new here, and i need advice on a compressor.

[whitewhale]

Not wishing to confuse you but before offering you a solution and with respect can I first ask you why only Bauer. Iain

we have a decent bauer dealership here and bauer is pretty reliable from the little that i understand from my research. i trust german manufacturing. its a trust thing. do you have any leads on other brands i should consider? i am open to all advice as i have to make an investment on behalf of an entire faculty.. its pretty daunting.
also like thank you to everyone who is trying to help.

 

[iain/hsm]

Thanks for the clarification.
To kick off both yourself and others first need to be made aware that as a University department you incur additional safety requirements and responsibilities incumbent upon you as to the heath safety and well being of your students. A scuba shop is something completely different.

Second non of the American products suggested so far are compatible with the voltage or electrical certifications minimum standards acceptable in Kuwait.

Further non of the American electrical standards for the products suggested so far will even meet the requirement for your country.

Thirdly the voltage and frequency differences aside, the wiring specifications, installations and safety components used in the compressor brands and models suggested from American products will not meet the minimum standard required for your country.

From what has been suggested so far I think most have omitted to advise you on a number of basic details in particular the responsibility you have to your facility, and again you are not a dive shop.

Although your budget may be unlimited your responsibility to ensure compliance is very much limited by the suggestions you have been given so far.

Now I know that is not very helpful for a diving forum but I just wanted to focus you first on your responsibility for your application before we go on to suggest further solutions.Filling cylinders in a dive shop is one thing but is not IMHO where you are here and in that respect you are quite possibly fishing in too small a pond.

But to kick off with a possible route to begin first look within your university for advise as to the impact assessment of your local ambient air quality. It is one thing breathing air at ambient conditions quite another breathing the same toxic concentrations under pressure.

This will focus your attention away from the brand and direct it more to your task in hand and your responsibility to both the university and those students within it. Kuwait has some very high No2 CO NOX concentrations and together with the proximity of many oil refineries additional airborne contaminants need to be addressed IMHO before you choose the brand with which you force feed the product on your students so to speak.

Further consideration should be given to the average ambient air temperatures in Kuwait for this month past were 29 to 39 degrees centigrade. Once again a scuba compressor IMHO is not up for your specific application.

But I will say this our responsibility to you is to ensure by the time we finish here you will have gained enough insight and knowledge to make the correct informed choice. Iain

 

[tbone1004]

@iain/hsm come on mate, you know better than that. The electrics on the compressors are industrial motors, there was mention of a local Bauer dealer, which means they must have the appropriate industrial motors for those applications. Most of the other components are analog or run off of computers which are stepped down from whatever their input power source is and I'm sure they have electrical compatibiliy with the Kuwait electrical grid *same as the UK for anyone curious*. Again under the assumption that with a local Bauer dealer, they are selling products that are compliant with the local electrical infrastructure, and are at a university so would have access to three phase power for the filtration pumps for the pools.

Regarding filtration, that has nothing to do with the compressor itself and you know that, but everything to do with appropriate pre-filtration prior to the compressor intake, and post filtration in the stacks.

40c is perfectly fine and there are plenty of compressors that run at that temperature in Florida, Central America, Phillipines etc. and since it is at a university, one should be safe to assume it is inside in some sort of climate controlled building. *Including Rix SA-6's since you're a Rix guy*

Either way, since the OP has a Bauer dealer locally, comparable type equipment to what was messaged before should be available from their local dealers and they will be the best resource in terms of getting you equipped with what you need as well as training you in appropriate use of said equipment.

 

[C Dub]

Nice catch tbone, lol!

 

[nadwidny]

This will focus your attention away from the brand and direct it more to your task in hand and your responsibility to both the university and those students within it. Kuwait has some very high No2 CO NOX concentrations and together with the proximity of many oil refineries additional airborne contaminants need to be addressed IMHO before you choose the brand with which you force feed the product on your students so to speak.

The company I'm with does breathing air quality analysis from the compressors of fire departments of many oil and natural gas refineries. Outside of the natural gas plants which may have a problem with high methane levels once in a while, there are no problems with any of the contaminants you mention in the air that these units are pumping out (the majority of which are Jordair, which are rebranded Bauers for the Canadian market).

 

[mbsdiver]

This is just my personal opinion I wouldn't use aluminum 80 tanks I will go with a high pressure 120 they're about the same size and the buoyancy characteristics are a lot better not to mention the added benefit of the extra air for your Pony tank definitely get rid of the 19s use a 30 or a 40 u can still do a safty stop with a larger pony tank. As for a compressor you say there is a local dealer there have a talk with them & take notes. make sure they can service the compressor and you are not wating for parts. It might b a good thing to have maintenance stuff on hand.

 

[tbone1004]

hp100's are much better than 120's. 120's are too tall for the vast majority of divers out there, as are al80's for that matter. You have to be around 5'10"' tall to properly dive an AL80 and at least 6' to properly dive a 120. Requirements there being that the valve is high enough to manipulate, but the tank bottom doesn't go so low that you can't sit on the bench properly.

 

[CraigAClark]

I might suggest that before you start, you check into the liability aspects of providing breathing air for your students with an on site system. I'm not sure if your instructor liability insurance will cover a compressor and fill station. .