Powertank vs. On board compressor

[Rs4rocks]

I’m relatively new to off-roading too. We went with a 10 lb Powertank and Coyote valves to air down. We are weekend offroaders who do the local trails in So. Calif. I wanted maximum convenience and speed for airing down and up. I‘m running stock 33 tires. I’ve air up 5 times from 15#s to 35#s before refilling. Refilling is $20 and around the corner from me. I love the Powertank for our purpose. It’s mounted to the cage in the back so all I have to do is hook up the line and walk around the Jeep to fill the tires...about a 10 minute process from start to finish. I would not go with anything smaller then 10#s. If you want to cut cost buy a CO2 tank on your own and buy Powertanks valves and accessories...top notch.

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[Gdub]

The power tanks are nice. My father in law had an arb compressor and he ended up swapping it out for the power tanks. I was sold. I run 2 10 lb tanks. The setup is nice and their customer service is great. As mentioned above $20 or so to fill up one, how often you need to do it is dependent on tire size and what u air down to.

 

[LostWoods]

Went wheeling a few weeks back and my friend did both his truck and mine with his PowerTank - both on 35s coming up from about 18 psi to 33. Another friend did his 33s and a similar PSI swing via an ARB twin and a 4-tire hose. The PowerTank was done with both trucks and away before the ARB even hit its target. The ARB is probably the best you'll find without a large setup but the PT is just crazy fast.

Even better the PT can do air tools or re-seat beads with ease while the compressor will often struggle without a substantial tank.

But there are downsides... running out of CO2 leaves you with no backup (a twin ARB can be separated and rigged to work as a single in a pinch) and it's $27 around me to swap a 20lb tank that adds almost 60lbs to my JT with mounting and accessories. A comparable ARB setup with even a 5gal tank isn't that much.

Personally, the 20lb tank in the bed and a backup compressor on solo trips is my strategy. The 20lb tank should generally get me a week's worth of air ups on longer trips and finding replacements isn't difficult since 20lbs is a common commercial beverage size. If you are doing 10/15 I strongly suggest looking for places to fill and plan accordingly because it's getting harder and harder to find shops that fill and don't swap. That's why I just did a regulator setup from them and just plan on sticking with standard commercial tanks.

 

[1Placerville]

Built my own power tank setup for about 1/3 the cost. There’s a YouTube video on it. If you build your own it’s imperative you don’t cheap out on the connectors and line. They get really cold when filling your tires but it fills the tires fast. I refill at any welding shop. But, if you have bigger tires and air down and up a lot on the trail then you’d want either the 15 or 20 tank. I use two #10 tanks running 35 x 18’s. I get about 16 refills per bottle meaning 4 times for all 4 tires per bottle. You can double that using the #20 tank but it’s bigger. This is assuming I’m adding about 20 psi to each tire. Of course you get more refills if your only adding say 10 psi. I agree that sometimes it can be a hassle but you can also use it for air tools. It’s why I decided to make two.

 

[Philip]

Hey all!

First time offroading my 2020 Jeep JLR 2dr, had many jeeps in the past but taking advantage of my new area (Northern CO) and my new Jeep. Have done some mild offroading in the last month but would like to explore the option of airing down my tires.

Searched the forums and couldn't find a pro/con list of options available. Was looking at the powertank due to its versatility and cost to entry (small tank under $400) but open to those that have much more experience with both.

I did a couple of forum searches beforehand so apologize if this topic has been beaten to death somewhere else before!

Thanks!

I have a 15lb power tank and a small smittybuilt compressor.

The powertank is awesome and fills up my 35’s (10 psi to 35 psi) in about 45 seconds, each. The package I got was a bit over $800 and I get the tank filled up for about $32. Pro’s are it is fast and can put out around 300 psi. The con is that you have to weigh it, after each use, to know how much air you are going through and estimate how much you have left. Before you buy-find out where you’re going to get refills. In Denver, I go to a local brewing supply store that is close to home.

compressors are great as long as you get one that can support your duty cycle. Dual-ARB is a great choice if you’re running 35”+ tires. The cons are their speed. Expect a compressor to take 3x to 20x longer than co2.
I carry both so I have a backup plan.

 

[ERP]

You could purchase your own high pressure air compressor and fill the tanks yourself.
Amazon has them starting at $285.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Pressur...pressure+air+compressor&qid=1600882472&sr=8-8

This way you can always hit the trail with a full tank and never need to find a local refiller.

 

[vavaroutsos]

You could purchase your own high pressure air compressor and fill the tanks yourself.
Amazon has them starting at $285.

https://www.amazon.com/High-Pressur...pressure+air+compressor&qid=1600882472&sr=8-8

This way you can always hit the trail with a full tank and never need to find a local refiller.

The CO2 is liquid in the tank and at about 850 psi. It turns to gas at the top of the tank with an expansion rate of over 500:1. So this idea is not going to work.

 

[ERP]

It's not nearly as an efficient storage as CO2, but it will work, just with a lot less tire fillings.

A 10 lb CO2 tank is 0.24 cu-ft. The safety vent releases at ~3000 psi.
Filling the tank with air to 2000 psi will provide enough pressure to add 25 psi to 5-6 tires that are 33" diameter.
Air in the same volume container is definitely more limited than CO2, but has the convenience of being fillable at home with a high pressure compressor.

 

[MichaelAnthony]

Approximately 5 minutes to inflate all 4 tires simultaneously from 14 psi to 33 psi.

Bro with what and how? Man I would love to do that..... Let me know... thanks

 

[Chocolate Thunder]

Bro with what and how? Man I would love to do that..... Let me know... thanks

It’s not anything special. I have an ARB twin mounted under my passenger seat with the Innovative JK bracket and hose setup. Dual hoses plug into the fittings on the outside of each front seat bracket. Hook up the 4 hose ends to each tire, press the power button, and 5 minutes later all the tires are equally inflated to the exact pressure set by the regulator. Deflates all 4 at the same time quickly and evenly too.

 

[LostWoods]

Bro with what and how? Man I would love to do that..... Let me know... thanks

The topic of discussion here... a PowerTank can do about 20psi in a 35" tire in about 45 seconds.

If he's talking about a compressor he's either on small tires or full of it. Doesn't matter how many are being done at once, no compact compressor flows that kind of air.

 

[Jdsmoke]

I carry both a power tank and a compressor. I have the self made version. You can run air tools on the power tank. We needed a impact wrench on our last trip to get lug nut off a blown tire. Had we not had this set up, not sure what we would have done.

 

[Philip]

I’m relatively new to off-roading too. We went with a 10 lb Powertank and Coyote valves to air down. We are weekend offroaders who do the local trails in So. Calif. I wanted maximum convenience and speed for airing down and up. I‘m running stock 33 tires. I’ve air up 5 times from 15#s to 35#s before refilling. Refilling is $20 and around the corner from me. I love the Powertank for our purpose. It’s mounted to the cage in the back so all I have to do is hook up the line and walk around the Jeep to fill the tires...about a 10 minute process from start to finish. I would not go with anything smaller then 10#s. If you want to cut cost buy a CO2 tank on your own and buy Powertanks valves and accessories...top notch.

Buy your own co2 tank and buy Powertank’s regulator. A local brewery supply place (mine is brew hut) sells CO2 tanks and my regulator fits just fine. I may buy a small tank (5gal) one of these days.

https://powertank.com/collections/regulators/products/reg-7001?variant=31097974947930

 

[Philip]

The topic of discussion here... a PowerTank can do about 20psi in a 35" tire in about 45 seconds.

If he's talking about a compressor he's either on small tires or full of it. Doesn't matter how many are being done at once, no compact compressor flows that kind of air.

Agreed, a co2 source pushes enough air to set the bead, on multiple tires, and run all your air tools on the trail! Heck, I’d race the air compressor at my local discount tire Co!

 

[Dkretden]

As I personally considered a powertank or a compressor about a year ago, It became clear to me that quick air-ups are quite nice and slow fill-ups are not as nice. But then I thought: “what is ‘quick’ and what is ‘slow’?”

it seemed to me that the difference of —- what? —- maybe 15-ish minutes total per air-up (stock 33’s) was not worth the hassle of driving to a place to fill the powertank up when it was low or empty.

speed is relative. Some folks legitimately want the fastest possible air-ups and it’s great for them. For me, I’m not an Indy pit crew member. Spending an extra 15-ish minutes is not a bother.

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