How to Increase CFM on an Air Compressor?

Air compressors really are very useful to use, and they can be used for a whole range of things. For instance, you can use them to paint your wall, to pump up a tire or even to use a nail gun. Most of the air compressors online will all be different, you can purchase portable ones or stationary ones. Each of them probably has a different maximum PSI so some tools might not be suitable for some compressors, while others may be. Therefore it’s important to know exactly what you want to use it for before you do go ahead and purchase it.

Best of Machinery would like to guide you about how to adjust certain aspects of your air compressor, and for this article, we’re going to be looking at CFM.

What is CFM?

CFM actually stands for cubic foot per minute. This is actually what the speed of the air that gets sucked into the air compressor is measured by. This is actually measured by the size of the tank on the compressor and by the size of the pump’s cylinders and what speed the pump actually operates to. This is the imperial measurements and is not the metric measurements.

Why is it Important?

This is a very important factor in your air compressor, and without it, it wouldn’t really work at all. This is because there would be no air going into the compressor so it wouldn’t be able to generate any air pressure for any of your tools to be able to work. You should never think that this aspect is not important because when you’re deciding what air compressor you should purchase this is definitely a feature that you should be looking at.

This is because if an air compressor has a higher CFM, it means that it can actually generate more air for your tool, and this means that if you need a big job completed, then it’s best to get one that has a higher CFM.

How to Increase CFM on an Air Compressor?

If you do want to increase the CFM on an air compressor you will have to probably purchase another air compressor and hook them together, or something similar. This is because if you want it to increase more than the maximum capacity that it is able to do, you will need additional help from a different machine. There is one negative point about using this method, and that’s the fact that it may take longer to fill both of the tanks with air, and because of this it is likely to overheat and may even lead to other maintenance issues.

Not only this, but it could also make the tool you’re using not work properly, which is something you won’t want to happen if you’re in the middle of a job. There is another way that you are able to increase the CFM of the air compressor though, and you can do this by allowing the air compressor more time, so it is able to keep up the tank pressure.

You can do this by simply dialing down the regulator, so it’s at the lowest setting in which the tool is able to operate it. This will mean that the air compressor will be able to run for a much longer time, and your tool will be able to work just as good. If you find that the tool is working perfectly then, you may even be able to dial it down even more, so it is able to operate on the lowest pressure possible.

This way actually has some great benefits for the air compressor itself, as it will prolong its life and it will give the compressor more time for it to get filled back up with air while it’s being used.

Can you Decrease CFM?

Yes, you can actually decrease the CFM on an air compressor. You would do this if you don’t want there to be as much air going into the compressor at once. When you decrease it, you need to be careful, because if you decrease it too much then it won’t be able to fill up the tank with air very quickly and it will mean that there won’t be enough compressed air getting to your tools.

This will result in the air compressor stopping, and you will have to wait until the tank refills itself with compressed air. Not only this, but it will also make the tool your using stop working as well, which can be a bit of a nuisance. Therefore if you do need to decrease the CFM, then you need to be careful when you do do it.

Conclusion

Air compressors are very useful to use, and they are able to work with multiple tools. If you have a smaller compressor, you may need it to be able to produce a lot of compressed air if you want to use it for a long time. There are ways that you can increase the CFM of the air compressor, and this will mean that the air compressor is likely to run for a longer period of time if you decide to use this certain method.

However, there is another method of connecting another air compressor to increase the CFM, but if you do decide to do this, you will need to be experienced to do it, as you won’t want anything going wrong.