Looking for 33" filter tower

[opie712]

Looking for a tower to add to my po for additional filtration

 

[CraigAClark]

Try calling L-Factor to find a dealer close to you. Just keep in mind that you need other items in addition to the tower for it to function properly. PMV, inlet side check valve and a bleeder before the PMV. Also the fittings needed for your configuration. Wall mount hardware would come in handy as well.

 

[opie712]

Yea I know I need all that I was trying to save a few bucks to see if I could juat get the tower second hand

 

[ti325v]

Yea I know I need all that I was trying to save a few bucks to see if I could juat get the tower second hand

They do come up periodically, and often at a massive savings. you gotta be patient, or call compressor repair shops. EP compressors sells on ebay, and has all manner used of stuff clogging up his shop.

 

[rcontrera]

I think you will find that dealers don't make much on those towers so there really isn't a lot of wiggle room. I recently bought one back from a customer and basically gave him my cost so that the only thing I saved was shipping.

 

[iain/hsm]

They do come up periodically, and often at a massive savings. you gotta be patient, or call compressor repair shops. EP compressors sells on ebay, and has all manner used of stuff clogging up his shop.

You have a number of potential problems with second hand filter shells bought from the likes of E-bay, private repair shops breaking for spares etc.

Mainly how you assess the remaining life expectancy and cycle fatigue?
If breaking for spares the seller is not exactly going to tell you the hard cycle life 0-5000 psi the shell has undergone over the last 15 or 20 years.

Most have a 15,000 cycle design life and some a 15 year life, some built out of
quality 7075-T6 alloy, others from low grade 6065-T6 alloy
Some built with a 4:1 safety factor from working pressure to burst, others only have a 2.75:1 factor of safety.

Just for consideration some time back I replaced a Bauer twin P-61 filter stack that had been subject to an internal fire, the repack cartridge had "swaged out the stainless cartridge tubing, the stainless has "blued" with the adiabatic heat generated, all caused by a dump valve water separator failure when zeolite is soaked under pressure. It was "on site" work so the old shells were left as client property with the advice to scrap them,

They ended up on E-bay, still working I guess, but for how long I sometimes wonder.

For the little these things cost I would always first consider new. Iain

 

[CraigAClark]

Iain, I've mentioned cycle life before. Nobody seems to care. When you deal with an industry that self regulates, these types of explanations fall on deaf ears. After all, the scuba industry thinks filling bottles without a containment fill station is fine.

 

[iain/hsm]

Iain, I've mentioned cycle life before. Nobody seems to care. When you deal with an industry that self regulates, these types of explanations fall on deaf ears. After all, the scuba industry thinks filling bottles without a containment fill station is fine.

Craig.

It's the hardest thing in the world for a private individual to chuck away "perfectly good" working zeolite or carbon ( or soda lime for that matter)
Hard enough getting them to replace oil and fit a new filter cartridge prior to the season starting.

We are at the rough end of the industry, out back out of site, some would even suggest where we belong LOL

So much so I guess that the cycle life on the shell is just so far off the radar for most I can honestly count on one hand the number I have been asked for as end of life replacements.

Most are for 9/16-18 thread damage or 0-ring "land" corrosion

Mind you its also not helped with us lot fitting low cost combo filter separators
either on the budget range of pumps to shave costs down to the minimum.
Nor is it helped by not requiring a data plate on the shell with the DOM

15000 cycles on a four dump per hour condensate cycle dump timer is 3750 hours
with an average dive shop running 400 to 800 hours per year thats a ten year life at best and five at worst for these cheap filter/sep units

Bauer have a very nice chart regarding filter shell life expectancy pity no one takes a blind bit of notice of that either.

Containment boom boxes are unheard of over here fire stations using fibre wraps only,

In the main we tend to have historically "weeded" out the "rusty thin skins" during visual and hydro over here but with some of the new super high tensile cylinders from Europe beginning to show up with corresponding thinner walls, and with corrosion and oxidation rates remaining the same I guess its just the mean time between failure that reduces.

But with a new P3 33 inch filter shell at around half the price of an equivalent Bauer shell I cant see what more we can do to help :depressed:

Iain

 

[opie712]

Thanks everyone Jim Shelden is hooking me up

 

[Namreg 58]

But with a new P3 33 inch filter shell at around half the price of an equivalent Bauer shell I cant see what more we can do to help :depressed:

Iain

Lets disregard purchasing Bauer products as they dwell in the realm of ridiculously priced items mainly supported by large entities lacking a brain and any semblance of intelligence such as government departments with large budgets intent on squandering our tax dollars with a clear conscience.

Your " oh so subtle " subliminal implication that these filter towers are cheap fall on deaf ears/ eyes to us as consumers. The simple reality is that scuba divers compare these filter towers with another well known pressure vessel of similar size known as a scuba tank and when the price of the tower is 3 to 4 times that of the tank, the perception is that of extremely bad value and to be avoided like a carcass that's been left in the sun for a couple of days.

If you need proof, look at the completed listings on ebay for new filter towers..........not a single sale for aeons. If I were a reseller I would be having a long talk to my supplier/ manufacturer if my margins were already low.

In my old scuba club which I left 2 years ago but still have contact with, there were at least 20 compressors, many of which were pumping stick nitrox with nothing more than an inadequate PO filter or equivalent. No prizes for guessing why!

I'm in the market for at least 3 x P1 triplex or 16" towers but if I can't get them each for the price of a new scuba tank, I'll wait for a "bargain" to materialize on ebay like everyone else does. I currently use a PO filter off my Mariner1 on my Noah Howden portable as it pumps around the same volume at half the weight and size.

Iain, I couldn't help but notice that while you were dreaming, Jim Shelden made another sale.......funny that!!!!