First compressor - Let the fun begin

[NetPro]

After many, many months of searching, I finally came across a "reasonably" priced compressor. I bought a Bauer Junior II wired for 220v in very good condition. Originally I was looking for a continuous duty unit to fill a small cascade but they made me a deal I couldn’t refuse.

There is an engraved tag on it and a warning in the manual that it will EXPLODE if used with more than 21% oxygen. I was planning to make a nitrox stick but I’m too new at this to know if the warning is just to fend off lawsuits. My wife would be pissed if I blew a hole in the garage.:shocked2:

Question 1a: Are you making nitrox with a junior and a stick?
Question 1b: If yes, did you blow up yet?
Question 2: Should I just do partial pressure blending?

What is the limit for "continuous duty"? I would like to make up a couple of storage tanks of EaN32 and a couple of air. If I have to do this in stages what is a reasonable duty cycle? (60min on / 5min off?)

I have seen the Triplex referred to as a P0 and as a P21. Are these the same? I'm looking for a repackable filter canister and have seen them shipping out of Austrailia for the P21 only.

Is the air out of the standard Bauer Triplex filter considered to be Grade D or E, or won't I know that until after I get it tested?

I’m picking up a K size O2 tank tomorrow and the next purchases will be an Hour meter, Moisture Eye and an Additional filter tower.

I saw some pics of a compressor on a roll around tool chest. I had one that fit the bill.

 

[rjack321]

Bauer is paranoid about nitrox through their machines, mostly a CYA thing. With the correct synthetic oil its fine however. Not like you are in warranty anyway.

60mins on for a Junior is fine. 90mins on is probably fine. But 5off is not really the intent of intermittent duty. Max per day I would do is 60on-15off-60on. Then call it a day on fills. Let the machine and oil cool completely. That's ~2hrs and roughly 4 Al80s from empty. Continuous blending will reduce your run times since you won't need to drain gas just to add O2. There might be some better guidelines on what "intermittent" is in the manual.

The Junior has a P0 filter which is grade E, when new. Get yourself the backup filter and humidity indicator. As the P0 will in the course of one tank be completely full of moisture and no longer deliver grade E. Change the P0 when humidity exceeds 20%. The backup will also ensure your gas is suitable for partial pressure blending if you chose to still do that at times.

 

[h90]

Much fun with it!!!:fruit:

 

[herbdb]

Sounds like a device that could use an oil cooler. How hard could that be?

 

[CraigAClark]

A 3hp Junior II, runs at 2100 rpm. It produces a lot of heat. You want to continuos blend with it? You are rolling the dice and asking for trouble, IMO. Besides being a CYI thing, several mechanical failures have occured running nitrox through Bauer air cooled machines. About a week ago, I was shown the head of a Bauer final separator that had blown out the inlet and outlet fittings. The machine had been processing nitrox (Danx) from a membrane.

Craig

 

[rjack321]

Sounds like a device that could use an oil cooler. How hard could that be?

How about not worth it? Since it doesn't have an oil pump to circulate through a cooler.

 

[JKPAO]

But if you added a pump and venting?
Just for conversation?
See you topside? John

 

[NetPro]

I had called the local Bauer shop to check on filters, oil etc and he said to bring it by and they would do a quick bench check on it. I just got back and the good news is that it runs like new. The slightly bad news is that the overpressure valve was leaking and had to be rebuilt.

The technician was "strongly opposed" to running Nitrox through the junior. (did I mention the word "strongly")
Looks like I'll be doing Partial Pressure mixes - at least for now.

On the question of Intermittent duty vs Continuous, he told me that they sell a lot of Juniors to paintball fields and they run them "all day long" without trouble. I don't have that kind of need but it will let me relax about not having a contiuous duty unit.

Picked up the electrical stuff today and hope to get it run this weekend.

Thanks for the feedback,
Jeff

 

[rcontrera]

On the continuous duty thing, remember that those paintball fields using a Junior and pumping all day are most likely not pumping bulk tanks. They fill a small bottle to pressure, bleed it off and fill the next. As a result, there isn't a continuous stress of high pressure on the bearings and crank. You should be able to pump single scuba tanks all day. But hook it up to bulk tanks and you really shorten the life.

 

[DT]

The Juniors are well made diving compressors, I've had the same one now up and running for 7 years with no problems thus far. I reduced the RPM from 2300 down to 1800 just to help reduce wear on the components she fills a little slower but I'm not in any hurry.