How to fill my tank

[Mike Henry]

I returned it - what do you think about this guy?
SCUBA DIVING Air Compressor Cornelious 3000 psi. | eBay

 

[nadwidny]

what do you think of this guy?
SCUBA DIVING Air Compressor Cornelious 3000 psi. | eBay

Ask to see the certificate from X-zam (Lawrence Factor's air testing division) before your purchase. Looks sketchy as hell to me.

 

[scubamedics]

So you spend $400 on a piece of equipment that needs 2x 15 minute sessions to fill a single 80Cf Al cylinder, with no HP air storage, no filter media or means to filer out contaminants, and you haven't tested the air quality by any means, and you figure this is better than a visit to your LDS for a fill... where I'm sure they can fill your tank for less than $10 per fill. Even if they charge $10 per fill you'd get 40 fills and a lot less aggravation, but more importantly Grade E breathing air thats been filtered and tested. But hey... It's your money.

 

[BRT]

I returned it - what do you think about this guy?
SCUBA DIVING Air Compressor Cornelious 3000 psi. | eBay

Does it have any filtration?

 

[clownfishsydney]

For God's sake, learn to dive first. Then when you have some understanding about diving, maybe (and that is a big maybe) consider getting a compressor. The compressor you have linked to now is still not a diving compressor as it is being sold as it has no filtration as far as I can see. Really, you should only buy a compressor if you are doing so many dives it is financially better off or you are diving in an area where there are no commercial filling stations.

 

[wheeledgoat]

Hey Mike Henry,

The response you're getting is the result of many, many previous similar questions to yours over the years at scubaboard. I think many of the responses are unnecessarily curt and even rude, but perhaps understandable given the fatigue on this topic.

I think I understand your desire to get yourself all set up with scuba. You want to have everything you need to go diving, and get your head around this whole thing and plan to be entirely self sufficient. At least I started off feeling that way.

Scuba diving isn't like that. I learned that making connections and friends and having a relationship with my LDS (local dive shop) is an integral part of my diving career, for so many reasons.

The advice you'll get here on sb is good (if a little conservative for my tastes) but definitely spot-on for this compressor situation of yours. Hold off for now. Get certified. Build a relationship with a LDS. Try to use them and not save 5-10% by ordering online. Trust me, it'll be worth it. And I think you'll find getting your fills there won't be as painful as you're imagining.

 

[northernone]

I returned it - what do you think about this guy?
SCUBA DIVING Air Compressor Cornelious 3000 psi. | eBay

Developing knowledge and skill to maintain a compressor (particularly a vintage compressor of unknown condition) to insure it doesn't pump a gas that will kill you isn't an easy task. Hiring a technician to do it for you, that's way more costly than just paying for fills.

Adding the filtration system you can easily double the cost of your fill station set up and that still doesn't automatically guarantee the air you're filling your tank with isn't contaminated.

Tinkering with equipment is great fun and a good learning process... The issue with intending to breath your experiments is when it goes wrong (minor mistakes) people have died. I think this could be why so many of the replies are very blunt and direct.

Cameron