California Air Tools 10020C 2.0 HP Ultra Quiet and Oil-Free Air Compressor, 1...

There’s an inevitability when you start thinking you need an air compressor. And that inevitability is that very soon after you buy it, you realize you need a bigger one. This is my third compressor purchase in three years, and likely the best. The previous two compressors were too small and way too noisy. They worked, but those drawbacks were maddening. After some research, I decided on this compressor and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. It’s quiet, has a large enough capacity (I’m exaggerating, of course I’d like to have a larger one), and so far appears to be very well built. The wheels, which are easy to install, are a must, as this California Air Tools product is on the weighty side at 82.5 pounds. The well designed handle and the chonky wheels make it easy to move around. Recommended for nailing, I’ve found that it also works well with my cut-off, staple, and impact driver tools. It runs on 110, has a 10-gallon tank, and is very, very quiet, thanks to a relatively slow rpm.

I'm super happy with this product. I upgraded my little 2 gallon portable compressor which was hella loud and annoying, while this one is super duper quiet, I can't tell you how much I appreciate how quiet it is, I discovered pneumatic and I love those, this runs most air tools just fine, just pay attention to how much cfm they require when buying and your's will run well too. Air tools are cool, whole new world. I actually bought it because I wanted to paint my 66 ford ranchero with single-stage urethane in metallic british racing green and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a larger compressor and didn't have a lot of space with the truck in the garage, I also wanted a quieter work environment. I picked up a little LVLP (low-volume low-pressure) spray gun from china that was about $120 bucks and even though a lot of people said it wouldn't work, it worked great (I had one redo but that was because I ran the paint haha, my fault). It also blows all the dust out of the garage quite well, especially with a 4' extendible barrel gun. all in all I'm pretty happy with it, I also use it to cool down spot welds when welding thin sheet metal, like body panels so they don't distort from the heat. Sometimes I wish I had more cfm so I could get a better paint gun that is HVLP but since I will only be painting cars once every year or two it fits the balance of my needs better. It's really nice you can still hear your stereo while it is running. So quiet it wouldn't even wake up a sleeping baby hahaha yeah naw that is an exaggeration but you get the point mate.

I bought the CAT 10020C compressor a little over a year ago to use for small projects around the house and to air up my tires as needed (we have 3 vehicles). I've been very pleased with the purchase. The unit works as advertised - it's very quiet. I've used it to do small framing in the attic for insulation and then used it to staple all the insulation. I've used it to blow out the garage, blow leaves and grass clippings off the driveway, and I'm even learning to use it for small paint projects. There were two minor issues I discovered initially, but neither are a problem as far as I'm concerned. The first was some confusion on installing washers on the wheels. The instructions showed installing washers, but washers were not provided. I believe CAT changed their wheel design and the washers are no longer needed. CAT needs to change their directions to omit installation of washers. I also noticed that my unit was shutting off at 120 psi instead of the advertised 125 psi. Furthermore, the RED zone marking on the pressure gauge starts at about 115 psi, so the pressure on my unit was entering the RED zone. I talked with a factory technician and he said the unit is designed to operate safely at 125 psi. He sent me a video which showed how to calibrate the unit to kick off at 125 psi. As for the RED zone markings, CAT purchased gauges from a third party. CAT could probably customize the gauges for their units but that would drive up the cost. As long as you can read numbers, you can verify your unit is operating in a safe range. I just know that when the needle enters the RED zone, my unit is about to kick off. Everything works fine on the unit and I've had no issues with any leakage. I'm very pleased with the purchase and would definitely recommend this unit.

I bought this compressor (the 10020CAD model) to replace a ten-year-old Porter-Cable pancake compressor that I can't keep a working and non-leaky regulator in. It goes through regulators like Elon Musk goes through ketamine. This compressor is 20dB (yes, 20dB!!!) QUIETER than the Porter-Cable. For those of you who don't know how the decibel scale works, that is 100 TIMES QUIETER. I will note that the short vent hose supplied for the auto drain is painfully loud to be near when the auto-drain opens. So do yourself a favor, buy twenty feet of 8mm PTFE or urethane hose, and route the drain vent outside or down into your crawlspace or anywhere you don't have to hear it. I went to use mine again about a week ago and it wouldn't turn on. I thought it had a fault. It turns out that the reason it wouldn't turn on was because in six weeks sitting there, it had not leaked down to its auto-turn-on pressure yet. After six weeks there was still about 110 PSI in the tank. It doesn't switch on until tank pressure drops to about 92-93 PSI (and turns off again at around 123-125). So if it won't turn on and the pressure gauges are reading above about 95, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG, it just doesn't think it NEEDS to turn on yet. I am SERIOUSLY impressed by this compressor.

This is a great compressor that I love, however it's expensive and far from perfect. I am reviewing the 120v unit with the manual drain at the bottom. The good: This compressor is very quiet. You can run this compressor at all hours of the night without disrupting neighbors. The handle is sturdy as is the airtank, and the motor seems very well built. It flows very well given its size/weight/120volt power. It's very convenient; I often fill the tank then wheel it around to fill tires etc. This tank has held air for weeks without leakdown. IF you are losing air, first check your hoses and connections, as they are more likely the source of your leak. With my accessories disconnected, I have held a full tank for over a week. The bad: The unit has 2 built in connectors. These were pure junk. They began to unscrew within a week, and one eventually broke off with the threads still inside the control panel. Keep in mind I realize this is not an industrial grade compressor. I was very careful with it and did not abuse it or overwork it. I had to drill out the broken threads and re-tap, and replaced both with high quality fittings. I recommend you swap these fittings right away. Good fittings are a few dollars, do it BEFORE they break! Also the rubber feet tend to fall off. This is easily fixed with a few washers. The wheels work but are made of cheap hard plastic, I may upgrade them soon. None of these are huge problems, however this compressor is so expensive I expect a premium product that does not require modification. Points to consider: This unit will not operate a 1/2" impact wrench -- just too great a load for it. I use it occasionally to drive a 3/8" impact with mixed results. If using the 120v model, plug directly into an outlet and be sure there is not much load on the circuit, as I have thrown a few breakers using this compressor. All of this is common sense but it's worth noting. My recommendation; purchase the manual drain model to keep your costs down. Empty the tank every night and leave the valve open, to insure all water drains and your are protecting your investment. Then close the drain before the next use. Buy this only if you need a very quiet compressor. If not, Get a cheaper one with a larger air tank, or you may end up frustrated.

I'm not an expert. I have only own 2 air compressors in my life. This one and a Bostitch portable air compressors 6 gal. This air compressor is much better. The lack of noise this thing makes, you almost forget that its turned on after a few hours of use and the ability to control air pressure is amazing. Worth the cost if you are a DIYer. One drawback, another handle to carry the tool would have been great.

Fed up with noisy low output air compressors, I purchased this California Air Tools mdl. 10020C air compressor for my use at home in my garage. I was attracted to the 110 VAC 7 amp power requirement with a respectable 6.4 CFM @ 40 PSI, 5.3 CFM @ 90 PSI as well as the low noise at 70 db. After assembly and a thorough inspection of the unit, I powered it for the first time . Within 2 seconds, it sounded like a chicken bone in a garbage disposal, then the fan guard on the right side of the motor blew off along with two of the fan blades. The pictures show the damage and notice the rust on the shaft and the crank. This is a huge disappointment. I will be returning this unit. UPDATE- i returned the faulty unit and foolishly accepted a replacement. To my surprise, the new unit was not made in Mexico as the first one was. It came out of China. The welds were beautiful, the wheels and fan shrouds were updated to a more robust design. This still a poorly designed air compressor. If you intend to do more that show this off in your pretty man cave garage and actually plan to do some work other than occasionally filling your tires or pool toys, then you don't want this compressor. Upon first use with a 5" DA sander, the compressor shut off after about 30 minutes of use and did not come back on. A read through the trouble shooting chart explained why. It states that the compressor will shut off after 45 minutes of continuous use. It shuts off in 30 minutes and takes as much as an hour to cool down enough to restart.

I bought this compressor recently and I really like it, yes it is very quiet and the tank fills fast, I wanted to run an impact wrench for my truck wheels that torque at 140 lbs. I didn't know much about impact wrenches or air compressor's so I bought a really good ingersol rand impact wrench. 1350 ft lbs is the tightening power and I think 950 ft lbs to remove things, nuts and other stuff. I also bought the California air auxiliary tank aluminum 100 bucks or so. This gun takes a lot of air really 6 cfm to run, the setup of the compressor and extra tank was simple I have two complete sets of tires and wheels and I live in iowa so I switch em out in the winter, I can tell you if anyone wants to use it for that purpose it worked awesome riped those lug nuts right off, and put them back on great, also the two tanks together never stopped the wrench from working great. I have been buying stuff on amazon for many years and this is my first review, so yes get this compressor. now I just gotta find an easier floor jack, also I wish I would have spent just a little more money and got the wrench that runs quieter. hope this helps you decide. Also this is an interesting and curious piece of info. just got off the phone with California air as I was asking him about the auto drain/manual feature which I know I definitely clicked on when I bought this compressor (the guy said there were a lot of people inquiring about this) but going back and looking at the prices I did a lot better price wise by purchasing it this way, you can look at it and see what I mean, so yeah if you are trying to get both drains your probably not gonna get it, and California air is not sure why. so what that I have to open the tank valve to drain it, no big deal. Also he said that to get my extra air capacity I have to run an air hose from compressor to auxiliary tank, then run your air tool off of the auxiliary tank, it comes all set up with fittings right out of the box so that was easy