air compressors

[abnjim]

im not sure if this is in the right forum but im hopping i can get some in put. i am considering purchasing my own compressor to fill my own tanks i will need one capable of filling high pressure tanks and i would like to eventualy uppgrade to do 100% and trimix. my reasons for this are 1. i live 100 miles from the nearest shop that can do this and it usualy takes a few days.
2. saving money, i dive every weekend "rain or shine" plus i have 3 kids that dive.
3. i just prefer to do things myself.

any input concerning brand prefferance, cost ect... will help. thanks

 

[ajduplessis]

I am not sure if the business case ($$$$$) is going to make any sense, compressors are very costly!!! You will have to really do a lot of fills to make it worth your while. It would be great thou!!!!!!!

I would suggest moving the post to the compressors, booster forum, the guys there will be able to give you much more relevant information and suggestions.

 

[Peter_C]

If you hit the report button with a quick note asking the mods to move the post to the compressor forum they kindly will.

A used compressor would make sense. New might be a much longer ROI, but you then know what you are getting. I continuous blend nitrox with mine all the time. Super easy to do, and it wasn't that expensive to get started blending nitrox. At $10 a fill the cost of the compressor was paid off years ago. At the time, no one within 75 miles of me offered nitrox. Now there is one shop around 45 minutes away. The time savings factors in, but I never counted it as money.

Anything above 40% you are going to be partial pressure blending from possibly a cascade or utilizing a booster. Since you mentioned 100% and trimix I would just recommend planning on a booster, which would also help with the argon.

My recommendation would be at least an 8cfm 100% duty rated compressor, preferably with auto drains. Purchase the Oxyhacker guide from Airspeed Press. Add in a tower filter or two. Install a CO meter. Get everyone nitrox certified. Build a mixing stick and start blending nitrox now. The air quality should be top notch, and air quality tests can confirm it.

 

[abnjim]

hey thanks peter, i did re post this in the air compressor section whitch i didn't know existed untill yesterday and posted my questions there but i couldn't figure out how to remove this one.