We recently got a new tent - Berghaus Air 8.1 Nightfall Tent and it comes with a manual pump. While it works great, it's also exhausting and causing me back issue.
We got a Kampa Dometic Gale 12v High Pressure Electric Pump but found it very poor and it was struggling to inflate the air tent. So we have sent it back.
Can anyone please recommend me a decent 12v & 240v pump to inflate our air tent?
We use the dometic gale pump for our air awning and very pleased with it.
My understanding is, it is not a high pressure pump, but high volume, our awning only requiring low pressure for the air beams. Inflates our awning in a couple of minutes or so. around 10psi if I remember correctly. It seems to take a long time to get sufficient air to show, but then quickly reaches shut down point.
Quote: Originally posted by tsutton on 10/5/2023
We got a Kampa Dometic Gale 12v High Pressure Electric Pump but found it very poor and it was struggling to inflate the air tent.
You don't want a high pressure pump, you need a high airflow low pressure blower.
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 11/5/2023
I've got a Kampa Dometic Gale pump for my air awning, and like Ancient Uncle, find it perfectly suited.
I've pumped up awning with the supplied hand pump and that is erring towards just too much hard work, the electric pump it's up in 3-4 mins.
Can't see why it should be inadequate for your tent, unless you have a leaky hose coupling.
3-4 minutes? Mine took longer than that and wasn't leaking air. We even tightened it, but it barely made any impact. With the hand pump, it worked, but like you said, it's hard work, especially for an old fart like me!
I stand to be corrected on exact air pressure for this tent, but would expect around 7psi required (my air awning is 9psi max). To achieve that sort of pressure a positive displacement (piston) pump is almost certainly required, a typical fan type pump would likely never achieve that, so many inflatable boat, airbed, etc. type high volume/low pressure (fan) pumps would not be suitable. Equally car tyre type pumps (high pressure/low volume) would also be highly unsuitable!
If looking at electric pumps then either a pressure release blow off valve (set at the right pressure!), or a electronic trip out (again set to the right pressure) would be highly desirable to prevent damage from over inflation! Trusting to a manually read pressure gauge to know when to turn off pump carries a degree of risk if attention wanders!
TBF I didn't look at too many alternatives to the Kampa Gale I bought, as it ticked ALL the boxes, right couplings, ACCURATE automatic pressure cut out switch, positive displacement pump with more than adequate pressure (up to 12.5psi), sufficient displacement volume to achieve quick inflation. You may not favour the Kampa Gale, but you need to look for an alternative pump with a very similar specification.
As to inflation time of my air awning, your tent probable has a greater air beam volume, so would take proportionally longer to inflate, but should still only be minutes!
we sold our air awning recently and we had a Streetwize rechargable inflator which was brill no wires etc but I dont think they do them anymore
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Streetwize-LWACC398-Inflator-Rechargeable-Accessories/dp/B01I1O692O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pb_opt?ie=UTF8
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Topic: Decent 240v Pump for Air Tent?
