# Air Compressor - Oil Lubricated or Not Oil Lubricated

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/air-compressor-oil-lubricated-or-not-oil-lubricated/9946>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [January 28, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/air-compressor-oil-lubricated-or-not-oil-lubricated/9946 "2008-01-28T14:59:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ethaldred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@ethaldred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ethaldred)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/air-compressor-oil-lubricated-or-not-oil-lubricated/9946/1 "2008-01-28T14:59:43Z")

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I am about to buy an air compressor. There are oil lubricated air compressors and, now, I have seen air compressors that are not oil lubricated.  
  
  
  
 Which is better?

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/air-compressor-oil-lubricated-or-not-oil-lubricated/9946/2 "2008-01-28T15:08:46Z")

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The oiless compressors are noisier than hell. Enough to drive you out of the shop. I’d get an oil lubed compressor just for this fact.

Tester

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**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/air-compressor-oil-lubricated-or-not-oil-lubricated/9946/3 "2008-01-28T17:39:18Z")

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What he said. I own both. When the oiless runs, you have to leave the area or wear hearing protection. If you can afford it, buy the better compressor. I’ll venture to say that nobody ever wished they had bought less of a compressor in terms of performance.

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**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/air-compressor-oil-lubricated-or-not-oil-lubricated/9946/4 "2008-01-28T17:43:06Z")

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Ditto. I know a guy who bought 2 of those no-oil compressors and other than being noisy they weren’t noisy for long. Both died at a young age and it took 2 failures to convince him.

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**Author:** ![Docnick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Docnick](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Docnick)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/air-compressor-oil-lubricated-or-not-oil-lubricated/9946/5 "2008-01-28T18:29:48Z")

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Agree; I bought a lubed one for my power tools. The noise is tolerable, even when I use it in the basement.