I have just made a rather expensive mistake when purchasing an air compressor  :roll:  I managed to buy one that was just not man enough for the job and just will not inflate the balloons anytime today  

I should be able to re-sell it on eBay since it is probably fine for using for airbrushing with (which to be fair is what it was advertised as!) but I am now back to being without a suitable compressor.

Those of you that do balloon décor and have a compressor what kind do you have?  I would rather not make any more expensive mistakes  

Sorry Yvonne cant help - dont use one

We either buy Tanks of Nitrogen (about £15 ish a T size tank) Compressed Air ( about £5 ish a T size Tank) to use with our split second sizers or we use our precision air machine - think I got away with him not buying one of those as well.

Ask onthe other forum - someone may use one on there - they are quite chatty at the moment for a change

Pam
xx

I did consider buying tanks but quite honestly I can barely lift the regular tanks and think I would kill my back in seconds trying lug them in and out of the car  :?   I have just posted on the other forum but who knows if and when I'll receive a response but in the meantime I'll hang on here to see if any of the other decorators use compressors.

Whats the 'other' forum guys? thanks

LOL It's called the balloon consultant but to be fair I think this one will soon surpass it as the guy who runs it doesn't seem to be too bothered by it as links are broken and it seems really cobbled together.  A lot of people also don't go on very often and this place is a lot more busy.  If only we could get the people on there over here and this place would begin to rival Balloon HQ  

Balloonhq - is fantastic!!!! I go on it everyday to see what pictures have been posted and have done ever since we started - Its what made me take on an  internet connection **** years ago ( only dial up then as well)

Maybe we should all go on the balloonconsultant.co.uk and promote this site - think Graham would love you forever.... I have promoted it myself and some have joined here because of it.

Especially as these days those that started as decorators and have found amazing long skinny balloons talk of Deco Twisting - when those of us who started as Twisters and got into Decor have done it naturally all the time...

Twisters seem to be a lot more pro-active and eager to share with each other than decorators - think its down to the fact that we have the care and share days and jams and maybe even naturally (JOb ego etc) want to 'show off' .... and decorators work is without an audience - most of them run their business by only doing the first basic course in decor - when dressing a room they have no instant feed back from the customer as working entertainers do. I have had some even say to be its a lonely occupation to do.

Pam
xx

Back on topic - if I remember rightly Yvonne the compressors decorators in the states have used in the past when discussed are the ones that look like the old fashioned cylinder vacum cleaners - but they can be very noisey.. Think they where sold in places like Costco or Macro over here

Dont know if newer styles have ever been made

Pam

Quote from: "Pam Pearce"Balloonhq - is fantastic!!!!

I also love balloonhq, I'm on there all the time looking for ideas. I'm forever copying pictures into my idea's folder. I used one of the pictures I found as an idea to create some Christmas tree's with decorations this morning for a garden centre's Christmas tree promotion.

Regards pumps Yvonne, not much help I don't expect, but I use two types I brought with a job lot to get me started.

One is the Conwin split second duel sizer, which I absolutely love, although quite pricey I think to buy new.

The only concern I have is if it ever went faulty on me, I'm going to start looking for a second one as a back up, although not the same, a cheaper version so I will be interested to know how you get on with whatever one you decide to go for.

What sort of compressor are you afetr, can you give me an idea a link to a pic or something. I am in the motor trade and as such use compressors in various shapes and size. I may be able to point you in a good priced one
, maybe
 :lol:

Cheers John but just been over at Roger's today having a play with some décor stuff and took a look at his compressor and it is fooking huge and noisy.  I'm about to go and look on eBay for an air inflater instead  :roll:   Also had a small education on nitrogen tanks and costs and have decided that as soon as I need to do a big precision air filled job I'll invest in nitrogen and use my Heidi.

Wise move

We have had our Zibi inflators for years and they just keep going, so cannot recommend them enough. One we bought second hand in 1990 and other than new swithes still works perfectly. Some of them even have timers for sizing now, but we still have the basics (must say the most use they get is training sessions and kids party balloons)

We also had a coolaire - one of the big old blue ones - problem we had was it sucked up any spare balloons apound into the filter and eventualy burnt itself out by that - but I did like the design. believe the new ones have a foot pedal, which has to make life easier.

But for speed of use - and Conwin will love me for this - I have to say the one that saves me time and money is the precision air machine - its a timed dual inflator like your heidi and the split second so you get the sizing. New its a lot of money - I got mine from ebay - they dont come up very often and I dont think people that are looking to buy on there know what they are so I have to say I paid a very good price for it.

I did not know how much I would use it or like it, as I bought it on price rather than what I thought was need, I have always been a nitrogen girl and still do use it and teach it but I have to say I wuld not be without the precision air machine now.

Pam