Best Booster for Rebreathers

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Zebra 1

Contributor
Messages
108
Reaction score
18
Location
Houston, Texas
# of dives
I just don't log dives
I'm exploring options for a booster to fill 3 and 4L tanks. I would like to be able to do cave fills on my lp27's.
Looks like Hydraulics International and Haskel are the two players here in the US. What are the pros and cons of each and should I be considering anything else. Not worried about filling doubles, just small tanks.
 
Budget? Drive gas availability? Electricity availability? How much from bottom of T bottle do you want to be able to scavenge? Portability needs?
 
I'd like to keep the budget to $3,000 - $4,000. Drive gas will probably be my existing 80's and 100's. Not planning on filling on a boat so electricity is available. Not worried about getting every cu ft out of the supply tank. Portability would be nice but not a necessity.
 
I have been very happy with my Haskel sport. Better than a friend's HI that I fixed for him one day. The Haskel has smoother strokes where the HI bangs a lot harder as it cycles.

I only drive mine off 100s when doing parking lot fills. They don't go that far. I know some that do it more often and use doubles to get the volume needed. My 100 gets pretty cold as a drive bottle, maybe cold enough to condense inside? My typical drive gas is at home with a good shop compressor. So it isn't efficient sucking the bottom of a bottle, the compressor just runs more. I also switch to a transfer bottle, an extra AL80, to get the last few hundred PSI out and up to a mid level pressure. Use a single stage as a 2-stage, just 1-stage at a time. That takes a lot of drive gas. But the compressor only needs electricity.

It adds a layer if inefficacy, electricity to compressed air to drive the booster. But allows it to work at home or on the road. It isn't that much electricity. And a shop compressor needs a fraction of the maintenance that a dive compressor needs. Drain the condensate daily (if even used daily), bake the dryer pellets dry again when they change color (toaster oven) if not just replace. Oil change every once in a few years. Air filter every decade or so as long as it is in a somewhat clean place.
 
My Haskel Mini is awesome for single 3L bottles, not so much for bigger bottles. I can boost to 3700psi, but anything over 3000psi eats a ridiculous amount of drive gas.

Topping off my 3L from 1400psi to 3000psi uses about 5cf of drive gas. Topping off my LP50s (doubled) from 3000psi to 3600psi uses 160cf of drive gas.
 
I love my masterline. It will do all you need but it’s pricey. The selling point is its lifelong maintenance costs are almost nothing. I hate Haskell. They’re expensive to get service parts. If I was buying a hydraulic booster I’d buy a usun
 
I love my masterline. It will do all you need but it’s pricey. The selling point is its lifelong maintenance costs are almost nothing. I hate Haskell. They’re expensive to get service parts. If I was buying a hydraulic booster I’d buy a usun
Yup, my next booster will most likely be a Usun gbd40-ol. I think it's a nice compromise in size, performance, and drive gas needs between my Haskel mini and my buddies Haskel 15/30.
 
Yup, my next booster will most likely be a Usun gbd40-ol. I think it's a nice compromise in size, performance, and drive gas needs between my Haskel mini and my buddies Haskel 15/30.

Agreed. The USUN's now have a track record of working without incident and there's quite a few people on the gas blenders fb page that have them. My garage is so full of dive gear and other outdoor gear I really don't have the space for a booster and a big shop compressor. And if I was going to get a haskel it would be one that needs lots of drive gas. So the masterline made sense for me, plus they have a very high resale value and low long term costs. I've never wanted a Haskel. I've worked with them and they're just gas hogs. They're farily easy to work on, but it's just too friggin expensive for the parts. I would've thought communication with USUN wouldn't be the best since it's a chinese company with no american distributor, but everyone's said that communication back and forth has been great.
 
I have a USUN booster been using for a bit over a year, has been great, can't fault it, was exactly what I needed for filling rebreather tanks and topping of bailout tanks from time to time at a very reasonable price. Communication with the company was great they answered any questions I had promptly.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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