Hand-operated booster

[delta-v]

Was looking at getting a baby Haskel and then someone suggested one of these:
ROB Series Rebreather Oxygen Gas Booster - HPT

Apparently cheaper to buy, and of course don't need an air supply. Seem ideal for personal home-based use.

Anyone have experience with this brand/model in particular, or hand-operated boosters in general?

 

[manni-yunk]

Was looking at getting a baby Haskel and then someone suggested one of these:
ROB Series Rebreather Oxygen Gas Booster - HPT

Apparently cheaper to buy, and of course don't need an air supply. Seem ideal for personal home-based use.

Anyone have experience with this brand/model in particular, or hand-operated boosters in general?

Based on the amount of air a booster uses, I would imagine that you would be pumping that thing all day long, and then some, to get any meaningful boosting capacity.

 

[delta-v]

Based on the amount of air a booster uses, I would imagine that you would be pumping that thing all day long, and then some, to get any meaningful boosting capacity.

The spec sheet claims 25 seconds to boost to 200bar from an inlet pressure of 150bar. Or 105 seconds from 100bar. You make a valid point though. Perhaps someone who owns one of these can chime in with real numbers : )

 

[tbone1004]

I bet those are probably inflated numbers more than anything. I'd only use that if I were boosting low pressure, small volume O2 bottles for ccr. No way I'd use that for regular use. Spend the money on an electric booster, or an air booster with a shop compressor if you're using it for home use. The electric compressors are wonderful little things.

 

[delta-v]

I bet those are probably inflated numbers more than anything. I'd only use that if I were boosting low pressure, small volume O2 bottles for ccr. No way I'd use that for regular use. Spend the money on an electric booster, or an air booster with a shop compressor if you're using it for home use. The electric compressors are wonderful little things.

That's exactly what I'm looking to do. Boost the O2/DIL 3-litres from AL80 stages to save a trip to the LDS every week. Once supply pressures get too low, it's back to the LDS for AL80 fills. I figure I can get away with just one trip a month or less.

Do you have a link to any electric gas boosters? The only one I found was for $15,000, which is way more than a baby Haskel running off an LP compressor.

 

[manni-yunk]

The spec sheet claims 25 seconds to boost to 200bar from an inlet pressure of 150bar. Or 105 seconds from 100bar. You make a valid point though. Perhaps someone who owns one of these can chime in with real numbers : )

Yes - thats what the specs say, on a little 3 liter tank. Not sure Im believeing it even on a 3 liter tank.

Maybe its possible. Im a skeptic.

 

[tbone1004]

problem with the baby haskels is they tend to explode after too much use. You can find masterlines for like $5k-$7k used for the big ones then you can just rent O2, air, and helium bottles from the gas supplier and not have to go to the LDS. If you're going to buy a haskel, buy a big one, but you also have to buy a continuous duty air compressor which is minimum $500. Guess it all depends on how much you're planning on using it, but I'm thinking that pumping would get real old real fast having to do it for 5-10 minutes..... Though it has the advantage of being able to be used wherever you end up diving so just leave the supply bottles in the truck.

 

[delta-v]

I found an owner's review on another forum. Unfortunately he hasn't said how it performed with the handle - he used the air drive. It boosted O2 from 95 bar to 205 bar in 15 minutes which is quite slow. That boost would take a fraction of that time on the Sport Haskel I have used. However the review is very old and the specs may have changed.

However, he paid (in 2006) Eu1100 (excl VAT, excl whips), which is about $1000 cheaper than the Mini Sport Haskel available at DGX. And of course that doesn't have a hand drive.

---------- Post added December 29th, 2014 at 07:59 PM ----------

problem with the baby haskels is they tend to explode after too much use. You can find masterlines for like $5k-$7k used for the big ones then you can just rent O2, air, and helium bottles from the gas supplier and not have to go to the LDS. If you're going to buy a haskel, buy a big one, but you also have to buy a continuous duty air compressor which is minimum $500. Guess it all depends on how much you're planning on using it, but I'm thinking that pumping would get real old real fast having to do it for 5-10 minutes..... Though it has the advantage of being able to be used wherever you end up diving so just leave the supply bottles in the truck.

What's your opinion of the Mini Sport Haskel, new for $2500? I'm only looking at messing about at home so it's not going to get any serious use.

I was hoping not to get involved with a LP compressor, filters and what-not, but all that seems unavoidable now : (

 

[tbone1004]

you don't have to filter the lp compressors, just have an air drier on it. Ask a few guys on here what they think of their mini sports after they bend themselves into a pretzel.... They got hot very quickly and since they aren't oiled, it can ruin them quickly

A used AG-30 is a better investment, about $3k used, but well worth it.
For Sale Hydraulics International Compact Oxygen Booster
This is a low pressure one, only pumps to 2400psi, but for around $1k usd if you're only pumping lp tanks it is worth it to save the money there.
New MPS-C2 air drive boosters are about $3k

Higher compression ratios can allow you to boost to higher pressures and suck down from lower supply pressures for some boosters. Check CCR World and Rebreather World for more info, lots of stuff on those two sites.

 

[delta-v]

Lots of information there, thanks! Didn't know about the MPS-C2 electric booster - definitely going to look into that. Let's see!