How You Can Effectively Reduce the Noise Coming from Your Air Compressor
An air compressor is a type of machine that can help in a variety of ways around the house.
For air compressor talk, the previously mentioned piece of equipment will prove useful if you want to complete some home repair projects. They are essential if you are looking to use air ratchet tools or spray-painting equipment.
A good air compressor should also help you tidy up around the yard more efficiently, and of course, it will be good for inflating different objects that your kids play with from time to time.
Having an air compressor at home sure beats having to head over to a shop downtown whenever you need something re-inflated.
Given the benefits of owning an air compressor, one would think that more people would see the wisdom in buying one and bringing it home.
There are reasons for why that’s not the case however, and it goes beyond just the price tag that is often attached to these machines.
For many homeowners, the biggest issue they have with air compressors is that they can really cause a racket.
Here are the items featured in this article:
- Air Compressor – California Air Tools CAT-1P1060S Light & Quiet Portable Air Compressor
- Air Hose – Flexzilla Heavy Duty Pro Air Hose
- Decibel Meter – Meterk Decibel Meter
- Muffler – Thrush 17651 Welded Muffler
- Rubber Grommet Set – Industrial Tools AccessBuy 180-Piece Rubber Grommet Assortment
- Rubber Hose – Craftsman Premium Rubber Garden Hose
- Rubber Mat – ClimaTex Dimex Indoor/Outdoor Rubber Scraper Mat
Why Do Air Compressors Produce a Lot of Noise?
According to Chicago Pneumatic, the main reason why air compressors tend to produce plenty of noise is due to friction. Look inside the interior of an air compressor while it is in operation and you will notice that there are metal components in there that are moving all over the place.
Those metal components then hit and scratch against the metal interior of the air compressor. As that goes on, the sounds only get louder and more disruptive.
There are also parts of the air compressor that are notorious for being noisy. The air intake is one of those parts. It becomes particularly noisy when it starts sucking the surrounding air.
Other parts of the air compressor such as the exhaust and the screws can be noisy, but they don’t produce as much noise as the air intake.
Take note that the reason why the air compressor is so loud may go beyond just the machine itself. The surrounding area in which you are using the air compressor can affect how noisy it is.
Certain types of flooring can effectively amplify the amount of noise coming from your air compressor. Open areas are similarly conducive to spreading the sounds produced by the machine.
You don’t have to live with ear-splitting noises if you decide to keep an air compressor at home though. There are ways for you to significantly reduce the noise coming from it.
The Different Methods for Making an Air Compressor Quieter
The challenge of reducing the amount of noise produced by an air compressor can be approached in a few ways. Some of the methods are relatively simple while the others will require you to study up on certain procedures and possess some level of technical knowledge.
We’ll start by highlighting the easier methods and then move to the more difficult ones from there.
Purchase a Different Air Compressor
One thing about air compressors I haven’t mentioned so far is that not all of them emit the same level of noise. Going back to Chicago Pneumatic, the site notes that the sound range for air compressors on the decibel chart can go from around 40 decibels on the low end to as high as 100 decibels.
To give you a better idea of just how wide that range is, if you find yourself in an environment with a noise level measured at around 40 decibels, that is comparable to a library setting. In other words, the sounds are relatively mild and you’ll be able to concentrate properly even if there are some murmurs going through the air.
On the opposite end of the sound range, an air compressor producing sounds registering at 100 decibels will simulate a noisy lawn mower fairly accurately. You probably don’t need me to say anything more about how painful it can be to listen to a lawn mower.
Hopefully, the air compressor you’ve already bought is closer to the low end of that previously mentioned sound range so that you won’t have to purchase a replacement.
If you want to get an accurate read on just how noisy your air compressor is, you can use a decibel meter.
As an aside, you should not hesitate to invest in a good decibel meter because it is crucial that you get precise measurements. A decibel meter will also be able to help you determine if you should avoid certain environments because they are too noisy.
Pick up this decibel meter from Meterk if you want a quality item on hand at all times. With a decibel meter in your possession, you can now check how loud your air compressor is.
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Change the Area Where the Air Compressor Is Set Up
Take the time to find a good spot for your air compressor before you proceed with whichever projects you are planning to undertake. Your garage or workshop should be a good enough spot for using an air compressor as long as it has been thoroughly cleaned and organized.
Before starting though, you can further dampen the noise by laying down a rubber mat on the ground. Rubber is a great material to use for reducing sound because it absorbs vibrations pretty well. Use this rubber mat from Climatex together with your air compressor and you’ll see the kind of impact that small change can have to the noise level.
- RUBBER SCRAPER MAT: Corrugated ridges trap mud, water, sand, and dirt to keep floors mess-free and provide traction – designed for high traffic areas and able to withstand most indoor and outdoor environments
- INCLUDES: One heavy-duty, commercial grade 36 inch x 6 foot black rubber scraper mat made with a proprietary blend of rubber materials
Make Adjustments to Your Air Compressor
Sometimes, the air compressor you just bought or have been using for a while may perform in a way that is not congruous to how it was advertised. The manufacturers may have billed the machine in question as a quiet operator, but then you turn it on, and it’s just unpleasantly loud.
Were the manufacturers just selling you a defective product? There’s a chance that’s the case.
Alternatively, you may have failed to notice something wrong with your air compressor. More specifically, some components of your air compressor may not be fastened as tightly as they can be.
The bolts and screws used all over the air compressor may not have been tightened properly or they may have come loose over time. The good news is that you should be able to address that problem by using a few tools.
Other parts of the air compressor such as the clamps and pulleys can also come loose after a while. Adjust those as needed if you want to reduce the noise produced by the machine.
Use Rubber Grommets to Absorb Sounds
They have also been used to protect cables and wires.
For the purposes of lowering the volume on your air compressor, we can use the rubber grommets on the part of the machine that makes contact with the ground. The idea here is to use the rubber grommets as shock absorbers that basically prevent the mount of the compressor from being in full contact with the surface.
Thanks to the rubber grommets, the vibrations will have to pass through several items before they can reach the ground and make noise. These rubber grommets from Industrial Tools should work fine together with a variety of compressors since the pieces are available in different sizes.
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Create an Extension for the Air Intake
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Reduce the Air Compressor’s Noises with the Help of a Muffler
Connect one end of the air hose to the air intake of your compressor. If there’s another intake, you may have to purchase another air hose or cut one down into two segments. Check to see that the air hose fits snugly over the air intake.
Run that hose down now into the muffler to significantly reduce the noise coming from the compressor.
According to How Stuff Works, mufflers work to eliminate noise by using multiple tubes. After the sound waves enter the muffler from the center tube, they will start to move around and are eventually reflected through a hole.
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Conclusion
Air compressors are very useful pieces of equipment, but using them can sometimes be an unpleasant experience due to just how noisy they can be. If you’re among the people who have shied away from using air compressors because of the noise they produce, just know that you don’t have to live with that.
The different methods for reducing air compressor noise detailed above are relatively easy to follow and they should help you get the most out of that specific machine.