Can anyone advise me on if it is possible to re-pack the Bauer Securus range of filter cartridges? The cartridge is a D-81477.
Of course the official Bauer answer is 'No'....
We already repack all our own filters on Coltri and Bauer machines without Securus, and so also want an economical way of changing the filters on this unit too.
Thanks in advance for any help if anyone has tried before......!!
SN,
Are you sure that D-81477 is the cartridge number ? There is no such number.
8xxxx is from a P31 filter housing size, it has no Securus type of cartridge. Its too small.
Its either 8114 with hopcalite or 80100 without hopcalite
Securus starts at P41 filter housing size, cartridge is P/N is 61xxx , two types only, depending on if the Securus cartridge has
hopcalite or not
Anyone selling air fill like a dive center or 10+ tanks a day should not use P21,P31 and even P41 size of filter. Its too small and
waste of money for the packaging by Bauer and the profit they make.
Bauer Securus is also a waste of money. I wanted to buy one but made calculation and it is not worth it.
The filter cartridge price difference for a Securus is the "slavery" I can't bear.
Check with ur supplier, how much a non securus compare to a securus cartridge will cost
In Indonesia is approx US$50 more money for a P41 Securus type
P41 in Maldives or Indonesia must be rated at 30C ambient and final temperature of 45C
So if you use P41 Securus with hopcalite ( I suggest always use the Hopcalite one...remember that dead Russian ?? ) ,
that is P/N 61687 and reduced molecular sieve quantity to house the chemical sensor of securus, 685 grams of MS only and you
get 35 hours at 200BAR at 200 liters per minute. In a 30BAR empty tanks situation, that is approx 225 tanks only of 80AL per filter cartridge.
So each tank will cost US$50/225 = 22 US cents Securus slavery Bauer imposed on you.
I love Bauer, make no mistake, but not for all of their products. My compressors are and will always be Bauer, period. RIX I may want to use if I ever do Nitrox.
I don't know Maldives business volume but 30 tanks a day for 300 days a year is reasonable to assume based on 9 divers 3 dives aday and 1 dive guide x 300 business days a year. At 9 divers 300 days a year, your dive center is small. In Manado or Bali or
Lombok, 60 tanks a day is medium size operation and 300 business days a year is conservative.
So it is US 22 cents x 30 tanks x 300 business days = US$1,980 damaged you get for Securus PER YEAR.
There is nothing special about Securus. I took a close look at it when I decided NOT to buy it. Here is why :
01. Securus sensor is chemical based. It is not traceable, meaning there is no way NIST or any competent body can certify its
accuracy.
02. Securus is a sort of dummy system, it tells you in 3 LED and not in actual dew point temperature. So not only you can't verify
its accuracy, you cant really tell what is the actual dew point temp read. Red is supposed to be -55C.
03. Dew Point value varied with pressure. Securus being inside a filter housing and if the PMV is set correctly, you are reading 140 to 207 BAR worth of dew point, which means there is +-3 celcius accuracy lost due to pressure differerence. As far as I know
Bauer B control if hooked to a Securus can only shut down the compressor when -55C is reached but it does not contain the
required pressure compensation real time calculation. I maybe wrong here on the pressure compensation, ask a Bauer Tech.
+-3C is not a big deal to some but in terms of air fill business if -55C is the wet limit and new cartridge starts say at -75C, +-3C
is worth the money to know.
When you start a compressor and assumed the PMV is healty, the filter housing will maintain 140 BAR approx.
If -55C is the wet limit, at 120bar-gauge , the dew point at 1 ATM equivalent will be -10.3C.
If -55C is the wet limit, at 200bar-gauge, the dew point 1 ATM equivalent will be -4.5C.
This is how Bauer save money, using sensor only required to be capable of reading say to -20C and call it Securus and the rest is
marketing 101. The downside is every filter change will require a filter cartridge with that chemical sensor and you PAY FOR IT EVERYTIME........this is the biggest joke.
You only need US$3,000 for a real dew point sensor that can read to -80C + flow meter + pressure reducing regulator
If your dive center will do business for the next 5 years and assumed only 30 tank fill a day, that is US$3,000 - ( 5 x US$1,980) =
US$6,900 savings and you get a dew point monitoring system far better than Bauer Securus.
On the subject of re-packing filters it is a big taboo for me if I am an air-fill center.
Those MS and AC sold in plastic bottles have very short shelf life, plastic bottles are not GAS PROOF. Ambient water moisture in air is water in its GAS STATE. Try keeping a chlorine and mix it it water in a plastic bottle, the smell will go thru the plastic bottles because the chlorine will gas off. I will say 6 months is the most I will ever keep one and based on day 1 being the day the factory packed that plastic bottle. Maldives will import usually thru Singapore if by sea. From wherever your MS and AC source is , the day you buy it from a re-seller, it will be 3 months old at the store shelf, assuming the re-seller sell enough and has fast turn around.You open and close a bottle, you wet the MS and AC.
If you spend US$3K on that dew point sensor set up, kill or by-pass the Securus, assuming you are using a P41 filter cartridge, getfrom USA ( cheapest ) the P/N 67724 ( has hopcalite ) at US$85 each. Buy as much as you can to keep it for no more than 6 months. At 30 tanks a day and say 25 days business day a month it will be 30 x 25 x 6 months = 4,500 tanks divided by 225 ( 67724 service life ) = 20 filters cartridge per 6 months.
USA re-seller will sell you easy at US$75 each at 20pcs quantity, maybe less.
Shipping via Fed-Ex is approx US$20 at the most each to Maldives ( I am guessing ) in a 20 pcs delivery. Anything above 50kg,
Bax Global is usually cheaper. If any USA re-seller use Fed-Ex a great deal, they can get 40% discount for shipping.
So your cost is US$95 for a P/N 67224 landed Maldives + whatever tax imposed by Maldives Custom. Say +20%, it is then US$114each. US$114.00 / 225 tanks = US$0.50 cost of air processing. You get a filter cartridge with aluminum foil vacuumed packed and easy shelf life of 18 months from date of production. Alumunium foil is metal, remember that. 2 years shelf life is what Bauer said but I discipline myself to buy and keep for no more than 6 months.
US$0.50 is your cost for filters for air-fill per tank. If you think you want to save money by re-packing, I would not ever
reccommend a dive center with such attitude. Think about it, 50 cents worth to mess with ?
The problem in most of Asia's dive center is initial budgeting and poor feasilbility study on the air-processing cost.
Buy cheaper compressor that has small filter housing only to regret later. The compressor dealers are also not too much of
assistance, they will push for smaller filter size to make the compressor package price lower. Buy a Securus based compressor
only to hack it ( some do that )......... Who is to be blamed ?
The dive center is to be blamed for not being more dilligent. We know most compressor re-sellers are profit oriented. Bauer filter system catalog showed each and every filter capacity chart, all we need is to read and check prices.
Get more accidents from poor air quality, the core of the diving business will suffer and dive center loose money. This is a simple
logic.
A dive center dive boat with outboard motor of 200HP X 2 Yamaha two stokes will burn easy 100 liter per hour at 4,500 RPM loaded with 10 divers. That is US$100 per hour based on US$1 per liter ( more than US$1 in Maldives ) and add the cost of the two stroke oil. With a 4 stroke engine, 40% less money is easy.
If 3 dive locations are close by, to and from 3 dive sites to home base, 100 liters is easy burn a day.
US$100 fuel divided by 9 guest for 3 dives, that is US$3.70 per dive per person per day in fuel burn.
You self-packed our filter, save you how much.............USD 25 cents each ? ( based on P41 size )
That is USD 75 cents savings only per day per person/guest per 3 dives...........can that buy a beer at your resort ?
Think about it and safe diving always for your guest.
There are dive business size where one can do filter self-packing economically and safely but I am guessing on top of my head, it will be at least 200+ tanks a day. At USD 50 cents for a P41 filter size per air fill, I would not even be bothered to trust self
packing where the possibility of old batch of MS and AC exist, poor AC quality, poor work quality of arranging the media bed from the dive center staff and etc etc, wasting 30 minutes to re-pack and bla bla bla. Simply not worth it. Dive center must focus on quality of all their gear and their great services, that is how one can sell US$10 more money per dive compared to the other dive center and guest will find it acceptable. Why think backward when you can think forward ?
You can save lots of money by using 4 stoke outboard if you are still using a two stroke. Less smell, less pollution for the environment dan much more comfortable for your guess when they are boarding the boat while engine is running.
IYA
