A Warning for Anyone Contemplating A Chinese Supplied Scuba Compressor

[Peter69_56]

"When is a bargain a bargain?. Perhaps, in this case, NEVER".

Before you sharpen your keyboard fingers and say "Predictable" etc, just read the story and understand this is about ensuring others don't get caught by the same crap compressors. I don't need to know I @#$%^& up. You may assume I already know that! The company I mention is only one of many Chinese companies who appear to be selling the same compressor out of china.

I got a heap of prices and would have loved a Bauer but they are very expensive and I was struggling to justify the price. I then went to Alibaba and found that "similar" sized compressors were less than half price.

I received prices from Alibaba (Chinese Ebay of sorts) and selected one company Hengda Compressor Company LTD.
They then discussed with me via emails the details and then I purchased a compressor and spares as described below;

1. GSX100B scuba compressor- electric motor 240v AC, with 300 BAR DIN filling whip: USD $1885
2. 2 bags filter element: USD $80
1. Spare 300 BAR whip USD $76
3. A barrel of oil: USD $15
4. 2 sets of consumable parts: USD $100
5. Shipping cost: USD $160
6. Insurance USD $15

On receiving the package I found that the 300 BAR whip hose and fitting and the spare hose and fitting were incorrect as they had K valve fittings instead of DIN as requested and promised. Also the hoses supplied were hydraulic hose and not breathing hose for scuba. Also the lubricating oil which they said was Synthetic oil was in fact mineral oil. Also the fill rate is only around 1/2 the specified rate of 100l/m.

After many emails they promised to supply one DIN hose of correct material but would not supply 2 as they said they were expensive (but that is not my fault, they quoted for the supply of 2 DIN + hoses). Although I thought this unfair I agreed to only one hose as I felt I had no choice as they were not going to honour any other deal. The replacement DIN fitting was fine but the hose they sent was another hydraulic hose (not the one they originally showed me in pictures when discussing it), so I just bought the correct hose here in OZ for $100 AUD as I gave up trying. I also replaced the mineral oil at my cost with synthetic oil. I also had to repair the electrical wiring as it was loose in the connections at the terminations.

I only filled up about 8 scuba tanks and found the final air filter was not working properly. It was a bad design and allowing oily/water air to get into my scuba tanks (I now have 4 off 2 year old Faber steels rusting inside). On investigating I found that the filter is badly designed and wont work properly and allows the bypassing of contaminated air past the filter medium, and when I unscrewed the filter cap found that the O ring fouls the thread when assembled so it could never work properly ever.

I then screwed the cap on the filter body and found that the O ring material was getting caught in the thread and damaged the thread and now the cap is stuck due to similar metal binding. I asked for a new filter as replacement and they refuse and said I must pay. They said it was my fault. Said they would only charge cost price of $250 but I found from a previous quote they sent me they appear to be charging normal price which is what they asked when I thought about an additional filter previously.

Given the original filter was faulty from the start, I believe it is fair to ask for a replacement filter at no cost. Also the air hoses they keep sending are not breathing hoses but hydraulic hoses and give off chemicals when used in breathing air. Also I paid for 2 DIN fittings with hoses and only got 1 hose and DIN fitting.

Also on further investigation for a replacement filter, I sent the original filter to an Australian scuba firm to ask if they had something to replace it with. They told me in their opinion, the compressor is a copy of an Italian Coltri compressor. In my opinion, I believe its a copy after looking at the Coltri compressor. I will be contacting the Italian company as well to advise them of a potential infringement of copyright of their product.

The total out of pocket expenses I have had to date or will incur are;
Replacement whip hose $100 AUD
Synthetic oil $114 AUD
Replacement filter to fit $400 AUD
Clean contaminated scuba tanks (8 off) $600

So my $3500 compressor (which now doesn't operate until I find a new filter) has cost me $4700 or so to fill 8 tanks I cannot use.

Anyway the reason I am writing this is to WARN everyone in the dive industry to beware the cheap compressors. Not only do they have problems, they can be outright dangerous. Once they have your money, the only contact you have is emails when they chose to reply. I am now working down the path of complaining to Alibaba but I am NOT confident that they will do anything for me at all.

"LET THE BUYER BEWARE"

 

[victor]

A lesson learned, thank you for telling your story.
If you had not been so careful checking you fills then the story could have had a very different ending, all it has cost you so far is money.
Maybe you need to speak to your equivalent of trading standards. If the compressor is not fit for purpose and is in fact dangerous then they can ban any future imports.

 

[scubafanatic]

...if it's sounds too good to be true it probably is.

 

[Wookie]

Wait until you find out that it has to be returned to China for repairs. They don't make standard parts for those compressors, so if you bend a rod or need new piston rings or any other compressor block repair, the compressor will go back to China where you will never see it again. No, I only know this because of a well known Caribbean resort who bought 2 of them, then 2 more, as they were always shipping one or both back for repairs.

 

[scubamarketing]

Credit card -> dispute charge -> done

 

[bubbly noob]

Credit card -> dispute charge -> done is one way to deal with it.
Alibaba is actually pretty good at kicking asses when it comes to false advertisement on their website.

You guys must make the difference between Chinese Products -vs- Foreign Products Made In China which are actually 2 very different worlds.
Foreign Products Made In China have strong Quality Control (QC) & Manufacturing Policies, the others have none and are not up to any foreign standard to start with.
Example, plastic-silicon which are made from non-human consumption usage recycles, and found on newborn milk bottles for example ...

(those mother****ers are maybe crazy but they certainly rule the planet)

 

[ktomlinson]

$600 to clean 8 tanks! Sounds like you're getting reamed by your compatriots too!

 

[Wookie]

You guys must make the difference between Chinese Products -vs- Foreign Products Made In China which are actually 2 very different worlds.
Foreign Products Made In China have strong Quality Control (QC) & Manufacturing Policies, the others have none and are not up to any foreign standard to start with.

This is absolutely true, and an American who is fluent in Mandarin and is a QC/QA engineer can rule the world in Beijing. Of course, they have to live in Beijing (or Chengdu) and carry air filtration with them everywhere they go. Lawyers also do quite well, I have a number of lawyer friends in Chengdu in the oil business, and they make serious bank compared to being another lawyer in Houston.

Point is, buying a Chinese knock off of an Ingersoll Rand compressor will make you sad. Buying a Chinese made regulator made to US or Italian specs and observed by a competent QA person will make you happy.

Now, if they could only figure out how to QA the steel and galvanizing that comes from China, they could actually rule the world.

 

[ktomlinson]

I've always wondered why the Chinese steel wasn't up to par by now, is it a problem with the raw materials or the manufacturing process?

 

[Wookie]

I've always wondered why the Chinese steel wasn't up to par by now, is it a problem with the raw materials or the manufacturing process?

I believe it's a problem with the quality assurance. Making steel is not a great mystery, but the failures I've seen with Chinese supplied is definitely in the QA. Shackles I use to hold moorings underwater are plenty strong, but usually have an interstitial point defect in the steel, whether stainless or galvanized, allowing salt water in and rotting the steel from the inside. This is an issue with the matrix of the casting. It's expensive to add the minerals needed to make it right, and if it looks good on the outside, well, that must be good enough. Similarly, the Chinese knockoff compressors I saw in Honduras had casting problems. The castings didn't pop out of the mold identical, so they would be machined to receive their component parts. That means every casting was a one off instead of being identical to the next and the next and the next. If they were all identical, you could buy parts and replace them, but since they are all one off, they must be sent back so the machinist can make a replacement part.