Compressed Air Receiver Sizing

Required receiver gallons from tool CFM-at-duty-cycle list and pump.

Run the calculator

Example

You enter

Tools cfm 4, duty cycle 0.5; cfm 3, duty cycle 0.4; cfm 8, duty cycle 0.3
Pump SCFM 5
Pressure high (psi) 175
Pressure low (psi) 125
Drawdown minutes 1

You get

Demand SCFM 5.6
Deficit (SCFM) 0.6
Receiver (ft³) 0.1764
Concurrent tools (pump alone) 2

Details, formula, and sources

V = (t × (C_demand − C_pump) × P_atm) / (P1 − P2). Convert ft³ to gallons via 7.4805. Concurrent-tools count from a tool-list with duty-cycle prefix sum.

Compressed Air and Gas Institute (CAGI) handbook by name; ISO 8573 by name for air-quality classes.

CAGI guides free at cagi.org.

Estimate. AHJ and licensed mechanical contractor govern. ACCA Manual J / D / S supersede rules of thumb.

Field names used by the API: tools, pump_scfm, p_high_psi, p_low_psi, drawdown_minutes, demand_scfm, deficit_scfm, receiver_ft3, concurrent

Atmospheric pressure 14.7 psi unless user supplies altitude correctionNIST