Champion LV / LVR Series Unenclosed Rotary Vane Air Compressor – 2 to 10 HP Hydrovane

A rotary vane compressor is the quietest honest machine in compressed air. One slotted rotor turns in an eccentric bore; the vanes ride out on centrifugal force, seal against the wall, and bed in rather than wear out. No pistons slamming, no timing gears, no synchronised rotors to hold in register. Champion LV and LVR hydrovane units run 65 to 74 dBA unenclosed, which is quieter than most screw compressors manage inside a cabinet, and they will run continuously all day without a duty-cycle argument.

Choose your horsepower and configuration from the dropdowns above.

Model Selection Chart

All units are rated at both 100 and 150 PSIG and the pressure is set at order. The 10 HP LVR07 range is three phase only. Everything below it is available single or three phase at the same list price, and voltage and phase are specified with the order rather than being separate part numbers.

What the Configurations Mean

• Packaged Unit (PU). Airend and motor only, no starter and no receiver. This is the unit you buy when you are dropping it into an existing system, mounting it on your own tank, or building a package around it. The 2 HP LV01PU is continuous run; everything from LV04 up is start/stop.
• Tripod Unit (PUTS), 2 HP only. Mounted on a tripod with a ship-loose manual starter. The portable-ish option for a small shop or a lab.
• 80 Gallon Horizontal Tank Mount (PURHS-8). Compressor, receiver and mounted starter as one assembly. The standard shop installation.
• 120 Gallon Horizontal Tank Mount (PURHS-12). Same thing with more stored air, which matters if your demand is spiky rather than steady.
• Duplex 120 Gallon (PDRHS-12). Two complete compressors on one 120 gallon receiver with mounted starters. You get redundancy and you get the ability to run one unit on light demand and bring the second in only when you need it. Duplex units require two warranty kits rather than one.

Shared Technical Specifications

Flow, pressure and voltages above are 60 Hz figures.

Approximate dimensions (in). LV01PU 28 x 9 x 11, LV01PUTS 29 x 19 x 11, LV04PU 36 x 13 x 14, LV04PURHS-8 67 x 25 x 40, LV04PDRHS-12 76 x 28 x 48, LVR05PU 37 x 18 x 15, LVR07PU 37 x 17 x 15, 80 gal tank mounts 67 x 25 x 41, 120 gal tank mounts 72 x 27 x 47, duplex units 76 x 32 x 50. Champion publishes these as approximate.

Weight note. Champion publishes shipping weights for nine of these thirteen models. The four single tank-mounted 7.5 and 10 HP units, LVR05PURHS-8, LVR05PURHS-12, LVR07PURHS-8 and LVR07PURHS-12, share a merged cell in the price book and carry no published weight, so no catalog weight is set on those variants. Ask us before booking freight on one and we will get the real figure from the factory.

Why a Vane Instead of a Screw or a Piston

Three honest reasons, and one honest caveat.

• It gets quieter with age, not louder. The vanes bed into the bore over the first few hundred hours. A piston compressor's rings and a screw's bearings do the opposite.
• Continuous duty. There is no reciprocating mass, so there is no duty-cycle limit to argue about. A two-stage piston rated 75% duty is a different machine from one of these.
• Fewer parts in the airend. One rotor, a set of vanes, no timing gears and no synchronised male and female profiles to hold in register.

The caveat: a vane compressor is less efficient per CFM than a modern rotary screw of the same horsepower. If you are running 4,000 hours a year and energy is your dominant cost, a screw will usually beat it on total cost of ownership. Vane wins on noise, on simplicity, on tolerance of hard starting and stopping, and on footprint. We will tell you honestly which one your duty cycle points at, including when the answer is not this machine.

Installed Accessories

Three accessories are priced as installed options and are available as separate line items on our LV / LVR installed accessories page: the electric automatic tank drain, vibration isolators, and Massachusetts code fittings. All three apply to tank-mounted models only; there is nothing to drain or isolate on a bare packaged unit.

Order-Time Deducts and No-Cost Options

Two further options are not separate products because they cannot be sold as one:

• Less Starter. Deduct $250 on single tank-mounted units, $430 on duplex units. This is a credit taken off the unit price at order, not something you add to a cart.
• California Code. No charge. Specify it with the order on tank-mounted units.

Tell us at order and we will configure the unit and adjust the price accordingly.

Also Available by Quote

Champion's 10 Year Premium Warranty Kits are listed in the price book by part number with no list price, so we do not sell them from a page. We quote them from the factory:

• 308HHS6032 for 2 HP LV01 units
• 309HHS6032 for 5 HP LV04 units
• 310HHS6032 for 7.5 HP LVR05 and 10 HP LVR07 units
• 303HHS6032 for units built before serial HR05-000210-1605, per Champion Product Bulletin HVB 16-02

Duplex units require two warranty kits, not one.

A Note on One Price Book Description

In Champion's August 2026 rotary price list, the 10 HP LVR07PURHS-12 row is captioned "Std. Three Phase Horiz. 80 Gal. Tank Mnt. Unit", the same caption as the LVR07PURHS-8 row above it. The part number suffix -12 denotes the 120 gallon receiver and the price follows the part number, not the caption. We have built this listing to the part numbers. If you want the 80 gallon unit at 10 HP, that is the LVR07PURHS-8.

Ideal Applications

Dental and medical suites, laboratories and cleanrooms, print shops, machine shops where the compressor sits in the same room as the people, packaging lines, light assembly, test benches, and any installation where a sound survey is part of the job. The duplex units suit operations that cannot stop: if one head goes down, the other carries the load while it is repaired.

Completing the Installation

• Refrigerated and desiccant air dryers, because a vane compressor puts out saturated air like any other
• Coalescing and particulate filtration downstream of the receiver
• Condensate drains for the receiver
• Oil/water separators for the condensate, which on a lubricated machine is not floor-drain legal
• Aluminum compressed air pipe and fittings for the distribution

Ordering Notes

• Specify voltage and phase with the order. Single and three phase carry the same list price on 2 through 7.5 HP, so the part number does not change; the build does. LVR07 is three phase only.
• Specify 100 or 150 PSIG. Both are standard and the price is the same. Capacity drops at the higher setting, which the model chart above shows.
• Packaged units ship without a starter. LV01PU and the other PU models are airend and motor only. If you need a starter, order a tank-mounted model or tell us and we will quote one.
• Freight. These are 90 to 1,325 lb machines. We quote freight per shipment rather than guessing at checkout; ask us before you order if the number matters to the decision.

Why Buy from Air Compressor Store

We are an authorized Champion Pneumatic distributor and we sell the whole system, not just the box: compressor, dryer, filtration, drains, separator and piping, sized together. On a rotary vane purchase the two questions that actually decide the outcome are your duty cycle and your noise constraint, and both are five-minute conversations. Tell us the application and we will tell you whether a vane is right, including when it is not.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is a rotary vane different from a rotary screw?

A screw uses two meshing helical rotors that have to stay in register. A vane uses a single slotted rotor in an eccentric bore, with sliding vanes that seal on centrifugal force. Fewer critical parts, quieter operation, more tolerance of stop/start duty. A screw is more efficient per CFM at high run hours.

Do the vanes wear out?

They bed in. The vanes are designed to seat against the bore over the first few hundred hours and the machine typically runs quieter after that than it does new. They are a wear part over a long life, not a short-interval consumable.

What is a packaged unit versus a tank-mounted unit?

A packaged unit (the PU models) is the airend and motor only, with no starter and no receiver. A tank-mounted unit is the compressor, a receiver of 80 or 120 gallons and a mounted starter as one assembly. If you already have a receiver and a starter, buy the PU and save several thousand dollars.

Why would I buy a duplex?

Redundancy and turndown. Two compressors on one receiver means a failure takes out half your capacity rather than all of it, and on light demand you run one head instead of cycling a larger machine. It costs roughly double a single unit, so it is a reliability decision rather than a capacity one.

Can I run these on single phase?

2, 5 and 7.5 HP yes, at the same list price as three phase; specify it with the order. 10 HP LVR07 is three phase only.

100 PSIG or 150 PSIG?

Same price, different capacity. A 5 HP unit gives 19.5 CFM at 100 PSIG and 16 CFM at 150. Run the lowest pressure your tools will tolerate, because every 2 PSI you carry unnecessarily costs you about 1% in energy.

Is it quiet enough to sit in the workspace?

65 dBA at 2 HP and 72 to 74 dBA at 5 to 10 HP, unenclosed. That is conversation level at the low end. Most shops put these in the room rather than in a compressor closet, which is much of the point of buying one.

What is the lead time?

It varies by configuration and we would rather check than guess. Ask us and we will confirm against Champion's current lead time sheet before you commit.