera showed temperature of air compressor motor coils reached 65 celcius, cylinder head was 40 celcius, motor housing 50 celcius
Highest temp on Altaros piston reached 28 celcius (nearest output line), highest temp spot was at controller board near 12v power plug (50 celcius, maybe a transistor or regulator, painted blank so didn't look future)
ambient temp was 18 celcius

The extra harbor freight desiccant filter turned from blue to pink with the 2 fill ups.  Altaros internal desiccant filter is still orange (that one goes from orange to green).

will report numbers for my 80cf scuba tank once it gets low...

Overall, I'm happy with the setup.  I went with Altaros because it's design was unique, low maintenance, and price was right.  The CA air compressor was nice too and if I had to wear one out, it'd be the compressor cause it's much cheaper (but it didn't seem to be stressed temp wise even after the 3 hour fill up session).  This compressor has dual pistons and runs at slower RPM targeted for longer duty cycle and lower noise.

Hope it helps someone...

[airpuffhunter]

excellen info n4spd
thank you

[drewciferpike]

Great alternate report, Robert. Thank you. Will you attempt a small 4.5k fill?

I love that you broke out the FLIR.

[straightshooter]

Thanks for sharing your results Robert, the fill times are quicker than I would have guessed with your compressor's CFM output, and I look forward to the time for your Scuba tank fill.

The fans matched up perfect for the compressor heads, and I would consider using a synthetic oil also. I just changed the oil in my compressor, (first time in 9 years lol) using:
 

Flir Camera is perfect for temp readings and C converted to F reading are:

compressor motor coils 149F
cylinder head 140F
motor housing 122F
Altaros piston 82.4F
controller board 122F
ambient temp 64F

I don't know much about air compressors, but the temperatures do not seem that extreme and now you have a baseline for future readings.

Could you expand a little more on your filter setup, are you only using filters that is shown? Does the what looks like a water oil separator before the HF filter remove much water?

I was having second thoughts on the Altaros booster, and your post definitely helps me thanks Robert.

My air compressor in is my Barn, and living in MI we get pretty cold temperatures, anyone know how this would effect my compressor, Altaros booster and filing etc? Thanks

     

[n2omike]

My air compressor in is my Barn, and living in MI we get pretty cold temperatures, anyone know how this would effect my compressor, Altaros booster and filing etc? Thanks

   

The warmer air is, the more moisture it will hold...  so cold air is GOOD. 
Many dryers use cooling to remove the moisture.

I clicked on some videos of those California compressors.  It's amazing how quiet they are compared to normal oilless units.  There is a video on Amazon comparing the two. 

[straightshooter]

I was unsure if the ambient temp was 30 in my barn and my compressor was 150 if that would create a condensation condition that would effect my fill?

Agreed, the CC are super quiet, thats the only thing I do not like about my compressor. Would having a compressor inside my home in a controlled environment be a better setup?

Lol, just noticed the 5510 is oiless, never mind the synthetic oil recommendation Robert

Looks like a nice unit and even the aluminum tank version is cheap.

The Rolair looks like a nice unit for 400 bucks with a 100% duty rate.


But I am afraid it will be very loud like my Makita.

 

[n2omike]

The Rolair looks like a nice unit for 400 bucks with a 100% duty rate.


But I am afraid it will be very loud like my Makita.

This is the biggest Quiet California unit I could find on Amazon. 

15.0 Gallon Steel Tank with Wheels
Powerful 2.0 HP (Rated / Running) Motor
6.40 CFM at 40 PSI      5.30 CFM at 90 PSI




And the same thing, but with a vertical tank, and $60 cheaper.  (but 10 instead of 15 gal tank)

Powerful 2.0 Hp with Low Amp Draw 14 amps
6.40 CFM at 40 PSI & 5.30 CFM at 90 PSI
10 Gallon Air Tank with Wheels

[Old Corps]

The Rolair looks like a nice unit for 400 bucks with a 100% duty rate.


But I am afraid it will be very loud like my Makita.

This is the biggest Quiet California unit I could find on Amazon. 

15.0 Gallon Steel Tank with Wheels
Powerful 2.0 HP (Rated / Running) Motor
6.40 CFM at 40 PSI      5.30 CFM at 90 PSI




And the same thing, but with a vertical tank, and $60 cheaper.  (but 10 instead of 15 gal tank)

Powerful 2.0 Hp with Low Amp Draw 14 amps
6.40 CFM at 40 PSI & 5.30 CFM at 90 PSI
10 Gallon Air Tank with Wheels

What would be the opinion re. using either one of these California models with an Altaros? Would it take forever topping off a 74 cu. ft. tank from say 2700-4500 psi? Thanks!

Ed

[DocMortal]

GREAT info n4spd

I was totally considering those California compressors reading reviews etc. The main thing is how quiet they are that's what you are paying for.

If you dont mind compressors that are alot louder you will get more cfm & bigger tank for about the same price or less. That was ultimately my decision wanted as much flow with at least 30 gallon tank under $300.

My Husky is pretty loud and I even got the quiet model lol.

Those California compressors are so quiet ! Probably can even run that baby at night. I couldnt do that with mine... Wife would probably throw me and the compressor outside lol.