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ohomen171 says

I was very generous in the Christmas gifts that I gave to others. I gave myself a portable air compressor to pump up tires when they got low. I had occasion to use it yesterday in the morning. It worked just fine with a qualification. The instructions were very vague. Instead of pumping up a tire that was low on air, I let more air out of the tire.

I recommend one of the better ones that cost like $50 - $100 (or more) and actually weigh like they used some metal in it's construction. The cheaper <$20 ones are so bad that they often break the first time you use them. As in they have thermal limits of like 10 minutes on a cold day and take forever to work. I would not buy one that had a digital gauge and auto shutoff either.

Don't buy something like this:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tough-DC-12V-Portable-Analog-Tire-Inflator-Tire-Pump-Black/846487821?source=patrick.net

The cheaper ones work bad enough on a car, and will work worse on a SUV with huge tires.

At home I use a regular shop compressor with an attachment like this:

zzyzzx says

At home I use a regular shop compressor with an attachment like this:

Yeah, your average shop compressor will do the trick and it can serve other functions with a shit ton of attachments. I guess maybe most guys don't do any kind of framing? A compressor is a must have if you're handy. Doesn't have to be huge either, could be portable.

WookieMan says

Yeah, your average shop compressor will do the trick and it can serve other functions with a shit ton of attachments. I guess maybe most guys don't do any kind of framing? A compressor is a must have if you're handy. Doesn't have to be huge either, could be portable.

I use my air compressor for:
Tire inflation. Especially good when doing a tire plug.
Compressed air for cleaning and sometimes drying.
Nail gun (palm type).
Paint gun (HVLP style). I make a lot of stuff look like new with this.

You should have asked Elena.
There is little she can't make come out alright, and turn your misadventure into a pithy adage!

Robert Sproul says

You should have asked Elena.

Lol. Elena for sure could pump a tire. Problem solved.

Sorry ohomen, but what man needs assistance or can't figure out how to pump a tire or anything with air? You may have lost your man card on this one.

There has been a Pep Boys store at the north end of the shopping center just over a block from me for nearly 30 years. They leave a hose attached to the main tank for their lifts which we're free to use when we need it. It's a big help. My previous neighbors had kept the car, an early 80's square Mercury, that had belonged to his first wife's parents, then passed on down to them. It was a second car and would sit parked under the carport for six or seven weeks as a time between being driven. Of course, the tires would loose pressure so when I'd hear the compressor running out in the driveway, I'd know he was going to drive it for awhile. This was always a half day affair. It seemed like it took an hour to get a couple of lbs. in each tire.

I nominate Ohomen171 as the most successful, not yet banned, PatNet troll.

WookieMan says

can't figure out how to pump a tire or anything with air? You may have lost your man card

To be fair: There are lots of really shitty tire inflation pumps out there. I've inherited quite a variety of cheap ones and found them worth only throwing into the scrap metal bin. Most are noisemakers with a side effect of pushing some air. They have a short duty cycle, like 20%, not enough to inflate an almost-flat tire in one go. Compressing things makes them hot, and the cylinder and output of even a small air compressor can burn you if you touch it. The shitty materials can barely handle running with no pressure, and when it's gotten a tire to almost fully inflated, the metal temperatures can get high enough to damage the cylinder valves and seals. Its a crazy amount of effort to build things that can barely perform their core function one freaking time!

A LOT of carmakers have decided it's a good idea to stop including a spare tire (weight savings, yay!) so instead of that and a jack they include a can of tire inflator. WARNING, do NOT use retail "Fix a flat" to inflate a tire. It's a Faustian bargain that gets you inflated the one time, but makes it difficult or impossible to have the tire properly repaired afterward. The original formula included flammable components, and at least one tire guy was killed while trying to install a plug (not a recommended repair method on modern radial tires) in a tire with some kind of flat fix.

Also beware of multi-tools like a jump starter/flashlight/compressor. You end up with a bulky "tool" that has lost one or more of its original functionalities, which wasn't that great at best.

If you use a cordless tool system and have extra batteries, get the compressor and keep it in the car with a small battery that you swap out periodically. I had a Ryobi that worked great till the hose deteriorated and broke right inside the case (will fix one day). Only complaint was the hair trigger. I'd be driving on the freeway and things would shift in the back and suddenly compressor go BRRRRRRRRRR. Would slalom and stab the brakes a bit to make it stop if no other cars nearby.

You know what are really impressive are those new jump starters using lithium batteries that are the size of a hoagie. I've used a few in a pinch and they work amazingly well as jump starters go. I've gone through a number of conventional ones over the decades (you use these a LOT in the car biz.) Despite the outlandish amperage claims, they almost always use a sub-par "Half U-1" lead-acid battery with a useful life of perhaps a year even with the charge responsibly maintained. I'd change 2 or 3 batteries in the damn things before the whole unit was ready for replacement.

Back to compressors, I was recently stranded at my house when the customer's car finally did the intermittent no-start thing. My backup bike there had 2 flatter than flat tires, and my good hand pump was in the back of my car, parked at the shop I needed to be at in 5. Scrounged around the house and found 2 different old hand pumps that were built for both schrader and those European "fag" bike inflation stems, which in practice means it seals up neither as it ages. Ended up jog-walking 3 miles to work, aggravating an injury that left me limping for over a week. Even dick-simple bicycle hand pumps can defeat a professional mechanic just trying to put air in one tire.

As for gas stations that never have a working compressor. It's because of SHITHEADS who break or vandalize literally everything that's put out into the world. That $1.25 a use doesn't cover the cost of a new hose and nozzle plus installation EVERY FUCKING DAY. Tweekers will cut it off to trade for a $1.00 crumb of meth, while regular motorists will take out their passive aggression on it and destroy the thing after using it themselves. Tweekers will also ride up on one sketch Frankenbike, while "riding" another bike of dubious chain of custody with 3 loose tire/wheels on the handlebars, then demand the clerk keep turning the compressor on for free as they make a career of mix/matching tires and tubes and inflating as many of these tires as possible. Even though it's a state law that stations must provide air and water if within a distance of an interstate, in practice, having a public air compressor is an attractive nuisance and money-loser for whoever pays for its placement.

Automan Empire says

If you use a cordless tool system and have extra batteries, get the compressor and keep it in the car with a small battery that you swap out periodically.

The other option is a compact portable oil-less pancake compressor with an inverter that can run off the car battery.

Automan Empire says

To be fair: There are lots of really shitty tire inflation pumps out there. I've inherited quite a variety of cheap ones and found them worth only throwing into the scrap metal bin. Most are noisemakers with a side effect of pushing some air. They have a short duty cycle, like 20%, not enough to inflate an almost-flat tire in one go.

Don't dispute what you're saying, I've just never had an issue with my little pancake compressor filling up anything. Pool floats, car tires, winterizing my pool lines, nail gun, etc. Not large enough for painting, but I have a separate gun/machine for that.

Either way the topic is rather laughable. Not for this sole reason, but if you live in an area where they charge you to air up tires, move. Airing up tires is just one level you're getting screwed on. Even in winter here in IL, I cannot imagine a compressor costs more than $10/mo in electric at a gas station. The 50-100 people that will use it a month will likely end up buying $1k plus in stuff inside the convenience store or gas. If I need air in a tire I'll wait until I get to my hometown gas station where it's free.

I just replace car batteries every 2-3 years no matter what. With winter here it's not worth stretching it out for a pretty minor cost. I have AAA, but I have no intention getting stranded with 3 kids or the wife for a car battery and needing to jump it. We have the small jumpers and they do work, but you have to keep them charged and the cold doesn't help. We're also turning over V-8s in our cars. When it can get -10*F you want to have a fresh battery and it's easy enough to swap for a non-mechanic type.

NDrLoR says

It seemed like it took an hour to get a couple of lbs. in each tire.

Which is super weird, because it takes me 10 pumps with a bicycle tire pump to raise pressure 1 PSI in a car tire and about twice that to do it for a truck tire. I rarely even fire up the off-road compressor I have because it's faster to just use the bicycle pump and I don't mind a little workout.

WookieMan says

Even in winter here in IL, I cannot imagine a compressor costs more than $10/mo in electric at a gas station. The 50-100 people that will use it a month will likely end up buying $1k plus in stuff

I'm IN the car business and regularly communicate with people who work at service stations literally all over the US and Canada. It's not just "bad" areas, a public air and water dispensing station gets treated like peoples' personal punching bag. The actual electricity and water are the least expenses of maintaining a public air and water source. You'd be amazed how much commercial grade equipment costs compared to the prices you're used to seeing for DIY grade air equipment, and how often it needs replacement. In bad areas, the units get encased in solid concrete and minimum 3/8 steel plate with flush/concealed hinges and locking mechanism. Guess what, people STILL bust the damn things open! Same with streetlight electrical box plates, Caltrans has taken to WELDING them into place and thieves STILL bust them open and steal the wiring within days of replacement.

Automan Empire says

WookieMan says

Even in winter here in IL, I cannot imagine a compressor costs more than $10/mo in electric at a gas station. The 50-100 people that will use it a month will likely end up buying $1k plus in stuff

I'm IN the car business and regularly communicate with people who work at service stations literally all over the US and Canada. It's not just "bad" areas, a public air and water dispensing station gets treated like peoples' personal punching bag. The actual electricity and water are the least expenses of maintaining a public air and water source. You'd be amazed how much commercial grade equipment costs compared to the prices you're used to seeing for DIY grade air equipment, and how often it needs replacement. In bad areas, the units get encased in solid concrete and minimum 3/8 steel plate with flush/concealed hinges and locking mechanism. Guess what, people STILL bust the damn ...

You are in LA. He is in rural IL. Different fauna.

Wow, today's edition of the Turing Test prompted a lively discussion.

No live person would say "An attendant would come and fill your car with gasoline (petrol)" or "Today I go to a tire store to learn how to use my portable compressor."

Here in California, I believe gas stations must provide "free" air if you buy gas there. You usually have to ask the attendant to turn on the pump. I've never actually been asked to prove I just bought gas. One local stations (Chevron) is kind enough to keep the compressor and water on all the time to avoid having to hassle the attendant — Yay!

That said, I now always top up the air at home. I have a shop compressor (from when I did some hardwood flooring). After the compressor tank is full (a horrible racket) I can add 5 PSI to a tire in about 5 seconds. Awesome.

I also have the Ryobi line of battery-operated tools — drill, impact driver, reciprocating saw, horizontal saw, etc. Well, I also got the dual-purpose air pump. The "dual" refers to a high-volume pump for inflating air mattresses (or jump starting that charcoal grill — just keep the plastic nozzle at a safe distance) and a high-pressure pump for car and bicycle tires (up to 120 PSI, supposedly). The Ryobi tools aren't highest quality out there, but they are less expensive and have a huge number of tools all running on 18V li-ion. For an active homeowner and general do-it-yourself kind of guy, I highly recommend.
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/one-plus?ryobitools_production_plp_products%5BrefinementList%5D%5Bpower_detail%5D%5B0%5D=18v&source=patrick.net