I recently bought a rather complete fill station that is mixed gas capable. The setup was available as a complete "working" system but I'm not exactly sure how much work it had actually done. What I found tonight really gives me pause and I feel a bit like I'm on a giant trust me dive. It's a long story so bear with me.
I was shopping for a compressor and a Rix SA-6 was definitely on the list. I read for a few weeks here and on the other sites and basically read everything I could find on compressors and filtration etc. back to around 2004. The Rix doesn't come up for sale often and when it does it usually needs some level of a rebuild which can be simple or major. I discovered that low and behold there was a really nice system right here in my little town that was for sale last fall and when I contacted the seller, it was still available and he wanted to move it.
The setup consisted of an old SA-6 that he had upgraded with stainless inter-stage coils and heads and some gauges at the coalescers. The seller told me it had 33 hours on it but the hour meter said 5 so who knows. There were 4 t-bottles that were filled with air to 4,500 psi and were 18 months into their hydro. There was a International Hydraulics 2-stage booster built for oxygen and a home made mixing board with 4 whips for helium or oxygen and 4 whips for air from the bank. There was an almost new LF AF-531-111-f filter tower with two extra filters. From what I had learned, this was a nice setup for PP blending and we worked out a price and I carted it all home to begin an adventure or a saga, I didn't know which. I thrive on setting up systems and I knew that it would be about what I learned and what I created as much as it would be about filling tanks. Diving trimix wasn't in my original plan and is still a ways off but worst case was I could sell it as it was a collection of good parts as long as there were no big hidden surprises.
I got it set up and even bought a larger shop compressor to run the booster some day but the priority valve had an issue where the differential was 2,300 psi so I didn't want to replace the filter until I got that sorted out and they took a long while to admit it was a problem and get it replaced so in the meantime I didn't pump any air for breathing because the filter was 18 months old even if it hadn't been used much. I figured I could use the banked air in the meantime. "Trust me air"
That brings me to tonight. I plumbed in the replacement priority valve and even though the differential pressure is still 1,500 psi, I figure if I adjust it to 3,000 it will hold 1,500 in the filter to protect it and it's not perfect but it will work. Went to replace the eyeball element and LF had sent me the wrong one so bummer. When I went to replace the filter it got really interesting. I pulled the old filter out and the color indicator strip was still completely blue. This filter was installed 18 months ago and had not been pressurized for most of that time. WTF! I looked at the top of the filter and the snap out plug was still in place. Say what? This means that all the air that had been pumped into those bank cylinders never saw desiccant and they've been that way for over a year. How did it even pump air? I'm going to guess that my HP100s that I filled from them are ok because I was transfilling from 4,500 down to 3,400 so while not ideal, the higher pressure storage in effect dehumidified the air for my scuba tanks but I'll have to do a visual on them anyway.
I have to figure out how to pull the valves on the big bottles(daaammmiiiittttt) and they will probably need a tumble at least. I need to call the seller and warn him about his tanks because they may be wet as well and I will need to just dump all the air from all the tanks because even though the Rix is oil-less, I still would be more comfortable if the air had seen hopcalite since I don't know what was going on in or near his garage when he was filling. Does that about cover it?
I'm looking for advice and direction. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Oh, looking like saga, eh?
I was shopping for a compressor and a Rix SA-6 was definitely on the list. I read for a few weeks here and on the other sites and basically read everything I could find on compressors and filtration etc. back to around 2004. The Rix doesn't come up for sale often and when it does it usually needs some level of a rebuild which can be simple or major. I discovered that low and behold there was a really nice system right here in my little town that was for sale last fall and when I contacted the seller, it was still available and he wanted to move it.
The setup consisted of an old SA-6 that he had upgraded with stainless inter-stage coils and heads and some gauges at the coalescers. The seller told me it had 33 hours on it but the hour meter said 5 so who knows. There were 4 t-bottles that were filled with air to 4,500 psi and were 18 months into their hydro. There was a International Hydraulics 2-stage booster built for oxygen and a home made mixing board with 4 whips for helium or oxygen and 4 whips for air from the bank. There was an almost new LF AF-531-111-f filter tower with two extra filters. From what I had learned, this was a nice setup for PP blending and we worked out a price and I carted it all home to begin an adventure or a saga, I didn't know which. I thrive on setting up systems and I knew that it would be about what I learned and what I created as much as it would be about filling tanks. Diving trimix wasn't in my original plan and is still a ways off but worst case was I could sell it as it was a collection of good parts as long as there were no big hidden surprises.
I got it set up and even bought a larger shop compressor to run the booster some day but the priority valve had an issue where the differential was 2,300 psi so I didn't want to replace the filter until I got that sorted out and they took a long while to admit it was a problem and get it replaced so in the meantime I didn't pump any air for breathing because the filter was 18 months old even if it hadn't been used much. I figured I could use the banked air in the meantime. "Trust me air"
That brings me to tonight. I plumbed in the replacement priority valve and even though the differential pressure is still 1,500 psi, I figure if I adjust it to 3,000 it will hold 1,500 in the filter to protect it and it's not perfect but it will work. Went to replace the eyeball element and LF had sent me the wrong one so bummer. When I went to replace the filter it got really interesting. I pulled the old filter out and the color indicator strip was still completely blue. This filter was installed 18 months ago and had not been pressurized for most of that time. WTF! I looked at the top of the filter and the snap out plug was still in place. Say what? This means that all the air that had been pumped into those bank cylinders never saw desiccant and they've been that way for over a year. How did it even pump air? I'm going to guess that my HP100s that I filled from them are ok because I was transfilling from 4,500 down to 3,400 so while not ideal, the higher pressure storage in effect dehumidified the air for my scuba tanks but I'll have to do a visual on them anyway.
I have to figure out how to pull the valves on the big bottles(daaammmiiiittttt) and they will probably need a tumble at least. I need to call the seller and warn him about his tanks because they may be wet as well and I will need to just dump all the air from all the tanks because even though the Rix is oil-less, I still would be more comfortable if the air had seen hopcalite since I don't know what was going on in or near his garage when he was filling. Does that about cover it?
I'm looking for advice and direction. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Oh, looking like saga, eh?
