Ultra quiet compressors were mentioned briefly in the "Question of the Week"  topic, I thought I would share the newsletter article that I wrote for our local club. 

"I have owned a 3 HP, 20 gallon compressor for over 25 years, and its high capacity is needed to drive many air tools and a sand blaster.  But man, is it loud!  I can’t use it for prolonged times, even with ear plugs.  So I decided to buy a cheap, oil-free, 2 gallon compressor for the small jobs like blowing off dust.  This was a little quieter, but still required ear plugs, so I wasn’t too angry when it stopped working after a couple years.  Then I bought a slightly larger used Craftsman compressor, off of Craigslist.  This was an oil-lubricated machine, a type which is not very popular these days, but it was much, much quieter than even the small oil free rig.  I was sad when it died recently.   In my research to find a replacement, I discovered that a new technology for ultra-quiet compressors has become available.  Note that a standard oil-free compressor typically produces a noise level of at least 75 dB.  These new ultra-quiet compressors can come in as low as 60dB!  Amazingly, when mine is running, it seems to be only slightly louder than my refrigerator, and quieter than my drill press.  When my dust collector is on, I usually don’t notice when the compressor is running. 
At least three different companies are offering these ultra-quiet compressors:    California Air Tools, Briggs and Stratton, and Thomas Compressors. (I bought a Briggs and Stratton).  The price you pay still depends on the size of the tank and the horsepower, but they are not overly expensive.  I am sure that this ultra-quiet technology will become more and more popular, and more and more products will become available. "

The one from California Air got a lot of comments after the Oregon Woodturning Symposium. They had one up there for one of the demonstration areas, and the main comment was 'you could carry on a conversation right next to it without having to raise your voice'. I didn't personally verify that, but that was echoed by those who have it. It will be my next compressor...

robo hippy

robo_hippy wrote on Sep 5^th, 2017 at 10:33am:



I was going to say the same thing as Reed and Ed said.  But I only heard about it at WoodNet and I know I can not afford them.

That would solve the volume issue but not the cfm that the motor needs to keep up with using air tools just isn't there.

I need a compressor that has a good CFM rating so I can run high cfm tools and not have the compressor constantly cycling, trying to keep up.

Awesome Chris, good to read of a positive improvement.

Ed Weber wrote on Sep 6^th, 2017 at 8:37am:


Absolutely true. My compressor puts out 3 CFM at 40 pounds and  2.2 at 90. Enough for my needs, but not enough for some air tools like sanders. You could seriously overwork a compressor trying to run those.

You sacrifice  A LOT of cfm for the ultra-quiet feature.
IMO these are great for staplers, finish nailers and tools of that nature, nothing that runs constantly. If you use drills, sanders, die grinders, impact guns, you nay be disappointed.
A quick search for "air tool cfm chart" can be helpful.
Hopefully they will continue to improve, for my uses they are not even close to finding the neighborhood. For me, it doesn't matter how quiet they are if they can't do the work.

While I'm happy for those of you who like these compressors (they don't fit my needs)
What tools do you use with them, since they have such a low CFM rating?