Bauer or Coltri?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Hmmm ... don't know where you are ordering from, but in the US, they are in stock and only take a few weeks to set up and test.
 
Hmmm ... don't know where you are ordering from, but in the US, they are in stock and only take a few weeks to set up and test.
He is in Bali. It's a consideration, especially when he wants parts or service.
 
This may or may not be helpful to the OP, but I have had a Coltri MCH6 for about a year that I bought used from a paintball guy. It only had about 6 hours on it, but I changed the compressor and engine oil, put a new breathable air filter on, etc. It has served me well. I fill probably the equivalent of 8 to 12 HP 80's a week, in fact it is running right now. Thanks in part to Ron on this board for technical / parts support, it has served me very well. Never a moment of trouble. Again thanks to Ron I know what to do and why I am doing it if it is going to be more than a month between uses. I agree that proper maintenance is a necessity.

Have no experience with a Bauer.
 
As the title reads, would you recommend Bauer or Coltri?
This is to be used in tropical, warm and moist places for a shop. Looking at 200l/min options. There is a 35% price difference!


Wow I'm surprised only a 35% difference. If setting up a dive shop in a tropical hot climate and are comparing say a Bauer Mariner 200 Profi line II with a Coltri Sub MCH 13 as being any way near suitable.

However if price alone is your only method of judgement, then that Coltri is much too expensive. :)
 
Price alone is not the concern as you should have been able to discern from the original post.
I set my mind on a Bauer with a second p2/61 filtration tower, moisture indicators and 4 filling whips. Along with proper ventilation and running 2 compressors alternatively, this should do the trick!
 
Price alone is not the concern as you should have been able to discern from the original post.
I set my mind on a Bauer with a second p2/61 filtration tower, moisture indicators and 4 filling whips. Along with proper ventilation and running 2 compressors alternatively, this should do the trick!

Not sure about "doing the trick". Bali is pretty hot around 30C 86F if your running a small high RMP sports compressor at high RPM, air cooled with an aluminium block, of either brand over say over a 7 month season. Expect a hard and short life and plenty of service cost.
Now the kicker is how many cylinders you have to fill each day we dont know that as yet but also if you pay staff to hang over them while filling.

But personally I would consider a big 20 to 30 cfm low RPM water cooled industrial block say at 20BHP (if you have the power) and then incorporate as big a intermediate pressure bank as you can afford. At least 10 storage cylinders, possibly 20.

Then by using in additional small two stage single phase 2HP electric gas booster that will jack the storage pressure from the bank to each scuba cylinder at an equivalent filling or charging rate of around 16 CFM (once equalised)
Now no way can you fill at 16cfm with a 2HP motor unless you go down the booster route. Its fast efficient and best of all a 400 hour service kit set you back £80 $120 and you can do it yourself.

Using an electric gas booster you get more service life at a cheaper running cost. But the storage bank is key. With a bank inlet pressure to the booster of say 3000 psi down to say 2000 psi you get the bulk of your tanks filled by decanting and save the main compressor working hard filling at high pressure.

The main compressor if you go for an industrial ductile iron heavy duty low RPM block it will last you years before needing service.
With a typical oil change at 5000 hours, you do the maths on any of the blocks you have mentioned the saving on oil alone will pay for you set up over the years you intend operating them and we haven't yet started to discuss savings on filtration.

Calculate on taking 5 mins per cylinder filling or there about's but you can fill six or 10 cylinder at a time. IMHO with 30C ambient any faster and the cylinder will get too hot, and any slower and its like watching paint dry.

With a big enough bank you can "dump" direct from the storage bank at an even faster rate and make up any shortfall running the main compressor directly to the cylinders for a simple "top off"

Say if you have a boat returning for a one hour turn around you can dump fill all the deck cylinders and still have time in your lunch hour to sunbathe. What a life LOL
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom