Just curious-Do you fill your own tanks?

[OldNSalty]

Happiness is your own fill station.

Not cheap, but if you factor in all the trips to a commercial fill station you won't be making, and the value of your time and the costs of travel, it's a lot easier to justify.

If you need "other than air" fills it's often the only reasonable alternative.

If you go down this path educate yourself about proper filtration.

Tobin

and is there a god source for educating myself on this topic?

 

[riverdiver]

I bought a used compressor 5 years ago, and do my own blending, and have a cascade system and 3 fill whips. I have saved thousands by doing this and I make a little money selling air. I believe if you buy a used compressor at a good price and keep it up when you sell it you with not lose any money like the rest of used dive gear.
Ed

 

[dannobee]

...I believe if you buy a used compressor at a good price and keep it up when you sell it you with not lose any money like the rest of used dive gear.
Ed

Truer words have seldom been spoken. It's like having money in the bank; I'm certain that I can sell my compressor for more than its purchase price (used).

I have my own compressor, run nitrox and trimix through it, and thanked my lucky stars when the local source for nitrox and trimix closed their doors. It would've been a real pain to drive 40 miles one way for those fills.

 

[crpntr133]

I have my own compressor. Just a 4 CFM Bauer Utilus 10 but it fills tanks. I bought it used for $1600 a couple years back with only 96 hours since a complete rebuild. The main reason that I bought my own compressor is that the LDS was talking about closing up.
Convenience is a big factor. I can go out at night, flip the switch and fill tanks. No need to wait in line or drop off and pick up later. I figured up last year what it was costing me for gas to drive to the LDS plus filll price and I think it was coming out at $10-$11. I'm pretty sure that I can fill several tanks for that price. Even if I include future maintanance.

 

[TheScubaBOB]

Could someone please post a list of what is needed to build a home filling station in stages. By this I mean slowly adding ability to it for example:

Initially just being about to fill a single tank to a variable pressure (2400/3000/3300/3500psi).

Next stage would be to add banked air (i.e. compressor fills the HP bank, whip uses bank pressure, compressor kicks in when needed for filling or to maintain the bank)

Next would be ability to fill multiple tanks to same pressure.

Next would be ability to add second bank for say Nitrox.

I assume the initial config would be:

Compressor (recommended specs).
Inline filtration for breathing air.
Fill whip with pressure gauge.

See this would allow us to spread the cost of a home fill station over a few years and just make it better as time goes on. I have a nice workshop in the backyard that I'd be happy to air condition (for the summer months) and build a filling station in addition to setting-up to learn to service my gear.

 

[Artimas]

Hey all, thanks for the interesting replies.

Are these "home compressors" able to fill HP tanks with the overfill?

 

[Peter_C]

Personally I wouldn't buy a compressor that will not pump to 5,000 psi. The banks get filled to 5,000 psi then cool to right around 4,600 psi. So which burst disk do you have in your tank valve?

 

[dannobee]

Hey all, thanks for the interesting replies.

Are these "home compressors" able to fill HP tanks with the overfill?

Yes. Quite a few will pump to 5000psi. The cutoff switch can be adjusted down.

 

[Doc Harry]

The AmeriGas delviery man showed up today to drop of a couple of oxygen and argon cylinders at my house. He was a new guy, the old driver retired. He saw my compressor set up and remarked, "I see you got the stuff to fill your own tanks.....

...You must save a lot of money that way."

I just laughed. If he only knew....

 

[mike_s]

I bought a used compressor 5 years ago, and do my own blending, and have a cascade system and 3 fill whips. I have saved thousands by doing this and I make a little money selling air.

just curious...


what about liability selling air to others?

did you get any insurance for that? (you know, standard issue of a diver has an accident and his widow sues everyone, including the guy who filled his tanks. Or claimed you gave him "bad air".)

just curious and a pretty valid question.