Air Hoses

Air Compressor Hoses

Getting yourself a quality air compressor hose is essential to ensure stable air pressure, a tight seal and a consistent power output, but with a huge range of variety of hoses available on the market, it can be difficult to know where to start when making your selection. Whether you’re a home or professional air compressor user, you’ll need a dependable air hose to get the most out of your air tools. When choosing the right type of air hose, keep the following in mind

• What length hose do you need?
• Standard or recoil hose?
• What material?
• What should the internal diameter of the air hose be?

Quality Considerations Compressor Hoses

Length

The length of your compressor hose will directly affect the usability and performance of your air tools. Heaviness and bulkiness aside, the longer the hose from your compressor to your tool, the more air/pressure will be lost on route. Your goal should always be to strike a balance between mobility and low pressure losses. Pressure losses accelerate along the length of a hose, meaning the longer the hose, the more pressure is lost as compressed air travels to its final destination.

Standard vs. Recoil

Standard hoses lie flat, and can be stored by loosely wrapping it or by mounting it on a hose reel. Alternatively, recoil hoses are designed like traditional telephone cords in tight, tense coils that retract when released, compressing for easy storage.

Material

The material your air hose is made from is going to drastically affect the how flexible the line is, the weight of the line, how it’ll perform and how long it’ll last overall. The following hose materials are available

• PVC
• Rubber
• Polyurethane

Diameter

Air hoses are measured by their internal diameter and come in standard sizes of ¼”, ⅜” or ½” or metric sizes of 6mm, 8mm, or 10mm. Higher internal diameter correlates to higher air capacity.