strathspey Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Can anyone recommend a decent quality footpump. The ones I have tried are incredibly flimsy, and in them all, the little plunger which is supposed to push in the tyre valve, wears quickly, and with the valve plunger not depressed, no air can get through into the tyre. I thought I'd get decent quality by buying a Michelin footpump, but within a few months, the metal cross-bar broke in normal use, and shortly after I repaired it, the plunger probelem appeared again. Do I really have to go to the expense of buying a compressor, or is there a quality pump out there somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngee Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Not a footpump, but I bought a Blackburn Airtower to pump up my bike tyres to 100psi, and found it OK to 'top up' my motorhome tyres with. I'm not sure what would happen if I needed to pump one up from flat, though. I'd probably blow a fuse like my Halfords 12v pump does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Hi, To adjust and maintain my car and M/Home tyre and air suspension pressures I use my bicycle track pump,it is a Blow Joe sport, has a decent pressure gauge as well. Regards Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strathspey Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 Thanks for you suggestions folks - I'll look into these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 There's a May 2005 comparative report on foot pumps on http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/56696/foot_pumps.html I can appreciate that a hand/foot pump will be adequate for inflating bike tyres, adjusting 'air bellows' pressure, or even making minor upwards adjustments to motorhome tyre pressures. But you'd be very optimistic to expect to use it to increase a motorhome's tyre pressure significantly and, practically speaking, you'd never inflate a flat motorhome tyre with one. (In fact, even with a good quality 12V pump, you'd be lucky to inflate a flat motorhome tyre to normal working pressure.) If a 12V pump blows fuses, then there's either something wrong with the pump itself or the power supply is under-fused. My experience is that 12V pumps can 'surge' and, even if a pump's stated Amperage requirement does not exceed that of the power supply's fuse, the fuse can still blow when the pump starts to run. I'm currently using a Ring RAC-700 12V pump. This is not the greatest of products design-wise. Its pressure-gauge is badly inaccurate, its connection to the tyre-valve is tricky and its 3-metre power-cable length will be far too short for use with most motorhomes. A 12V power-supply fused to a minimum of 15A is essential. But it has got a hefty electric motor, can be run from my motorhome's dashboard 20A power-socket, wasn't outrageously expensive, and has proved capable of making large adjustments to my Hobby's 215/75 R16 tyres (eg. increasing pressure from 50psi to 60psi) reasonably rapidly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmbeedee Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Derek, I don't know if you have tried a bicycle track pump as you seem to doubt it's ability to pump up a MH tyre from flat. I too have a Blackburn track pump at home & can assure you it is perfectly possible to use it to pump up a car tyre from flat. They do move a surprising amount of air, without too much effort, as you are pushing down against the ground. For those unfamiliar with these pumps, they closely resemble the wartime stirrup pumps. As long as you buy a decent one (from your local cycle shop of course :-D ) it will come with an accurate gauge as well. A few years ago one of my neighbours went on holiday leaving young teenage son at home. He had use of Mom's car to get to work every day. First day, he discovers a puncture. Not being willing to pay to get puncture fixed, he came & borrowed my track pump. This happened every morning for the rest of the week. Tyre flat, pumped up in a few minutes. Now this wasn't as big as a MH tyre, but not far off, so it would be perfectly feasible to use a track pump as suggested above. The other bonus is that once you've used one of these for your bicycle tyres, especially if you have those very thin Presta valves, you'll never want to go back to those flimsy hand pumps ever again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johngee Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Comments re a decent electric pump accepted. I bought the Blackburn pump primarily to inflate the tyres on our Bromptons, as the supplied pump was struggling after about 70psi. As I am no expert in these matters, I was pleasantly surpised that flat to 100psi on these admittedly small tyres only took 5 'pumps' with the new toy, so I thought I'd give it a go on the motorhome. If I get a puncture I'll call the RAC, and for small pressure adjustments the bike pump will be fine. Saves buying & carrying more kit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 Can you carry the pump on a cycle or does it only stay at home because its too bulky to carry? (sounds like it if its a stirrup pump type) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmbeedee Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 I don't think you would want to carry a track pump with you on your bike, Libby. (lol) Too big & heavy, not intended for that, only to keep at home in your garage. There are many types of small hand pumps available for carrying with you on your bike, but (depending on size) they can require a lot of strokes to pump up from flat. Also, track pumps can pump up to quite high pressures, usually over 100 psi. Most hand pumps will struggle to reach those kind of pressures, but will of course get you home in an emergency situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 emmbeedee - 2009-10-30 10:33 AM Derek, I don't know if you have tried a bicycle track pump as you seem to doubt it's ability to pump up a MH tyre from flat. I too have a Blackburn track pump at home & can assure you it is perfectly possible to use it to pump up a car tyre from flat. If you tell me you've let out all the air from one of your Auto-Roller's tyres and been able to pump it easily back to its original pressure using your Blackburn pump, then I'll be happy to accept your word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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