older Filter stacks for scuba compressor filtration/Nitrox and repacking

[popolarbear]

im curious what the board would comment on filtration stacks like this. the housing is made of magnetic metal. the threaded cover is rusting.
inside the media is simply poured into the housing and the cover is screwed in. easy to fill, impossible to empty. I would imagine that flow rate when it rusted solid probably killed the compressor.
paint looks like 1960's vintage.

i imagine filter comlumbs are not made like this any more.

also how would an operator empty the stack. it is permanently mounted and weights 70lbs! the can housing itself is rusting on the walls.

 

[rcontrera]

Yeah ... that's an oldie. That pile of rust in the top used to be some steel can piercers and there was a similar set in the bottom. You put a filter "can" in it and when you screwed the top down, the teeth would punch holes in the can so there was a inlet and outlet. LF still makes a cartridge that will fit. But without the teeth, you are out of luck. Time to retire it.

 

[popolarbear]

any idea how old this would be? 1960's? also it is rusted into solid block of carbon. looks like previous operator had simply packed it full of carbon.

 

[rcontrera]

Hard to say. I had one of those in the late 70s. I think replacing them would be in your best interest.

 

[Gilldiver]

You emptied them with a vacuum, and used one of your wife/girlfriend/daughters Kotek pads as filter material to keep the loose materials carbon or alumina, from getting sucked/pushed down stream when you hand packed the column.

 

[NAM001]

i have something like this in the garage. mine look like large bullets. mine were rusted inside from the prior owners improper plumbing. yea LF has the filter cartridges for it i think. you can make your own filter packs for them, and if i were to use them i would use them as carbon filters. uaing some other appliance for desicant and co removal. i have seen these kind of filters repacked with some sort of home made thing like a doll house table put on the bottom and the chemical put on top of the table contained in something like pantyhose so that it would fill the entire diameter of the cylendar forsing the gas to pass through the pantyhose filled chemical instead of around it. that could be done assuming the filter containers you show in the pics are sound enough to hold rated psi. if you would like you can pm me and i can send pics of what i have. i had to get an engine cylendar hone to clean out the rust in mine. a small whip would work also.

 

[rcontrera]

You emptied them with a vacuum, and used one of your wife/girlfriend/daughters Kotek pads as filter material to keep the loose materials carbon or alumina, from getting sucked/pushed down stream when you hand packed the column.

We can laugh about it now, but that is EXACTLY how a lot of folks used to do it back in the 70s and 80s.

When I got my very first air system, I got it from someone that had repossessed it from a dive shop that went under. I couldn't understand the filter at all because I was only familiar with a complicated Navy system and had never seen anything like what I was looking at. The compressor shop I took it to for advice asked me if the shop went under because the customers kept dieing.:shocked2: He sold me one of these AeroDri housings and a "fill it yourself" metal canister which we we packed with 3/4 13X and 1/4 C. Worked great.

The sad part of this whole thing is that I STILL hear old timey dive shops talk about it being time to change their Kotex!

 

[frogman62]

Scary, I did this myself from the mid 50's for many years - even after 6 years in EOD and Navy diving('61 to '67). Then in the 80"S, I decided liability issues and my life were more important than saving a few $.
Jim Shelden

 

[dead dog]

Easy to find filters but where do find the ( casings ) tanks for the filters that don't cost as much as the compressor ?

 

[rcontrera]

Filter housings aren't really all that much. You can find them on eBay starting as low as $400 and new 5000 psi ones start around $700.