Bauer filter housings

[iain/hsm]

Unlikely p61, very small unit. Where can I buy p61 in Europe? Interesting comparison. Does the housing also contain pressure relief and constant pressure valves?
Thanx Emil

I made a mistake the P61 filter type is nearer 850mm long (not 600 as I originally stated now corrected) and just over 100mm diameter. Not sure who has them in SA but either way parcel is another option.
No you need a separate BPR add £50 ($65) The relief valve is is another topic all of it's own as below.

The USA dont have regulations on relief valves like we do unless its under ASME VIII Division 1 or 2 or under Apendix 22 for industriral or professional set ups. Scuba divers in the US do what they like.

In the UK we require a PED (pressure equipment directive) and in SA Its a PER (Pressure Equipment Regulations 17th July 2009) You also need to be aware of the South African Bureau of Standard Specification SANS 10227. Now if you are a scuba diver and also do what you like, thats not my call I'm just giving you the options in SA. But a certified PED relief valve would set you back around £150 not much more than a stainless steel Swagelok Nupro type. But by contrast the cheap Aluminium US types are £50 to £75

Regulations: Guidance Notes to the Pressure Equipment - SAGASwww.sagas.co.za/.../Guidance-Notes-to-the-Pressure-Equipment-Regulations_Feb2015...

 

[Emil Gaigher]

FotosI believe those to be paintball filter sets and not breathing air. Anyways I'd pass them like truck stop sushi.

 

[Emil Gaigher]

 

[iain/hsm]

WOW its in very good condition for such an old 1978 block even the threads on the holding bolts have never been removed. If it were mine and I have to be careful here what I say here. But in general I would check it out clean it all up replace just the o-rings and use it as is. (with two exceptions)

That said the one change I would suggest you consider is if you are intend using it for breathing air.
(Paintball I dont comment on as we are a diving forum) but I would fill that small 0.23 litre final filter with the smallest solid glass beads or small solid glass marbles and use it instead as an additional water/oil separator with new sponge and the mesh each end of course.

Then buy a new stand alone say make it wall mounted for simplicity a new breathing air filter build to comply with our modern BSEN 12021 breathing air standards and keep the old filter on the compressor now as a second final stage oil water separator. This will give you even more filter chemical life from the proposed new filter.

The second thing I would reccomend is changing the high pressure rubber filling hose, just from a safety point and checking the pressure gauge and relief valves for accuracy while you are at it. Iain

 

[iain/hsm]

I should add. Dont take it any further apart than you have. If you break any internal part spares may be problematic. Make sure its suitable for running with say a new drive belt again for safety and new oil and possibly a new air intake paper filter. Just to run it up to see how it performs before investing in any serious money on a new separate filter shell.

First check for correct rotation and bring it up to pressure say 200 bar against a turned off scuba cylinder and switch off to check for leaks. Then: Run it up again against the scuba cylinder valve still turned off and you wont contaminate the internal scuba cylinder only the face of the pillar valve. Run it 5 mins at 100 bar then 150 then 200 bar while bleeding the excess air using the bleed screw on the scuba filling whip NOT the bleeds on the bottom of those separators.

That should give you an idea of it mechanically running OK

Only fill the scuba cylinder when you have adiquate chemical filtration or if you have a spare bare pillar valve you can use that for testing. The only thing you cant do is check the charging rate to do that you need to fill a cylinder of a known size from a known pressure usually zero or 500psi to a known pressure usually full or 200 bar in a known time. Iain

 

[iain/hsm]

I'm curious to see the responses of others, but my current gut feeling says I trust them less that the ones that are old/recalled/etc....

For my money I would agree with you 100%

 

[Emil Gaigher]

Ian thanx for reply, exactly my train of thought... I can have the filter housings hydro tested for some piece of mind? They seem solid though. Already removed all rubber hosing and wil install new gauges before and after pvm to see pressure control. Also oil pressure gauge ? Had it up to 200 bar with no sign of problems or leaking before taking apart.
Thanx
Emil

 

[iain/hsm]

Ian thanx for reply, exactly my train of thought... I can have the filter housings hydro tested for some piece of mind? They seem solid though. Already removed all rubber hosing and wil install new gauges before and after pvm to see pressure control. Also oil pressure gauge ? Had it up to 200 bar with no sign of problems or leaking before taking apart.
Thanx
Emil

Dont! you need to know a lot more before you consider a re hydro. Just keep in mind that to overtest is to weaken besides its normally just a proof test they do and they dont measure the critical expansion and permanent expansion set.

Further Bauer back then as now use TUV as the design house for the pressure vessels and TUV would test a rubber hot water bottle in your bed as a pressure vessels if you paid them.
Besides the working pressure to burst presure is quite low 2.4: 1 under the Bauer TUV standard
Even the UK had a more reasonable 3:1 working pressure to burst. Now you know why the panic to change out the pressure vessels after 15 years.

By comparison for industrial use the safety standard is 4:1 four times the maximum allowable working pressure before burst. Iain

 

[Emil Gaigher]

Can you tel me where in UK I can obtain good quality mollecul sieve ..?
Thanx for al the advice

 

[iain/hsm]

Can you tel me where in UK I can obtain good quality mollecul sieve ..?
Thanx for al the advice

If your asking me I would say that your asking the wrong question.
To my mind "good quality" relates to two properties we never discuss in any diver forum, including this one.

The first quality is the amount of carcinogenic material mixed in with the synthetic zeolite.
The second is the "performace" of the zeolite itself.

The best quailty material is pure crystal white and contains no carcinogenic material at £20/kg.
The worse is from China and looks almost a light tan brown in colour a £11/kg with 30% cancer causing agent.
The first lasts twice as long as the second and is manufactured for a large gas company in England for pressure swing adsorber applications in the medical gas industry and for oxygen generators.

The American filters include between 15 to 20% of carcinogetic material.
The Germans a little more than 20% hence the land fill requirement for disposal.

But the answer is not the chemical itself but the filter bed materials, the dwell time and back pressure settings the compressive jet velocity Dp and a bunch of other stuff.

Further why use the good expensive chemical stuff to filter out the bulk bad junk?
First filter chemical to consider should be Silica gel it's £3/kg its cheap and will absorb the junk bulk water condensate
Then Activated Alumina it's also cheap at £4.kg for a 25 kilo drum and will reduce the water vapour dewpoint as well as well as any water droplet carry over missed from the silica gel without the exothermic reaction that molecular sieve has to water droplet.

Then after these cheap chemicals when the gas has had chance to cool down and the dwell time slowly flows over the chemical zeolite then can you extend the expensive chemical life for the adsorbsion of the water molecules. With added consideration for activated carbon in the dry end after the alumina and mid point in the zeolite where you can you use less expensive chemicals and max out the filter chemical life.
Like I said wrong question to the right answer but you see where this leads.

Compressor companies and dive shops make money selling you stuff, throw away filters is a big money maker no one is interested selling you "The Good Stuff" or advising how to make a filter matrix more effective. With one exception I guess. LOL Iain