this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2026
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8
Air Compressor Regulator (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by ccunning@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
9 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I just bought my first air compressor. The manual says to turn the regulator all the way down when you turn the compressor on and then to turn it up when you want to use the air but it doesn’t say how high. 

If I want to fill my tires to 35psi, do I just set the regulator to 35? Or do I set it higher so the tires fill faster?

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I set the regulator on my compressor when I got it, and I haven't had any occasion to touch it since. It's set to 120 PSI, and it's been somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty years.

Unless your compressor is either especially precise or especially crap I think you can safely ignore that whole song and dance. In the exceedingly rare instances I do need a lower pressure output I have a dinky little inline regulator I just attach to the bottom of whatever tool I'm using, which is inevitably a spray gun. The impact gun, air chisel, needle scaler, die grinders, drills, air chucks, strafer, and golf ball cannon get the whole enchilada all the time.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I too have had mine set to 120PSI since I got it 10 years ago.

The only issue I’ve had was from the one time I forgot to depressurize when I was done and the water rusted the inside of the tank; took a few cycles to blast out the rusty gunge before things went back to normal.

I can’t even figure out why you’d want to mess with the output regulator. I guess not all compressors are built the same? Cheap diaphragm on the regulator that can’t take a bit of kick maybe? I know that can be an issue with gas regulators.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Some tools do have specific pressure requirements. You can try running an HVLP paint sprayer at the full 120 but you're really not going to have a good time doing it. Low pressure is right there in the name, come to think of it.

If you're using a nail gun with smaller nails you'll probably need to wind down your pressure, too. If you're using little brad nails and give them the full Monty you might find that they don't remain in the workpiece but have rather affixed it to your bench instead.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

Interestingly, both my paint gun and my brad nailer have a regulator on them. Although it seems to be more a simple pressure bleed valve than a regulator.

[–] lemmyman@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Higher, otherwise it will take forever to fill your tires.

I have trailer tires that need 60 psi, so I set my regulator to 100 psi. That works just fine for my 30 psi car tires too. Just fill for a few seconds at a time, then disconnect from the tire and check pressure with a gage, repeat until target is reached.

[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This probably good advice, it decreases the load on the motor as it starts up. Fancy brushless motors have a soft start where the motor controls its spin up so there's no shock to the system. I've had many compressors and have never done that once, ever. Maybe they just mean the first time you ever fill it.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

it decreases the load on the motor as it starts up.

Uh. How, though? The regulator is on the output end and has nothing whatsoever to do with how the motor and pistons put air into the tank. The compressor is going to pressurize its tank up to its pressure shutoff setpoint as fast as and indeed at the only speed it's capable of running. If the pressure setpoint is even adjustable (it probably isn't), diddling with that is only going to accomplish making your motor start and stop a bunch of times as you stairstep it up to whatever your maximum pressure is.

Big time commercial or industrial compressors rated for constant duty cycles may and sometimes do have variable speed motors, but I've never seen a consumer model with one.

[–] litchralee@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

I'm also poised to agree: setting the output air regulator to a low value does not change the reserve pressure in the tank. I suspect maybe Peppycito thought OP was talking about the governor, which is what controls when the pump turns on and off.

But even then, the most common design of governor only adjusts the peak reserve pressure (aka when the pump turns off) but the minimum reserve pressure (aka when the pump turns on) is usually a fixed value subtracted from the peak reserve. Usually the control for this is inside a box and turned by a screwdriver, because of how rare it is to adjust the reserve pressure.

That said, there is genuine merit in reducing the reserve pressure, if there's an explicit objective to prolong the life of the pump as much as possible and the air loads are not very significant. But this usually isn't the case for small residential air compressors, because those pumps tend to be built very small and thus oversubscribed.

[–] icanwatermyplants@reddthat.com 3 points 1 week ago

For regulator pressure answers see the other posts, it's easier to detach / attach a tool without too much pressure on it.

For tires set it like 20 to 30 above your target. You want to overcome the valve pressure and have enough flow to steadily increase the tire. You can set it to max and you're more likely to have to deflate more or have your compressor spin up more. I use a little bleeder to get precise. Remember to check tire pressure cold if you want to be accurate. Early in the morning is a great time.

When detailing , cleaning with it, set it to like 75 psi max and maybe wear goggles depending on what you're blowing around.

Most air tools will require anything between 90-max psi. You can keep a tank pressurized however it's really good practice to empty it over temperature changes to prevent condensation inside. Use the pressure relief valve for that, usually a little ring or similar close to the regulator, then open the main tank valve around 50 psi to blow anything out.

have fun 😀