Nuvair 3.5G Compressor

[paxtang]

Hey guys looking to buy a small portable compressor and cant find much out on my own.
Its a nuvair 3.5g I found locally, guy says 3 years old only 11 hours on the meter. Its
got the 5.5 honda. He also said he bought brand new and right after the 3rd stage went out
and had to send in for repair but no problems since. Price is $1300. First is this a good deal?
Also what is the duty cycle of this thing. I know it takes about 20 min to fill an 80cf but can
you fill another right after or does it need a rest? Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.
My last compressor was a davey MC1A which was a beast. But that is all I have ever known.
Thanks!

 

[clownfishsydney]

I am pretty sure that the Nuvair is a Coltri rebadged. Coltri (Italian) make very good compressors. I know a number of friends who have them. At $1300, it is a bargain. Even if something goes wrong, the price to purchase the parts to repair still makes it a cheap compressor. You can fill tank after tank, no need to stop.

 

[paxtang]

The reason I ask about the duty cycle is although I cant find specs on this exact compressor since its a few years old, the new
models state they are not designed to fill cascade bottles which made me think they must need a break..??

 

[Camerone]

Just watch your head temps on them and you'll be fine. They're easy to work on and inexpensive to maintain. A couple of AL80s in a row won't kill it. I use mine all the time on a set of doubles, plus a couple of stage bottles before I give it a rest... usually while prepping or cleaning gear up.

It's not fast, but it works. The only real enemy of the unit is water -- drain the coalescer religiously during operation, and change the oil when you're supposed to (usage hour AND/OR time in unit.) You won't have much to worry about.

Plus, Ray Contraras is here on SB and offers great service and parts for the Coltri line... more than happy when I have chatted with him to sell me _only_ the parts I need, not more so. I've also dealt with Nuvair a few times, and they've been great to me, too... really helpful a while back when I was trying to figure the unit out at first; I bought mine used, too.

 

[paxtang]

Hey Thanks for the all the great info, so when I go to check this thing out what should I look
for as far as potential problems? Say perhaps the previous owner did not drain water properly..
Or any obvious things I should notice. Like I said I only owned one other compressor briefly
and it was a tank. Thanks alot!

 

[clownfishsydney]

If they did not drain water properly, the only impact really would possibly have been on their tanks. Main thing would be to change oil (synthetic) and filter and properly run as per the manual.