Advice on buying a compressor for dive team

[joel smith]

I dive with a group of 5-8 divers weekly we do from 1-5 dives weekly , plus Im on a dive team of about 20 divers , Im looking for recomendations on what kind of setup would be good for us . portable or non portable ? gas electric ? air banks ? THANKS FOR ANY AND ALL ADVICE

 

[rcontrera]

That is a pretty open ended question. For a small group of recreational divers that just dive a couple of dives per day, one of the little 3-4 cfm portable gasoline compressors work just fine. It takes about 20 minutes to fill up a tank so with a group of five of you , you are looking about an hour and a half. That is fine for a little down time between dives.

As for your group of 20, the compressor depends on what your group does. If you are a rescue team, and you do several training dives at a time, then you will need a portable to bring to the dive site. For that size of a group, you will need to have 7 CFM or bigger.

 

[joel smith]

Thank you rcontrera I am trying to educate myself on this , I am interested in something that is a good product and safe , we also dive nitrox at times so it would have to produce good air not to contaminate our tanks.

 

[rcontrera]

No matter what compressor you finally end up with, you can insure quality air with a supplemental air filtration system. Every dive shop or charter boat compressor I have sold or installed has added at least one tall filter stack and many have two or more. Of course, mounting a couple of stacks on the was isn't the be all end all. You have to take care of your compressor so it doesn't pump a bunch of oil and water into the stacks to crap them up. Plus, you need to change the filter cartridges at the right time too.

 

[Herb-alaska]

Thank you rcontrera I am trying to educate myself on this , I am interested in something that is a good product and safe , we also dive nitrox at times so it would have to produce good air not to contaminate our tanks.

One thing that I would educate yourself on before a compressor is the liability of owning a compressor that others will be using the air from. You will not be dealing with the dive buddies you will be dealing with your very angry dive buddies family if something happens and they will not see things the same way as you and your buddy do when everything is all good. You can have the best air around the best testing program possible and you can still get sued and have to spend a lot of $ to prove that you did nothing wrong.


There is no way I would team up for a group compressor nor would I provide fills for anyone but family unless I had a iron clad You will not sue me contract that 4 attorneys have reviewed and said yes this works to release you of all liability and will give you grounds to collect for the defense costs if you are sued. And with all that I would still make sure that I had a general Liability insurance policy that covered that compressor.

 

[roastbeef]

one thing that i would educate yourself on before a compressor is the liability of owning a compressor that others will be using the air from. You will not be dealing with the dive buddies you will be dealing with your very angry dive buddies family if something happens and they will not see things the same way as you and your buddy do when everything is all good. You can have the best air around the best testing program possible and you can still get sued and have to spend a lot of $ to prove that you did nothing wrong.


There is no way i would team up for a group compressor nor would i provide fills for anyone but family unless i had a iron clad you will not sue me contract that 4 attorneys have reviewed and said yes this works to release you of all liability and will give you grounds to collect for the defense costs if you are sued. And with all that i would still make sure that i had a general liability insurance policy that covered that compressor.

make sure you get a bauer.

 

[joel smith]

Thanks to everyone is there somewhere I can go to study the system on maintenance and setup.

 

[rcontrera]

Your compressor dealer should be of immense value there. He/she makes a few sheckles selling the machine itself, but usually makes a larger profit margin on maintenance supplies and accessories.