Anyone have a good fix for a noisy air compressor? My air compressor drives me out of my tree when it runs....unbelievable loud and just so annoying you want to shoot it! I was going to build some sort of enclosure to quiet it down (my friend tried a muffler on his and it helped a little, but not very much). Anyone ever do this and have an idea of what is the best approach?
Mine was very noisy to the point I thought something was bad wrong. Turns out the guard was loose and sounding off.
Had one like that (had to wear hearing protection just with the compressor running). Compressor head was wore out, and old enough there was no noise abatement at all. Needed to either overhaul the pump or replace it (wasn't pumping as much air as it was supposed to, by a lot). No time for the overhaul, found a brand new pump from Grainger (same pump, same manufacturer, before they moved to China ). New pump was tighter and came with an intake silencer. MUUUUCH quieter, not even annoying when it's running now. Point being, you may have the same issue, loose pump and no intake silencer.
Is it one of those "Oil less" compressors like Sears sells? They are noisy and there isn't much you can do about it other than building an insulated shed for it. My brother has one and it is obnoxious to the max.
You didn't mention if the compressor was a belt drive or a direct drive. The direct drive units will drive you out of the shop eventually. When my direct drive compressor met an untimely death I celebrated for a week. I bought a belt drive compressor to replace the direct drive unit and it was money well spent.
You beat me to it. The oiled compressors run much quieter. If you've got an oil-less compressor like I do, that thing could wake the dead and run perfectly fine.
I put mine in a shed close to the shop. Its been out there ten years now. I ran the air line under ground so I get piece and quite and a cooler for the air.
I just went and bought a new Ingersol Rand garage mate compressor. They claim its the quietest in its class and it is nice. You hear it but it isn't bad at all.
I built an insulated closet for mine. I can still hear it but now it;s bearable. I had it in a shed outside at the old shop but then I could hear it in the house and I'm sure so could my neighbors.
Mine's in the garage, which I pretty much have to evacuate when it's running. Shut the doors, go in the house, two rooms away and I can still hear it. I'm building a new shop so I'm living with it for now. It's about a subtle as a jack hammer.
Yuppers, my bud has one sitting in his shop right next to where you are usually working and it drives me nuts. Worse yet he turns the radio in the shop up high enough to try and drown the compressor out. Pour a small pad on the side of the shop and build a small room for it that is well insulated but vented to the outside. Make it just big enough to roll a lawn mower in and when you go to sell the place you can call it "the yard equipment room". Rig a drain valve and pipe on the bottom of the compressor that blows to the outside of the building when you drain the tank and you are done and can keep your sanity.
Another thing to do is to put thick rubber pads between the compressers 'feet' and the concrete floor. That will take care of one source of noise.
I guess I fixed my noise problem... I just purchased (waiting for delivery) a Emax 7.5 hp, 80 gal, 600 rpm, 26 cfm horizontal unit off of the home depot site. The compressor is made in the USA, 35% less heat and quieter. Two reviews said you can stand next to it and carry on a normal conversation. One review said it doesnt vibrate the shit out of the floor like his ingersol rand did. I have my current compressors mounted in a seperate storage section of the garage, so its pretty quiet anyhow.
A buddy has one of those oil-less jobs in his small fab shop to run his CNC plasma. Most obnoxious POS I've ever encountered. I wouldn't take one for free, seriously. My 20yr old 6/60 Sanford is a Timex compared to that freakin' amplified jackhammer. Anybody considering one, don't.
I built a enclosed shed for my compressor behind the shop and mounted it on a concrete pad..it looks like a old outhouse but only has three sides with ample ventilation,,sure keeps it quiet in the shop. HRP
Another source of noise is the intake. Those baffled sheet metal intakes with foam are horribly loud. I made an adapter and used an intake filter from a large lawn tractor that fit snugly - it quieted it down incredibly. I suspect, if you made a proper air box for the intake, it would help even more. I second everything else here - isolator pads under feet and putting it in a separate closet or outside.
I work part time in a machine shop that has a fairly new but large compressor. We moved the shop in late 2000 and located the compressor close to the electrical panel at the extreme far end corner of the shop. With the taller ceilings it was very loud. So we got some plywood sheets and built a doghouse for it. It measures around 7' long x 5' tall and 4' wide and was built to slide away easily for maintenance. Inside the doghouse, we glued in sheets of 1" house hard-foam insulation, doubled up. There is a fan to exhaust the hot air mounted on the top. This has quieted it down a whole lot. Any other tools that generate noise like sanders, abrasive cutoff saws are located by it as well. On a smaller compressor, the theory should work just as well. Bob
Hi Guys. I just made an air compressor box for my upright 30 Gallon Campbell Hausfeld. Here's what I did. (Ignore the board stacked on top of it...that's just extra wood sitting on top) I used 1/2" OSB board 24" x 24" overall outer dimensions 60" tall with a double roof inside (one roof inside the other with a letter "S" shaped outlet for air at the top). Floor is 24"x24" OSB with 1" pink styrofoam on top Walls (and door, of course) and ceiling of box are 3 1/2" thick fiberglass insulation. I used the 15" wide roll that is 32 feet long. IT works out perfectly where you only need one 32 foot roll. It is so quiet you can talk on your cell phone while leaning against the front door. Before this, it drove you out of your mind even if you were 30 feet away!! Ping me if you want the plans. ***I used screen (aluminum screen) to hold the fiberglass insulation in place. Staple gun with cardboard over the staples to keep them from shooting through. ***There is a screen vent on the top of the roof (2" wide by 24" long opening/slot in the top covered with screen)...the second roof under the top has a solid plate where the slot is and there is another 2"x24" slot on the opposite side of the interior roof...this makes the air have to travel in a U or "S" type shape around a corner to get out...allows air to travel and sound not to come out in a straight line) ***I picked up a gallon of bright blue latex paint (one of those discarded one where the guy changed his mind or screwed up the mix) and we're paingint it bright blue this week. OSB is a bit ugly unless you paint it. Hardware: 2 Hinges 2 Door Clasps (hook/eye thingys like for yard fences and screen porch doors) 8 Corner braces (90 degree corner braces to hold the corners snug) 4 bottom corner braces - the type that hold the bottom of a board and hold the 2 walls at 90deg to each other). The top has a 2" x 24" opening for airflow. It does get warm in there, but if you don't run it nonstop, it's fine. I could add a fan in there, but I don't think it needs it. All compressors get hot. The thing I could have done was put the compressed air line (the copper line from compressor pump to the tank) outside the unit to keep it cool...that is what causes almost all of the heat in a compressor box (heat coming from the compression of air - pv=nrt). <!-- / message --><!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->
I also have a 15 year old devilbiss direct drive, 60 gallon tank, makes a crapload of air and makes the neighbours deaf, I've had it so long I'm just trying to wear it out, but I think its trying to wear me out, we'll see who wins.
So do cut-up old tire treads. That's my takeaway from all those "101 Tech Tips!" articles in PHR over the years.
I'm beatin' the hell outa my Craftsman direct drive trying to kill it. Damn thing won't die! When I redo my garage I'm going to buy an oiled unit and give the "howler" to my son.
i put my compressor inside a 1966 vw bus back in 1985. its ten feet from my shop and not very noisy at all. in the summer i open the windows and back door so it doesn't over heat.
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