Bauer Junior 2 to fill 3 tanks

[rthorntn]

Hi All,

I recently picked up a new Bauer Junior 2 single phase electric with a single 200 bar fill whip.

I would like to (cost effectively) fill 3 x 12L steel DIN 232 bar faber tanks at the same time, could you please suggest the accessories I will need?

Also is an auto condensate drain cost effective for this unit?

A single fill of the 3 tanks will be all it fills in a day.

I think it will be easiest (and cheapest) to equalise the 3 tanks (the tanks are mine and my buddies and we have similar SAC rates) and fill from a single whip going in to some kind of triple adapter (1 DIN female to 3 DIN male)?

Thanks.

Richard

 

[tbone1004]

making the adapters isn't hard, especially if you don't need/want shutoffs on them. Mine have a converted scuba valve to use as a shutoff, but that's not necessary. that said, if you have a buddy with a mill that can tap 1/4" NPT into a scuba valve, it's probably cheaper than buying a fill adapter

female DIN for the current whip to go into
Female Din

These are really nice and actually have a standard scuba SPG port on the side so you don't need industrial gauges which is nifty.
Din Filler with Screw Bleed - Upgraded

What you do not want to do is make a permanent 3x whip on your compressor unless you want to put shutoffs on each line which is rather expensive, so leave the single output, and make a triple adapter.

need one of these guys to get from one to three
Brass Cross

only other bits you need are the hoses, which are going to be cheapest from your local hydraulic hose supplier, and maybe a male-male nipple out of the cross to whatever fitting you're going to fill from.

Total cost is going to be ~$250+hoses. Need three hoses of whatever length you need, which is probably $10-$20/hose for a total of around $300usd+shipping to the middle of the ocean, which is about a million Aussie dollars.

Not the way I would personally do it, but that's just me. What I have done, and am doing again, is building transfill whips with a scuba valve in the middle of them. This allows me to fill 2 tanks from one whip. Great convenience for sidemount. If you build two of those, then you can not only transfill from tank to tank if you needed to for whatever reason, but with a pair of them you can fill the three tanks from the single whip. Less efficient than a 1:3 whip, but much more versatile. Cost was pretty minimal for me as I was able to find a pair of transfill whips for very little money and had some spare valves that I could use for the inlets

Now, the real issue to address a major concern as well as the auto-drain. Your compressor shouldn't fill all of those at the same time. Several reasons. First of which, the duty cycle doesn't rate it for continuous duty and it's rated to run about 60 minutes at a time. 60 minutes is about what it takes to fill a single one of those tanks to working pressure from mostly empty. After that, you have to let it cool off for 15-30 minutes before you start again. I would try to keep it in an air conditioned area if possible, and if not, at least have a box fan blowing over it the whole time you're running. The duty cycle means that you basically have to babysit it, so the obligation to drain the coalescers every 5-15 minutes isn't that big of a deal. You can fit auto-drains to it, but at over $700, is it really worthwhile?

Issue #2. Compressors are inherently imbalanced. Part of why they have backpressure valves is to get the filter stacks up to a high pressure for improved dwell time, but it also gives them a pressure where they are most stable. This is typically somewhere around 160bar give or take. Longer run times at higher pressures result in increased compressor wear and extra heat buildup. Filling the tanks individually let's the compressor get up to the final pressures, then relax a bit and cool off when you change over to the next tank

If you had a bigger compressor with a continuous duty cycle? no problems, but on a Junior, I would be hesitant to recommend spending the money.

 

[clownfishsydney]

Should be no problems filling three tanks at a time. We have had a Junior II for almost 16 years, filling 4,000 tanks. We fill two at once and often run for three hours at a time. I know one person who fills three at a time without problems. The only problem occurred when we had it outside and on hot days the electric motor would shut down due to heat. Since we moved and now have it in a workshop under the house, it has not stopped once. If you can, put it under the house or in a garage or air conditioned room, this will help in many ways, not least extending the life of your filter.

No need for an auto-dump in my view. Also, you do not need to equalise tanks as they will equalise when you connect them all up. In reality, it will take about 20 minutes to fill a 12 litre tank from about 90 bar (we average 18 minutes a tank). How often do you ever totally empty a tank? Not often I hope.

Hope this helps.

 

[rthorntn]

Thanks Michael + tbone.

My plan is to get two DIN T adapters DIRZONE and two transfill whips with shutoffs, gauges and bleeds on them.

Equalise the three tanks and then start the compressor, is this OK?

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks Michael + tbone.

My plan is to get two DIN T adapters DIRZONE and two transfill whips with shutoffs, gauges and bleeds on them.

Equalise the three tanks and then start the compressor, is this OK?

that will work fine. No need to get shutoffs and gauges on both ships, though if they have them, then that's fine. Those T adapters work well

 

[Rebel-ron]

I have the same compressor, it can only pump so fast. I don't think adding 2 more whips is not going to fill tanks any faster. Instead just filling 80 cf then you are trying to fill 240 cf the time factor does not change, just the convenience of 3 at a time.
Just a thought !

 

[RayfromTX]

They will heat up less if you fill all three at once.

 

[WarrenZ]

I would do then once at a time that way the compressor isn't pushing 3k psi for as long. Usually the smaller compressors any rated for bank bottles because of how long they are under high pressure stress Or so I have been told.