A life long dream about to become reality! :)

[macado]

Congratulations. Owning a compressor has been the best thing that I've done for my diving. I'm relative newcomer to owning a compressor (1.5 years) but I wish I had bought one sooner! No sitting in traffic, worrying about hot fills, worrying if your tanks just sat in the corner and forgotten about. You fill on your own time and you know it gets done right. It's an incredible time saver. It won't save you money but the convenience value alone is what really makes it worth it for me. Unfortunately the way dive shops are going out of business I see home fill stations becoming more of a thing. It's already happening with most of my dive buddies, we all have gotten compressors.

You're going to enjoy the fact that you can fill tanks while drinking your morning coffee or afternoon adult beverage without ever having to leave your property line.

I dont fill for anyone but myself (or some very close friends in a pinch) because I'm concerned about liability.

One thing I have done is have air quality tests done. I'm actually using a Jim Sheldon secondary filter stack (like you have on your compressor) for additional filtration. My compressor passes Oxygen Compatible Air (OCA) / Modified Grade E easily.

I ended up setting up a continuous blending station (nitrox stick) in the shed attached to my garage because I have a need for mixed gases.

 

[AfterDark]

Congratulations. Owning a compressor has been the best thing that I've done for my diving. I'm relative newcomer to owning a compressor (1.5 years) but I wish I had bought one sooner! No sitting in traffic, worrying about hot fills, worrying if your tanks just sat in the corner and forgotten about. You fill on your own time and you know it gets done right. It's an incredible time saver. It won't save you money but the convenience value alone is what really makes it worth it for me. Unfortunately the way dive shops are going out of business I see home fill stations becoming more of a thing. It's already happening with most of my dive buddies, we all have gotten compressors.

You're going to enjoy the fact that you can fill tanks while drinking your morning coffee or afternoon adult beverage without ever having to leave your property line.

I dont fill for anyone but myself (or some very close friends in a pinch) because I'm concerned about liability.

One thing I have done is have air quality tests done. I'm actually using a Jim Sheldon secondary filter stack (like you have on your compressor) for additional filtration. My compressor passes Oxygen Compatible Air (OCA) / Modified Grade E easily.

I ended up setting up a continuous blending station (nitrox stick) in the shed attached to my garage because I have a need for mixed gases.

View attachment 594130
View attachment 594129

Nice setup! I like it! Jim told me there is no way he would sell these if there were liability issues on his part and it's the filter(s) he attributes that too. It looks to me like divers are going back to our roots at least as far as compressors are concerned. In days of old a lot of divers had their own compressor for the same reasons you state and also the lack of air stations in the early days. Also clubs were a big thing and one of the reasons were a club owned compressor and sometimes a boat. I belonged to a club that had both until the member with the boat had to stop diving, most of the members were older guys and one by one they either stopped diving or passed until there was no more club. I had moved before the club closed so I never knew what became of the compressor.

I always wanted one for all those reasons summed up in one word, independence. I strive to be self reliant in everything I do, it's a way of life.

 

[macado]

Nice setup! I like it! Jim told me there is no way he would sell these if there were liability issues on his part and it's the filter(s) he attributes that too. It looks to me like divers are going back to our roots at least as far as compressors are concerned. In days of old a lot of divers had their own compressor for the same reasons you state and also the lack of air stations in the early days. .

100% agree. I trust my gas so I'm not necessarily worried about the liability of pumping bad gas since I have multiple filters with hopcalite, CO monitoring and I change my filters at recommended intervals or earlier but I just don't want to really deal with people and the off chance somebody does get hurt from something unrelated especially in this litigious society. I'll fill for my friends in a pinch but most of them all have their own compressors.

Some dive shops will try to "scare" home fill station operators by saying this stuff is too complicated or dangerous. It's all FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt). Most of it's common sense but obviously with anything there is risk. Do you trust yourself or the 18 year kid at the dive shop who got a 30 minute crash course in filling tanks?

The reality for me is that there are really no good dive shops that are pumping the gas I need. Fighting an hour+ in Boston traffic each way was not worth it to me. I've found a lot of divers in New England have simply opted to get their own compressors.

I can give you some advice on your filter since I use the same one. I believe Jim uses the X65240 cartridge from Lawrence Factor.
X65240, Filter Techs

Per Filter Techs:

The X65240 will process 10,000 c.f. of Air as long as the Air inlet temperature going into the Filter tower is 80 (F)

The Air temp entering into the Filter tower will generally be about 10 - 15 degrees hotter than the ambient temp the compressor is operating in. So if the ambient Air temp is 80 then your Filter tower inlet temp will be between 90 - 95. This will reduce the capacity by about 70%. So instead of 10,000 you would get about 7,000.

If it’s hotter than that you may only get half the the total.

That was the email response I got from FilterTechs when I asked them for recommendations. Pay attention to air temperatures in the summer when filling. I suggest trying to fill in early morning or later at night when the temperatures are cooler. I assume yours does not have auto-drains so make sure you're draining approximately at recommended intervals.

If you assume ~4cfm x 60 minutes x 30 hours = ~7,200cu/ft. I would check the moisture indicator strip on your filter around ~28-30 hours. You could be able to get away with longer but it's good to be conservative here.

 

[AfterDark]

100% agree. I trust my gas so I'm not necessarily worried about the liability of pumping bad gas since I have multiple filters with hopcalite, CO monitoring and I change my filters at recommended intervals or earlier but I just don't want to really deal with people and the off chance somebody does get hurt from something unrelated especially in this litigious society. I'll fill for my friends in a pinch but most of them all have their own compressors.

Some dive shops will try to "scare" home fill station operators by saying this stuff is too complicated or dangerous. It's all FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt). Most of it's common sense but obviously with anything there is risk. Do you trust yourself or the 18 year kid at the dive shop who got a 30 minute crash course in filling tanks?

The reality for me is that there are really no good dive shops that are pumping the gas I need. Fighting an hour+ in Boston traffic each way was not worth it to me. I've found a lot of divers in New England have simply opted to get their own compressors.

I can give you some advice on your filter since I use the same one. I believe Jim uses the X65240 cartridge from Lawrence Factor.
X65240, Filter Techs

Per Filter Techs:


That was the email response I got from FilterTechs when I asked them for recommendations. Pay attention to air temperatures in the summer when filling. I suggest trying to fill in early morning or later at night when the temperatures are cooler. I assume yours does not have auto-drains so make sure you're draining approximately at recommended intervals.

If you assume ~4cfm x 60 minutes x 30 hours = ~7,200cu/ft. I would check the moisture indicator strip on your filter around ~28-30 hours. You could be able to get away with longer but it's good to be conservative here.

Thanks for the info! I've been advised on Filter Tech by @darkwaters a new compressor owner himself.

I get not filling other people's tanks. People are funny; I worked on cars on the side for 10 or 15 years and had my fill of quirky people that come back a day or 2 after a tune-up or front brake job with a rotted out muffler that started leaking and they want YOU to replace the muffler for zip because it was fine until YOU worked on the car!
Trying to explain that I couldn't cause a muffler to rot out in a day or 2 if my life depended on it was like trying to explain the theory of relativity to a simian. I'd tell'em they're were SLO, I don't do exhaust work because I don't have a lift. Buzz off ya know?

Anyway I'm out in the woods of southwest RI off the beaten path and away from the ocean it would be out of the way for most divers I know. I don't expect to get any requests at least at 1st, they'll wait and see if I survive a few dives before they ask. Of course they wouldn't know if it was my air or tanks I already had filled from the LDS. The air of mystery you might say.

Edit: Thank you all for the Congrats!

 

[Dark Wolf]

Very nice.

Anyone ever have any luck working out a deal with the local fire department exchanging cookies/beer for air fills? They typically have a compressor for their SCBAs.

-Z

My local fire Department told me they would fill my bottles if I had the proper fittings. But they only pump to, if I remember correctly, 2200 psi. I would do so as a latch ditch effort, but I have not taken them up on it. Though I did thank them several times just for being nice enough to offer.

DW

 

[Boston Breakwater]

Today is a big day for me, today I put down half the cost of a compressor of my own!

This bad boy pumps 4.2 CFM at 4500PSI, OH BOY!

They say if you get a pool or a boat you'll have a lot of friends, I wonder if that holds true for compressors?
Not that I want a lot of friends but it should be interesting.

View attachment 593971
AfterDark's compressor. I feel like Mike ef'in Nelson!

EDIT I should add a plug for the dealer. I bought this from Shelden Sporting Goods - Air compressors owner known as frogman62 here on SB.

Hey, Buddy. How are you? Did I ever tell you, your'e my favorite SB Member? I really like your avatar, and all your post are very informative.
Cheers.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

They say if you get a pool or a boat you'll have a lot of friends, I wonder if that holds true for compressors?

Boat owner here. Yes, I'm jealous.

 

[Bubblesong]

Dreams come true for those that work for them! Congratulations!

 

[AfterDark]

Boat owner here. Yes, I'm jealous.

I just paid the balance, it ships today!

Need a friend?

 

[formernuke]

Congrats, I would like to have one for convenience but can't justify the cost.