Review Nitrox, Hydro, PMV, oh my! Final update on my build.

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Ty Hamby

Have air will travel.
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Huge thank you to many on this forum who helped me figure things out on my project. I think I am finished, finally. This is my 5000 PSI breathable air fill station. What started as a simple compressor purchase from a closing dive shop turned into a build that most any would be happy to own. I correctly replumbed the filter stack, since the dive shop I got it from ran the fill hose directly out the filter stack with no PMV to maintain pressure. I also changed out the steel fittings someone added with parker 316 fittings. I serviced the compressor oil filter, intake filter, oil coalescor and 27" air purification filter. Then replaced all the 7k psi fill hoses. I hydroed and added six 4500psi cascade tanks to the fill station and built my own nitrox stick to bank EAN32 in the storage tanks. Topped it all off with a passing, "Grade E Breathable Air" certification test from Trace Analytics. Now I find myself with a bunch of free time. Only thing left to do is wait for my bank account to replenish itself so I can replace some aging and non-standard gauges from the panel.

I am reminded about a story where "this monk went to visit the Buddha, and he told the Buddha that he's practiced levitation for the past 10 years, and now he could walk on water. And the Buddha goes, yeah, but the ferry is only a nickel."

In jest this what the most expensive way I know to save $5 on a fill. As we all know we don't do anything in diving on the cheap and rarely, if ever "save" money.


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What hose did you use to connect the Stick to the compressor inlet?

Nice setup - I need to figure out some horizontal cylinder storage like that, but my compressor is a horizontal layout already.

Have you managed to stab yourself yet on the needles in the Trace Analytics sample tube? I seem to manage to do it every time i use it... Nice use of the portable vice though for holding the contraption in place.
 
What hose did you use to connect the Stick to the compressor inlet?

Nice setup - I need to figure out some horizontal cylinder storage like that, but my compressor is a horizontal layout already.

Have you managed to stab yourself yet on the needles in the Trace Analytics sample tube? I seem to manage to do it every time i use it... Nice use of the portable vice though for holding the contraption in place.
That is something I am still working on. Currently I am using a polyethylene hose that is used for sump pumps. I need to find one more durable than this one. I fear it will not last.
As far as horizontal. If you look closely. This cascade array was originally horizontal. The 3" channel iron that supported 6 tanks are in the photo. I simply took the left and right side cascade support brackets and repurposed them to hold the scuba cylinders and bolted the fill station to the top of it to get the valves and gauges high enough to be practical. I got the compressor from a local shop that was closing. The fact that the compressor and fill station match was an accident. I found this fill station and cascade cylinders from facebook marketplace some 600 miles away. It was worth the drive as I got a great price on them. I am open to leads on 1 1/2" breathing air intake hose.
 
That’s similar to the sump pump hose I have on mine. It vibrates a lot while in use - the compressor is very well balanced and doesn’t really vibrate but I suspect the pulses from the intake make it move some.

I’m thinking of seeing what the local pool supply place has that might be a little heavier and bounce less.
 
That’s similar to the sump pump hose I have on mine. It vibrates a lot while in use - the compressor is very well balanced and doesn’t really vibrate but I suspect the pulses from the intake make it move some.

I’m thinking of seeing what the local pool supply place has that might be a little heavier and bounce less.
Let me know if you come up with a cool solution. Ill update here with what i find. I want to avoild anything off gassing. Vinyl was horrible.
 
Others have mentioned that Nuvair sells good hose for this, since they sell membrane systems. I've just been reluctant to order any more compressor parts :)
 
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