Hi GJ!

I'm starting to plan out my basement shop and have a couple options on air compressors.

The place I work at has a large automatic PCB assembly area, all pneumatically powered. Recently, we retired two industrial air compressors we had been using for the past 20 years or so. One is still good, so it will be kept as a spare. The other had a pump failure. The electric motor is still good, so it will be kept as a spare as well.

They have no use for the tank (80gal) so it has been offered to me.

Now, we have a couple of options here. I can either pick up a pump and motor to match the tank (5hp motor+pump = $480 or so) OR I can buy a new 60 gallon Porter Cable 3.7hp air compressor ($450 on sale) and just run the tanks in parallel.

The tank with a new motor/pump would give me a slightly higher CFM, but I'm thinking that it would be nicer to have the extra air capacity of a second large tank, plus (even though it's just a rebranded Chinese pump) a warranty to fall back on.

Thoughts?