Where Are The Aluminum Air Compressors?
Just the other day while I was draining the rusty water from the tank of my air compressor, I was wondering why I haven't seen any aluminum air compressors on the market. They don't rust, and they would be much lighter then the steel tanks. After I made it home from work that day, I decided to search and see if there are any aluminum compressors. It turns out that there are a couple options. One is from Maxus Tools, and the other is from Ridgid.
Toolsnob has a review of the 2 gallon Maxus from back in Dec 2007 and they list the price at only $150, which is a pretty good price. In another post they point out that the Ridgid 2.5 gallon looks to be the same compressor as the Maxus 2.5 gallon, and that Home Depot was selling them at a discount. It has been over a year now, and the price of the 2 gallon Maxus has gone up to over $200 on Amazon. Ridgid still lists an aluminum compressor on their site, but good luck finding it anywhere.
So, where are all the other brands with aluminum compressors? It is said that aluminum is the most abundant metal on the planet; so why are we still using the same old heavy rusty steel air tanks? I can not be the only person out there that likes to use light weight tools. As a finish carpenter I have to move my compressor around from room to room when installing trim, not to mention the times when I have to carry the compressor up 6 floors and down a mile of hallways on huge jobs. The thing to note is the weight difference between the two. My 1-gallon steel tank compressor weights 20lbs. The Maxus 2-gallon aluminum tank compressor weights 22lbs.
Manufacturers please take note, it is OK to use aluminum tanks for air compressors.
Maxus Compressors
