Out of air

My air compressor died this weekend. It was a Campbell Hausfeld QuietAir 2 gallon compressor (FP2040) that wasn't very quiet to begin with. The pump started making even louder knocking noises about a week ago and taking longer and longer to fill the tank. This morning the tank was empty and wouldn't fill at all.

I disconnected the hose and closed all the valves to see if it would just fill the tank on its own. No needle movement on the guage, not even 1 psi. I took off the compression fitting to the pump and checked the air coming out of the pump. No pressure at all.

So, off came the pump head to take a peek inside. The piston uses a cheap plastic outer sleeve that does not center and wasn't sealing against the cylinder. The cylinder lifts straight out and there were large clumps of metallic dust under the piston, which had been grinding away against it. In other words, it's a piece of junk.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I'm mad because I bought this compressor instead of some cheaper ones as it was supposed to be quiet and my experience with it hasn't been good. It wasn't quiet (louder than a vacuum, but tolerable since it wasn't on all the time) and it turned out to be junk. I didn't expect it to last forever, but if I average two hours of duty time per kit, the total duty time of the pump was under 10 hours. Replacing the pump will cost almost as much as a new compressor and I don't think it's worth it.

On the other hand, I'm glad this is broken now so I can get a quieter compressor. The problem is, a lot of people recommended the QuietAir, so one person's "quiet" isn't the same as another. I'd like to find something 50db or less, so I can expand my spraying time into late night. Right now I can't spray after 10pm due to local noise ordinance. Though, hardly anyone lists the db rating for compressors - instead using labels like "quiet", but quiet compared to what?