A few months ago, a new Dewalt air compressor popped up on Amazon, and it looked interesting, but was too close in price to a larger and higher performance 30 gallon model.
This new compressor, model DXCM271, has a 27 gallon air tank, oil-free motor, 200 PSI max pressure, 5.1 CFM at 90 PSI airflow rating, and is said to be less noisy, with a 78 dBa rating.
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It’s also said to be made in the USA, with global materials.
AND, when checking my Amazon wishlist for something else, I saw that it dropped in price, to $435. This seems to be its “regular” price now. It’s said to usually ship within 3 to 5 days.
Price: $435
It’s a little higher at Home Depot – $457, and currently out of stock.
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
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First Thoughts
Initially, I was wondering what’s so great about this new vertical air compressor, but its feature set is growing on me.
It has a low volt start, which Dewalt says allows it to operate on a long extension cord, a high flow regulator, higher maximum pressure than other similarly sized compressors, and its noise level is rated at 78 dBa, which seems awfully quiet for an oil-free model.
It doesn’t push out as much air as the 30 gallon model mentioned and linked-to at the start of the post, but its other features seem to make up for that.
Thanks to the 200 PSI rating, Dewalt says that their new 27 gallon compressor will run air tools for 3X longer than typical 26 gallon oil-free air compressors with direct drive induction motors. And because it has a 78 dBa noise rating, it’s probably significantly less noisy when the compressor starts to cycle.
The yeti
I have a 20 gal . 5.2 cfm at 90psi. I paid a lot less than this Dewalt. A lot less in Canadian dollars than that price is in US dollars.
I guess i could paint mine yellow ?
The yeti
Support for those battling the fires up the west coast. Chelan Washington and California too. We burn every year here in the Okanagan. Support your fire men and fire women.
Pete
Thats pretty quiet and decent air rating. I’ve been using a husky one which is twice as quiet?( dBa ratings aren’t linear)
Nathan
So you mean it’s 3-5 db lower in percieved noise?
Hang Fire
California Air Tools has taught us that Oil Free no longer needs to mean cheap, bad, noisy compressors. However we don’t know much about Dewalt’s version yet.
Oiless still don’t move as much air as piston models, but are less likely to contaminate air with oil over time as they wear. However some have a more annoying noise profile- a higher pitched grating noise versus low toned thumpa thumpa.
KeithInKC
I am an ex auto mechanic and have lots of air tools. My little 30 gallon husky oil less does everything I have ever needed for our vehicles at 1/3 the price. That said, I haven’t even plugged it in for almost a year due to using all my cordless tools instead. For air nailers, my pancake compressor is much more convenient.
Air tools still have their place, but for me it’s very far between times of need.
fred
In the shop – some of our pneumatic sanders and grinders seemed to be so much better/faster/more powerful than their corded (let alone cordless) counterparts that they saw nearly continuous use.
But I agree that cordless tools are making more in more inroads into domains that were once dominated by pneumatic and/or corded tools.
Nosmo
Ignoring compressor CFM rate @ X PSI for a moment, increasing air storage by coupling a second (or third) tank with the main can also “extend air tool usage periods.”
Haven’t looked, but I’d guess an old 25-30 gallon unit with a worn out or damaged compressor would be pretty cheap; throw away the compressor, keep the tank, and plumb it in. 30 gallon storage now becomes 60 gallon, and going to a higher storage pressure also increases capacity by “dense packing” the air molecules.
And, that second tank – if the piping connection has the flow capacity – can be placed just about anywhere in the air system (assuming it’s behind a pressure regulator like the main tank is; coupling the secondary to the primary via the “original tank plumbing” does that, except that one pipe is performing dual work – fill and draw down – so it probably needs to be bigger).
But, if one needs 90-120 PSI and one compressor takes forever to fill 60 gallons to 90+ a reasonable draw-down margin, would be kind of self defeating. Then again, the primary reason for air storage is to allow smaller compressors to act like larger ones.
Hang Fire
The Dewalt here goes to 200PSI, most used tanks aren’t qualified for that pressure.
Evadman
Air tanks on compressors are generally rated for 10 years. After 10 years, they need to be hydrotested to make sure they can withstand pressure without rupture. By the way, the small portable tanks that hold 5 gallons or so and do not have a drain are generally throwaway tanks that are engineered to be tossed at the 5 or 10 year mark.
If you are picking up an old tank, make sure the tank is rated for the pressure, as Hang Fire mentioned. the huge majority of tanks are rated to 125 or 135 psi, while I have noticed most of the dewalt compressors are rated at 200. You can plumb a regulator inline to the additional tank to drop the pressure, but if the regulator fails, the 2nd tank could see 200 psi. That can be extremely dangerous.
I have a very similar dewalt compressor to this one, about 5 years old or so. It has the same cage around the gauges for protection. The only -problem I had with it was that the tank got knocked over and fell forward, so the protective cage hit the concrete first. The force of the stop snapped off both gauges even though they did not hit the ground directly. The compressor wouldn’t work without the gauges since they would just let the air out of the tank.
I had to pick up new gauges, which is when I found out that dewalt uses non-standard gauges. Instead of paying a few bucks, they were about 15 each. The air connection for them is on the right hand side (when looking from the front) instead of the bottom. After about a month of looking all over online, I had to order replacements direct from dewalt.
Besides that, the compressor has been pretty good. I used to use my wheelbarrow ingersol rand 5hp gas compressor most of the time, but the dewalt comrpessor puts out enough air for everything except my air powered hydraulic bender.
Framer joe
Who makes the motor
Stuart
No idea.
But by the model number, it seems that this might be a different line compared to their other compressors.
bobad
It would take a lot of convincing me to buy this when you can get a high quality, quiet, twin cyl belt drive oil bath 30 gal. compressor for $350.