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Home air compressors do not have the same PSI capabilities as the professional equipment designed for paintballing, which are easily found at local paintball fields.
Most standard air compressors for the home will top out at 200 PSI, while a paintball gun tank will need around one thousand PSI from the compressor to get a complete fill.
For height velocity professional paintball guns, the tanks require the highest PSI levels possible at four thousand and five hundred Pounds Per Square inch, or more for some designs.
A car tire pump can effectively fill an HPA, High-Pressure Air, but carbon dioxide tanks also need different equipment.
What type of Air Compressor do you need?
When refilling a tank for paintballing, a homeowner or workshop owner will have to purchase a High-Pressure Air compressor. The same level or higher as the tire pumps used in professional car garages, carpentry workshops, and the local paintball fields.
Otherwise, to get the highest quality refill, one must purchase four thousand five hundred PSI-capable air compressors. Below is a quick list of five available paintball quality compressors:
- GX CS2 and CS3 PCP – Best Paintball air compressors on the market
- Orion Motor Tech – four thousand five hundred PSI compressor
- Yong Heng – High-Pressure air compressor
- Spiritech – HPA and paintball gun air compressor
- Smarketbuy – three thousand PSI air compressor
Where Should You Buy it?
The best place to procure an air compressor would be from a story; go to where the experts are and where the professionals go.
This method of shopping and purchasing a paintball gun air compressor will guarantee the highest quality and most detailed information needed to make intelligent decisions.
Online stores will have paintball equipment for sale if in-person storefront shopping is not an option. In addition, major online department stores such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and valken.com will have competitively priced options for air compressors.
A current top-of-the-line option would be the Coltri MCH6 paintball air compressor, built in Italy.
Which Air Compressors won’t work?
Low-pressure air compressors will not work when refilling paintball tanks. However, most at-home air compressors for filling bike tires or sporting equipment will have two hundred PSI capabilities.
That level of pressure will not fill a paintball tank completely. Standard portable nail gun compressors come with a max of one hundred and sixty-five PSI.
Small bike tire air compressors, sporting ball pumps, or even car tire plug-in air compressors do not create enough pressure for higher-end equipment.
Even commercial and industrial grade compressors at one thousand PSI will not be enough for professional grade paintball tanks.
How Long Does it Take to Set up?
Refilling them with the proper equipment takes only seconds, depending on your paintball gun tank size. What takes time is filling the compressor with compressed air.
The setup will take around fifteen to thirty minutes max; the exact time depends on the size of the compressor and the system’s complexity.
Remember, empty the air compressor after you have finished using it as part of regular maintenance, which will prolong your equipment’s life.
How Long Does it Take to Fill a Paintball Tank?
Filling a paintball tank does vary since it depends on the size of your tank. Filling a tank will take a few minutes at least, but it can take up to a half an hour, since the process is different for every paintball tank.
Final Thoughts on Filling a Paintball Tank with an Air Compressor
It comes down to either going to the right place or having the right equipment to fill the tanks of a paintball gun. There is no substitute for plus four thousand PSI compressors to ensure the tank is served completely.
Local fields and most sporting goods stores will have the right tools to fill multiple tanks at a reasonable price; lower-level equipment, car tire stores, and commercial or industrial compressors will fit the bill.
Remember that most hand pumps or plug-in air pumps are not strong enough for most types of paintball gun air tanks.
