Compressor Maintenance

[off the grid]

The company that services our compressor recommends annual service. Only problem is that it is fairly expensive ($700-$800 per service). Since we get bi-annual air tests done and they have always had positive results, is the yearly service really neccessary? Just wondering what other PSD groups do.

 

[Wookie]

Bi-annual? An air test every 2 years? Holy moly, you're brave. I'm sure your service company recommends every year. We need to know what they want to do before we tell you if you are paying too much. What do they want to do?

 

[ditch-diver]

I assume by bi-annual you mean twice a year? What kind of compressor? How old? How many hours per year of use?

When we got our new one, I ended up doing a course with the compressor company so I could do the servicing for us, but there is no way I do $700-800 worth of work a year. Mainly oil and filter changes and if something big breaks down and I am stuck I have the big guns on speed dial

 

[off the grid]

Yeah I mean twice a year air testing.

 

[ditch-diver]

electric or gas?

 

[off the grid]

Electric

 

[Wookie]

What does the yearly service consist of? How many hours a year do you put on your compressor? What kind of compressor is it? Does it run more at some time of the year than others? Is it located inside a fire station/heated garage, or out in a compressor shed?

 

[off the grid]

Its a Mako 4 stage. It is stored in a heated building. Not sure how many hours a year it runs but we fill about 150 80lb tanks a year with it or less. Runs more in the summer but we do fill tanks all year. Service that I've seen before consists of going over it, changing out filters, checking compression, etc. Takes about 2 - 2.5 hours.

 

[BoltSnap]

We did the air testing on quarterly basis. We did annual service for the compressor (Poseidon) and paid around $1000 for it. We never had a problem with the compressor and our air quality test was always great and exceeded standards. We had the compressor for over 10 years.

We occasionally filled tanks for other dive shops when their compressors were down.

 

[Wookie]

Do you have anyone qualified to service it? I used to work for a Mako dealer and we saw the most godawful maintenance on fire station compressors. The air filter is 100 bucks, the oil and oil filter is 100 bucks, checking belts and compression takes 20 minutes, taking apart the final seperator and checking the sintered filter takes an hour, and may cost 10 bucks if all they change is o-rings, or 100 bucks if you need a new filter. Travel time to and from is unknown, but many Mako dealers charge up to 50 bucks an hour travel time. Your Mako universal manual tells step by step how to perform these maintenance items, and in Roatan or Belize, some shop monkey does it. Would it be worth it for me? No, I am a Mako technician, and I have an installed spare if one goes down. All it takes is someone who is a shade tree mechanic, and not a hammer mechanic to perform this maintenance. It also takes continuity. You don't want everyone doing the maintenance, you want the same person over and over again. That way when something breaks (and it will) the Mako technician will have one point of contact to go to to ask what has been tried.

Good luck, and happy maintaining.