Cheap Harbor Freight air compressor keeps losing pressure

mkirsch

Well-known Member
Finally getting around to getting the shed unpacked for the season. Both my Cub and Super A each had a soft rear tire, so I grabbed my trusty 8-year-old Harbor Freight 2 gallon portable air compressor, plugged it in, and let it build pressure.

It got about half pumped up, when suddenly both gauges dropped to zero and it would no longer build pressure.

I fiddled with it, and it started building pressure again. When it got half pumped up again, both gauges again dropped to zero.

There's no pressure in the tank. I opened the drain on the bottom and there's nothing there but a little puff of nothing.

I don't hear any air leaking, and I did not hear a sudden WHOOSH when the gauges dropped to zero. The air was just... gone.

I don't see any obvious leaks or splits in the tank. It's very easy to inspect as it only weighs 5lbs.
 
Did you take the plastic cover off and inspect the copper fittings? That is all that was wrong when mine would not build pressure.
 
They don"t have to be from Harbor freight to be a
pos! We have a Stanley Bostich that did the same
thing when it was a lot less than 8 years old. it
turned out to be the valve plate in the compressor,
wasn"t very expensive or hard to change. They are
hard to trouble shoot as they are so noisy and pump
so little air. Disconnect the compressor from the
tank and run it separately to narrow down where the
leak is, don"t start buying parts until you are sure
where the problem is. Good luck!
 
Consider yourself lucky. Dad got one about 6 years ago, and after a few months of occasional use, it will pump up about half way, and lock up.
 
One good thing, that's about 7 years more than
most people get out of a hb compressor. Some of
their stuff isn't too bad, while other things are
just plain bad.
 
Mine did that once.

Turned out it was the ball type shutoff valve I'd added onto it myself.

Before I figured that out, I'd talked to HF and they said, "Bring it back and we'll give you another one".
 
Geez I dunno I think mine was about $50 and its been a pretty dammed good compressor. I've had it 2 years and in the winter it'll get hard to start so I take the propane torch and heat up the heat and cylinder (haven't melted the plastic guard yet...) once its going its good as long as I need it.
 

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