Home compressor 300 bar

[yorkiets]

Has anyone bought / used one of the £250 300 bar compressors on the auction site? Can’t link to it but search for 300 bar compressor finds it.

If they’re safe and reliable it sounds good deal for a club to buy...

[Jesim1]

Has anyone bought / used one of the £250 300 bar compressors on the auction site? Can’t link to it but search for 300 bar compressor finds it.

If they’re safe and reliable it sounds good deal for a club to buy...

This has come up several times and it always has the same replies - a "proper" 300bar compressor is the best part of £2/3k - if you feel you are safe using £250 very high pressure machine, which if it goes wrong will likely kill you, then that's you call

Usually these are supposed to be used in conjunction with another compressor, but not always, and for the money, risk and practicality, a cylinder seems a more logical way to go, or everyone would be buying these - but they don't.

So I'd say no, and a club should spend £3k on a reputable new one and get it serviced regularly just to cover themselves.

James

[Rich]

Our club has looked at buying a compressor and it's actually not that easy to justify the investment, if you can get your cylinders filled at a reasonable cost. If the club filled members' bottles for a fee, say £3 to £6 a time, is there a liability on the club's part for safety and so on? I bet that isn't covered by the usual insurance, let alone the moral dimension.

Then you have to think about powering the machine, do you choose electric or diesel? The electric ones usually have a running current of 16 amps so there's no way you can just plug them in, they need to be hard wired to a hefty supply. That pretty well negates the idea of members "borrowing" the compressor or taking turns to house it.

On top of that there is the regular servicing and the components for that have to be paid for.

We believe we are better off putting some money into more 300 bar bottles and make sure we always have a couple of full ones in stock. Our air demand is quite substantial as we have at the moment 72 members and we don't charge for air, it's part of your subscription package. I know many clubs charge per fill or a fee per visit for air.

[DedIdick]

Our club has one but at 50P a fill, it will be another 200 years before it's paid for itself!

[--ped--]

I have one on order and already have the 300 bar filter housing here just need to order the molecular sieve media to ensure no moisture gets into a cylinder or gun
many have bought them in the US and they seem to work well but you have to operate them correctly to avoid damage
when I'm finished it'll probally cost me £400-450 to build it how I want it -will I get my money back over taking my dive tank I think so as it's £5 a fill but cost's me £20 in fuel and two hours there and back so in reality a fill costs me £25 plus £40 for what I'd earn in the time it takes to go to the dive shop
when you factor that in it'll only 6 or 7 fills to break even

[Rich]

The travel cost is a big factor often overlooked, this is why our club keeps a number of bottles and normally we will send six at a time for refill, that brings the shared cost of the travel down to something tolerable.

-ped - would you not also spend some time actually doing the filling with your own compressor?

[aris]

Check this review and teardown

I believe he is quite happy with it.

https://youtu.be/7NdnItyJs-U

[mdunn]

hi ped, where do you take your tank to get filled,i live in leeds and 10 mins for me to get to shop. atb mick

[hammy]

I've been thinking of getting a compressor as well, it's costing me about £20 in costs to get my two bottles filled at the moment.

[Rich]

Another thought; if your rifle is happy with a fill pressure not too much above 200 bar AND you have your own compressor, perhaps 232 bar would be plenty and 300 bar not really necessary, as you could fill your own cylinder whenever you liked.

[Rapidnick]

I actually bought one recently from China and it arrived damaged (mounts broken) so I haven't tried it out yet. I've got my money back and am deciding what to do next. These machines are quite compact and appear well enough made. The cooling is done via a pump (supplied) so set up on a board is advisable to avoid mess. The instructions are a total joke-even for Chinese gear. Having inspected mine-they are all pretty similar-there is no way I'd recommend it for club use. The makers claim that it pumps up a cylinder up to 500cc in quite a short time to 300BAR but don't look to be able to fill your dive tank with one of these. It just isn't part of its spec.
I used a home compressor made in Korea for several years and found it very useful but when it gave up the ghost I couldn't find anyone to service it.

[secretagentmole]

Another thought; if your rifle is happy with a fill pressure not too much above 200 bar AND you have your own compressor, perhaps 232 bar would be plenty and 300 bar not really necessary, as you could fill your own cylinder whenever you liked.

Er one of my guns has a WP of 300 bar, ie it is a 300 bar fill....

[Rich]

.. which means you can only fully fill it once from your 300 bar bottle.

[angrybear]

I actually bought one recently from China and it arrived damaged (mounts broken) so I haven't tried it out yet. I've got my money back and am deciding what to do next. These machines are quite compact and appear well enough made. The cooling is done via a pump (supplied) so set up on a board is advisable to avoid mess. The instructions are a total joke-even for Chinese gear. Having inspected mine-they are all pretty similar-there is no way I'd recommend it for club use. The makers claim that it pumps up a cylinder up to 500cc in quite a short time to 300BAR but don't look to be able to fill your dive tank with one of these. It just isn't part of its spec.
I used a home compressor made in Korea for several years and found it very useful but when it gave up the ghost I couldn't find anyone to service it.

Did you have to pay VAT & import duty on it or did they "backdoor" it in through Europe ?

[Rabid]

I've been thinking about getting one for a while, I believe the one mentioned is not really suitable to fill dive bottles though.