I need a small like 20 gallon portable compressor for my hunting camp. It seems like most small compressors are oil less in design. I am old school and all my compressors had a crankcase. I am a little leery on the oil less design. Am I being to paranoid?

Probably, I have a cheapo oil less unit I bought so long ago I can't remember when or where but it's at least 20 years now and it's probably chinese made.

Still works.

way too noisy for me, and i have hearing loss.
they also seem to take longer to pump up. but that may be because the noise they make is irritating to me.

I wouldn’t buy an oiless. My compressor of 20 years is a 20 gallon oiled unit, a Craftsman. True 2 hp which is the most you can make with 120volt.

i got a junky old craftsman portable at an auction a couple years back for $5.00 that had a broken handle and messed up wheels.
that thing pumps up fast and is very quiet. it's a 2hp/120v setup. i'm not sure what size tank it has though.

If you want a quiet air compressor, I bought a California Air Tools unit, very very quiet and oil less too.

What do you need it for and how much is it going to get used? Unless you're regularely using it, and it doesn't sound like you are since it's for a hunting camp, an oil less one should be perfectly fine.

I have two oil less compressors. I was told that oil less were not any good and to stay away from them. One is about 20 years old and I keep waiting for it to die. Both are still sunning strong. They are noisy though.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I can roll the dice on an oil-less style. My 40 plus year old compressor works fine but the tank is rusted through. I was hoping to find a newer style with a junk compressor and swap my components to it. Being the use is minimal I suppose a oil-less could work. I really do not have to have it but it sure is handy to have around.

My main compressors are piston type but I also have a couple of small oil less. One for my airbrush and the other just to fill tires when needed.
Slow and annoyingly noisy.

If all you need is a tank, maybe one of those portable air tanks will work, maybe you could add the platform your motor and compressor are on to the air tank. Most of the time, the tanks are the problem with the small air compressors, people apparently don't think they need to drain the water out of those small tanks. Gene