Collection: Champion Piston Air Compressors

Champion's two stage cast iron pumps turn slowly, in the 600 to 900 RPM range, and that's most of the reason they last. Pump speed is what wears rings and valves. The look-alike compressors that quote the same horsepower and the same tank get there by spinning the pump well past 1,200 RPM, and they get there for about three years.

These are piston compressors, which means they are not continuous duty. Figure 60 to 75 percent run time in any given hour at 175 PSI, with the rest as cooldown. That's plenty for a multi-bay shop running impacts, a lift, a tire machine and intermittent spray work. It is not enough for a blast cabinet, a plasma table, or two sanders going at once. If that's your shop, you want a rotary screw instead. A Champion piston run at 100 percent duty won't make its service life, and no warranty covers that.

The mistake we see most is shopping by tank gallons. An 80 gallon vertical under a 5 HP pump and an 80 gallon vertical under a 7.5 HP pump are the same photograph and two different machines. The tank buys a few seconds of surge; pump CFM is what keeps the air tool running. Add up the CFM of everything that runs at the same time, at the pressure you actually use, then pick the pump. Single stage or two stage, vertical or horizontal, comes after that. Send us the tool list if you want it checked.