Advice on older compressor and cascade

[2airishuman]

A local seller has a much older setup for sale. I'm trying to figure out if I want it. I believe the gear dates from the early 1980s or before.

There is an Ingersoll-Rand Type 30 Model 223X5 compressor driven by a 5 hp electric motor. It feeds a wall-mounted Del-monox filtration system that consists of two large (36"? hard to tell from the photos) columns. The compressor and filtration are nameplate rated for a maximum of 3000 PSI.

There is a cascade that that is made up of eleven 3AA2400 "K" cylinders. Cascade plumbing is copper tubing that is silver-soldered to the fittings. There is some type of Nitrox blending equipment but I don't know the particulars.

The main problem I see is the 3000 PSI pressure limit. I have HP cylinders. Is it safe and practical to run this setup at higher pressures that its rating? Would the compressor life still be reasonable if used for HP fills?

Are parts still available for the compressor and filters?

Is the cascade plumbing still usable and safe or should it be scrapped?

 

[cool_hardware52]

A local seller has a much older setup for sale. I'm trying to figure out if I want it. I believe the gear dates from the early 1980s or before.

There is an Ingersoll-Rand Type 30 Model 223X5 compressor driven by a 5 hp electric motor. It feeds a wall-mounted Del-monox filtration system that consists of two large (36"? hard to tell from the photos) columns. The compressor and filtration are nameplate rated for a maximum of 3000 PSI.

There is a cascade that that is made up of eleven 3AA2400 "K" cylinders. Cascade plumbing is copper tubing that is silver-soldered to the fittings. There is some type of Nitrox blending equipment but I don't know the particulars.

The main problem I see is the 3000 PSI pressure limit. I have HP cylinders. Is it safe and practical to run this setup at higher pressures that its rating? Would the compressor life still be reasonable if used for HP fills?

Are parts still available for the compressor and filters?

Is the cascade plumbing still usable and safe or should it be scrapped?

I can't comment on the compressor as I have zero experience with them. The cascade plumbing is almost certainly fine. It's probably cupronickle (very strong with a very good oxygen index) It will be good for whatever the max pressure of the tanks valves it was attached to. Look up the valve type / number and the CGA will have a pressure rating for the valve type. In reality most of these manifolds are good for pressures well in excess of the tanks they connect.

Don't discount the value of a 2400 psi bank. You can fill this bank at your leisure, use it to fill most of your cylinders and only have to pump on demand from ~2400 to 3 k.

Tobin

 

[2airishuman]

After several phone calls I've concluded that this rig is a real white elephant, but I made a modest offer anyway.

The pump is reportedly a great pump at pressures up to around 2400. Above that, the third stage will tend to fail early, usually around 500 hours in typical scuba service with 3000 PSI fills. And it's been in nominally commercial service (at a shop that was in the dive business only as a sideline) for many years with no records of any overhaul. So if I'm not sleeving the cylinder this winter I'll probably be doing next year or the year after.

Nameplate max is 3000 PSI but I'm told you can push it to 3100 or 3200 for short periods if you're willing to give up some time between rebuilds. Alternatives for my 3442 PSI HP cylinders would be: short fills, turn a chest freezer into a fill station, or get a Haskel booster.

Hydro and shot blast on the cascade cylinders is $40 each, not sure I want to spend the money or dedicate the space to that. We'll see.

The filtration columns are Del-monox and apparently they take unusual cartridges for which Lawrence Factor charges around $250 -- each.

Might turn into a fun project but I'm not sure how much use it will be.

 

[cool_hardware52]

If you plan on filling "tech" gases a booster is hugely helpful / mandatory anyway. Of course you will need a shop air compressor to use the Haskel for more than incidental fills.

Tobin

 

[2airishuman]

I work on cars and other mechanical equipment, so I have shop air.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Haskels can consume a *lot* of drive gas, depending on the model and the supply gas pressures etc. I have 2, 10 hp shop air compressors. If I'm trying to get the last 100 psi of He out of a supply bottle and shove it into a set of doubles at ~3600 psi it can get ahead of the compressors. You might want to consider adding a "receiver" to your shop air compressor. Often "dead" air compressors are available cheap / free when the pump has expired, but the tank is still serviceable. Just "T" these tanks into your shop air compressor. The added storage volume will allow the haskel (or your other air tools ) to run for longer periods without the shop air pump having to start and stop frequently.

The flexibility of having a booster is huge. If you can find one at a fair price you will not regret it.

Tobin

 

[2airishuman]

If this all comes together, I'll end up boosting from around 2500 to typically 3500, maybe a little more if I get high pressure cascade cylinders. Under a 2:1 ratio. Typically this would be 100 cf at a time, maybe twice that on the outside. I put together a spreadsheet based on the specs of the much-maligned "mini sport" booster and with the much lower pressure ratio the drive gas requirements are far more modest, and with the high absolute pressures the boost times are fairly short. Ideal application for the mini, in many ways. Haskel doesn't appear to have any midsize boosters in this pressure range, it goes straight from the "mini sport booster" to 175 pound behemoths.

Used 100 pound propane tanks seem to be the preferred "receiver" for shop air in these parts.

 

[Seahuntjerry]

A local seller has a much older setup for sale. I'm trying to figure out if I want it. I believe the gear dates from the early 1980s or before.

There is an Ingersoll-Rand Type 30 Model 223X5 compressor driven by a 5 hp electric motor. It feeds a wall-mounted Del-monox filtration system that consists of two large (36"? hard to tell from the photos) columns. The compressor and filtration are nameplate rated for a maximum of 3000 PSI.

There is a cascade that that is made up of eleven 3AA2400 "K" cylinders. Cascade plumbing is copper tubing that is silver-soldered to the fittings. There is some type of Nitrox blending equipment but I don't know the particulars.

The main problem I see is the 3000 PSI pressure limit. I have HP cylinders. Is it safe and practical to run this setup at higher pressures that its rating? Would the compressor life still be reasonable if used for HP fills?

Are parts still available for the compressor and filters?

Is the cascade plumbing still usable and safe or should it be scrapped?

Hi,
Tom Borchardt owned that set up he runs Bulls eye shooting in North Branch,him and Steve Hallin used to own the compressor.
Jerry Lang 763-229-6270 diving since 1963

 

[Tracy]

If you don't want the LP cascade, let me know and I will make you an offer. I can always use more low bank.