It sounds to me that you are getting pressure and volume mixed up. You
could have a compressor that puts out 500 cubic feet a min. but not the
power to compress more than 50psi. and you can have a compressor that puts
out 300 # of pressure but just a .25 cubic feet a min. like those little
compressors that run off your car battery for flats.
Dick

--
Richard H. Neighbors
Building and repairing fine billiard cues for real pool players at
affordable prices.
Over 35 years exp. Located in Cincinnati OH
ph.# 513 233-7499
e-mail
web site http://www.dickiecues.com
"Ignoramus11278" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 07 Feb 2006 13:37:53 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:
On Tue, 7 Feb 2006 11:15:11 -0700, the renowned "Charles Spitzer"
wrote:


"Ignoramus11278" wrote in message
...
First, find out what your compressor is rated for. Second, for any
given pressure that is demanded by your actual tools that you plug in,
the most efficient compressor setting would be pressure just above
that. Increasing pressure beyond that only wastes energy.

really? when i'm blasting at 40psi, i can run a long time given a large
tank
between times the motor actually kicks on. if it was producing 45 psi in
the
tank, the motor would be running all the time.

If your compressor needed to run all the time to produce 40 PSI at
your demand rate, you could not go above 40 PSI. Since you can go
above 40 PSI, your motor would run intermittently.


Aside from the differential, what's the formula for energy stored in a
tank vs pressure? Proportional to the square of pressure maybe?

I would expect it to be proportional to cube of pressure, since
temperature of compressed air rises proportional to compression. That
extra heat is fully wasted, unlike the (potential) mechanical energy
of compressed air.

i