For pumping air in the tyres. In a reasonable cost.
How good are the battery operated ones? Or the foot operated pumps will be better?
Thanx
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The best cheap footpump I have had was/is from Wilkinsons. One of its advantages is that the hose is longer than on other similar products.
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L\'escargot.
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I have a Halfords one, run from a 12v socket in the car. Power lead is a good length, it has accesories for blowing up footballs and air beds and one can set the pressure required in the tyre, switch it on and leave it. It shuts off when the required pressure is reached. I checked with a proper gauge to see what pressure it gave and now make the necessaty 2 psi adjustment when setting the pump. Fine reliable device - I have had it so long I can't remember how much it cost! £20?
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How long does it takes to inflate single tyre? I saw one such item in Wilkinson, but the label says it takes 6-7 minutes to inflate single tyre (not written from what pressure though). For 4 tyres, it comes to half an hour !!
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Probably a long time - I have never needed or tried to infalte a tyre from flat and I can't imagine a circumstance in which I would want or need to. However with the shut off at the right pressure facility you can leave it to do its own thing - you will hear when it cuts out! Why would you want to inflate 4 tyres from 'flat'?
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Sorry, I don't actually want to inflate tyres from flat :)
Just wondering how much time it takes to inflate a tyre from say 25 psi to 33 psi.
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I have a £3 pump picked up from a discount store which is for elergencies as I tend to use garage airlines. My A2 had a pump to go with the bottle of goo which I only used once on a colleagues car. She had a flat tyre and it inflated in less than a minute - my cheapy version wouldn't be as quick as that. It takes about that to inflate a football!
Check out e-bay and see if there are any offical manufacturers versions for sale.
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2 or 3 minutes with my Halfords thingy
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Buy yourself a Dunlop Major on e-bay. [They turn up fairly regularly]
With a good clean-out; it'll be ready to perform faultlessly for another fifty years.
I got mine for 99p. Good value considering that they were over £50 when last sold in the '80s.
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>Just wondering how much time it takes to inflate a tyre from say 25 psi to 33 psi.
I reckon on about ten strokes per psi with my single-barrel Michelin footpump (about £15, from Halfords IIRC) but that will vary with the size of the tyre. Mine lose very little air in normal use, so the pump only gets serious work if I'm upping the pressures for a full load. I've used the same pump to inflate a tyre from nearly flat to get me home across town when I found a screw in it; probably took no more than three minutes.
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I have a twin-barrel Michelin footpump bought online for around £20. Don't bother with the dirt cheap footpumps, they don't last five minutes. I threw away three before I saw the light and bought a Michelin.
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So from "flat" to 30psi that would be 3000 strokes! what a great way to build leg muscles! you would need to ensure that you changed legs about half way, or you may end up looking like a "Fiddler Crab", and with huge muscles on one leg you would probably walk like one too!. ;-)
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I failed maths in school, but I think that 30 x 10 = 300, not 3000! I have both an electric pump from Telegraph reader's offer, and a single barrel footpump. I prefer the footpump as the electric one is so noisy I'm loth to use it in the street.
P.
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I had a Halfords one for some years which was great, might even be the same as mentioned elsewhere. It gave up the ghost and I was given a cheapy little thing as a birthday present which takes forever - I reckon about 5 minutes for 4 psi. And it has no on/off switch like the Halfords one which is a real pain. Auto Express had a review recently and recommended a couple around £25.
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The £30 compressor frequently advertised in the Telegraph and by the likes of Coopers of Stortford has served me well for over five years. However, it's not as compact, quiet and powerful as the similar MB accessory that I picked up on e-Bay, the availability of which I am checking out.
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I agree with Nick . Autcoar tests said Michelin twin was best. It IS> I Bought one: sturdy and reliable guage. Halfords twin foot pump was carp.. fell to bits.
madf
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Do you want it for home use only or will you carry it around in the boot?
footpumps are quite heavy and electric ones can be bulky.
The only time I have needed to pump up a tyre from flat was when some scroat let it down.
I have used a Hella (TUV approved) foot pump for years but even that needed a new connector tube.
A few years ago I bought a cheapy electric unheard of brand from Macro for £4.99
It is noisy and bulky but it works OK. I have used on the Yaris to up pressure from 18 to 33 OK.
I happened to notice earlier today that even Tesco sell a foot pump.
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Beware of cheap footpumps which have a short cylinder and therefore give a low output. My current (Wilkinsons own brand) has a 120 mm long cylinder but in the past I bought one which had a length of only 80% of that.
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L\'escargot.
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I bought a Rolson 12v air compressor off eBay for around £12 delivered. Still going strong and doing the job. The analogue gauge is inaccurate though, I use the digital gauge I had already to aid in setting the pressures correctly. It has no fancy autoshutoff or anything but it takes around a minute to inflate from, say, 20 to 30PSI. Perfectly fine for the occasional air top up.
Have you thought about getting one of those battery booster packs with a built in air compressor and torch? I carry one in the boot now and it's quite useful.
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" I use this and it is really good quality
www.international-tool.co.uk/products/product.asp?...2"
I bought one of these, so now have three for comparison:
* This one I find cumbersome and the gauge is useless, plus there is no pre-set. It is certainly no faster, and I think actually slower, than the other two.
* The first one I referred to above is more compact and has a clear and accurate digital gauge that can be pre-set.
* The Mercedes one I bought off e-Bay is the best in terms of compactness, noise and power, although its gauge is poor. However, its current equivalent is £100.
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LIDLs have got a double-barrelled foot-pump for three quid from next week, and I've just paid that for a single barrelled Wilko job when mine broke at the week-end.
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I too recommend the Michelin Twin-Barrelled Footpump, it wasn't particularly cheap but has functioned perfectly for over three years now and shows no signs of failing.
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"double-barrelled foot-pump for three quid"
Worth looking out for, but its effectiveness will depend on its length, as the last bit of the cylinder does most of the work. I've got a short 2-barrel pump that I keep for emergencies, and although it shifts a reasonable amount of air at low pressures, it takes forever to get the last bit in. A long stirrup pump is probably the best manual arrangement - I'm tempted to try a big cycle 'track pump'...
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Having been through a succession of variously branded Chinese footpumps, I followed Screwloose's advice and bought a Kismet "Popular" footpump at a carboot sale today.
This is a really sound engineering job with oil points at all bearings, a rigid frame and a solid brass barrel. Needless to say, it works perfectly following the fitment of a new rubber seal to the valve connector.
Does anyone know what the correct lubricant for the piston seal is - it's almost certainly a leather washer and I'm very reluctant to apply mineral oil to it. Possibly neatsfoot oil?
659.
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years ago when bike profficency tests were taught at school, we were instructed to keep our tyre pump (which had leather washer) in good working order, by applying a few drops of linseed oil into it.
Billy
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Thanks, Billy. That sounds like good advice - mineral oil is not good for leather. The "Kismet" pump cost less than a new Chinese one and will probably last another lifetime.
659.
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"The analogue gauge is inaccurate"
As are the gauges on nearly all electric pumps, as it is telling you the value on the high-pressure side of the valve. When you use a footpump, there is enough time between strokes to get a stabilised value. As you say, a separate digital gauge will give an accurate figure, and if you let the electric pump go a bit further than necessary, then it's a simple job to finalise with the digital one.
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