Question Dive Shop Compressor Power Consumption

[joebob24]

Does anyone know how big of a factor the cost of electricity and the efficiency of the compressor is for a dive shop? Is this something that is compared between units when purchasing?

I am working on my next design for a compressor and have some ideas that might be significantly less efficient than current compressor designs, but could potentially have much lower maintenance costs.

 

[TravisD]

My compressor came out of a dive shop. but is now seeing home/friends/family use... My math is that 10HP = 7.4kW x .17kW/h = about US#1.25/hour to run. I can get about 20(?) fills from a 3.x hour run (to refill the banks). For me that might be once a month or longer. Let's say an actual shop is busier and they're running it 8 hours/week - and maybe commercial power is a little higher, at $0.20/kWh? That's about $12/week in electricity. $50/mo, for 200 fills (which I'd say makes them a pretty busy shop, and hopefully that means they have income from all those fills).

 

[rjack321]

Is this something that is compared between units when purchasing?

Motor efficiency will be way higher on 3 phase power but not every retail storefront site has access.

Within single phase power, CFM rate and serviceability are way bigger factors than power consumption/efficiency

 

[Pavao]

My compressor came out of a dive shop. but is now seeing home/friends/family use... My math is that 10HP = 7.4kW x .17kW/h = about US#1.25/hour to run. I can get about 20(?) fills from a 3.x hour run (to refill the banks). For me that might be once a month or longer. Let's say an actual shop is busier and they're running it 8 hours/week - and maybe commercial power is a little higher, at $0.20/kWh? That's about $12/week in electricity. $50/mo, for 200 fills (which I'd say makes them a pretty busy shop, and hopefully that means they have income from all those fills).

Ha, a busy shop in Wyoming maybe.

 

[joebob24]

Ha, a busy shop in Wyoming maybe.

This is part of what I wasn't sure of for a dive shop. How many tanks would a busy dive shop fill in a month?

 

[Pavao]

This is part of what I wasn't sure of for a dive shop. How many tanks would a busy dive shop fill in a month?

I don’t have an accurate answer for that, but I can do an educated guesstimate, based on 3 shops I have worked for which were all fairly busy.
200 is number easily achieved during the week, with another 400 for the weekend.
Compressors running 6-8 hours a day Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with plenty hours on the weekdays also.
Tricky part is averaging that in year, I think those numbers would go down a bit when you account for the days with bad weather no boat

 

[happy-diver]

Throw some slick fifty in

 

[tbone1004]

Does anyone know how big of a factor the cost of electricity and the efficiency of the compressor is for a dive shop? Is this something that is compared between units when purchasing?

I am working on my next design for a compressor and have some ideas that might be significantly less efficient than current compressor designs, but could potentially have much lower maintenance costs.

it's not typically used when comparing units. Very few shops have the knowledge to even know how to look at that, and even fewer know how to address it *as seen by so many trying to convert 3phase pumps to single phase vs. using a VFD*.
What are you doing that would make it significantly less efficient? With the exception of running at unnecessarily high pressures or swapping a 3p motor to a 1p motor, there isn't a whole lot else you can do.

 

[joebob24]

there isn't a whole lot else you can do.

I haven't decided how much information I am going to share on this project yet, but there has been a couple significant technological developments in the last 15 years that could make a nearly maintenance free compressor stage possible. No oil changes and no valve replacements even after years of continuous use. Still have to change the breathing air filters though. I could probably just describe the whole thing and nobody would believe that it would work anyway, but I want to make a prototype or two and see what happens. 95% chance that it won't work the way I think it might anyway and I will post what I tried and why it didn't work.

It seems that the consensus is that electricity consumption is not a big factor, which is what I assumed based on the initial numbers I looked at, but I wasn't sure if there was something I was missing.

 

[broncobowsher]

Less efficient will also mean more heat. Watts are energy. If you use them they have to do sometime. Either be efficient and compress air, or not efficient and make heat. In the winter extra heat may be fine, although electric heating (which is what you would be doing) is usually the most expensive option. In the summer, it can add to air conditioning loads if run indoors. Around here, they are all indoors.