Question Trying to decide between an electric powered or gasoline powered MCH-6 Icon...

[Gone for diving]

First off, have never seen a coltri in real life, and have no dog in this fight.

But...
There is no separate coalescing filter before the cartridge filter? If not... that's bad.
I would add one in.


Second the 2 small compressors that I own,
when they have a small 5hp single cylinder engine one them, they are so noisy and vibrate like crazy,
Put a 3hp electric on it. And it's a dream.....
somehow the engine vibration and compressor vibration don't work well together, probably the rpm difference.

If you can get away with electric motor, I would do that.... to answer the title of this thread.

 

[iain/hsm]

and Iain, yes as a matter of fact today I ordered a Coltri MCH-6 with Honda motor...nice talking to Nuvair rep, he dealt in specifics with candor, honesty and based on years of experience..

I give you three pieces of advise here.
1. Cancel your order ASAP and get your money back to secure your position.
2. Then speak with Coltri the manufacturer directly in Italy and not any independent commission based sports product retailer salesman, rep etc .
3. Then invite this Nuvair sales rep onto this forum and let him put in writing his sales pitch to you, what was discussed etc so we can discuss openly the problems with the Coltri MCH-6 and Icon range and with as you say "With candor, honesty and based on years of experience".

What you think? Iain

 

[Sevenrider860]

The honda engine sku is a non breathing air only option. Honda US prohibits their engine to be sold for use with a breathing air compressor. If you call to order it, they will inform you of that. It was a fairly recent change, within the last two years. It used to come with a honda and it was far and away the best part of the whole unit.
You can probably spec it that way if you know who to ask and what to say, but it officially isn't an option.

Good information. Thank you.

 

[Edward3c]

I've been running a petrol version for over 7 years. Not a problem, got its last air purity certificate 2 months ago. Electric wouldn't be practical diving the Scottish West coast.

 

[tbone1004]

Well that really clarified the reasons you believe in your dogma...I asked for specifics and got babble...nothing to see here folks move along...and Iain, yes as a matter of fact today I ordered a Coltri MCH-6 with Honda motor...nice talking to Nuvair rep, he dealt in specifics with candor, honesty and based on years of experience...so like I said live in your head or anywhere else you choose, to each their own....hope you looked up "bloviating".. Way beyond whimsical ! Out here.

No bloviating here because these are all facts.

Your first post started about you having concerns about CO in your breathing gas and it was in regards to the one pump design that is most prone to having CO get through the breathing gas.
high RPM oiled compressors are going to generate more CO than low RPM oiled compressors
ICE powered compressors are going to have higher risk of exhaust gas intake than electric powered compressors
compressors with small filters are going to be more prone to exhausting the hopcalite supply without you knowing about it

You asked a high rpm oiled compressor, that is ICE powered, and has in our opinion a woefully inadequately sized filter housing. Ergo you had concerns about CO and asked about the compressor design with the absolute highest probability of getting CO into your breathing gas. Our opinion about that specific compressor aside, you probably would have had the same response if you asked about a Bauer JrII gasoline powered pump.

If you are concerned about CO with this compressor, and you very much should be, then it would behoove you to buy a CO meter and check EVERY tank fill for CO. They are inexpensive, it only takes a few seconds, but it could very well save your life. These are the types of compressors that people have CO issues with in remote locations, you rarely hear about CO issues from big fill stations, but the true near misses and accidents are almost exclusively from portable gasoline powered compressors. Do not be fooled by the usage strips, they don't work to tell you when the hopcalite has fully catalyzed and that's the part that a CO meter is going to save your life one day.

This specific pump has its purpose and it fills that purpose very well, but you asked specifically about CO concerns and they are very real with this pump.

Personally I would have gone electric, added a soft start, and run it from a portable generator to give me the best chance of at least keeping the exhaust gas away but as long as you are checking every tank with the meter you should be fine for many years of personal use with that pump

 

[Whitrzac]

I used one for a couple years filling rb cylinders and drysuit bottles.
They don't/didn't come with an hour meter. Instal one.
Some models don't come with a pmv, install one.

One thing that wasn't touched on is that my 120v model required a 20a circuit to run. It would trip a standard 15a.

 

[Wallowa]

I used one for a couple years filling rb cylinders and drysuit bottles.
They don't/didn't come with an hour meter. Instal one.
Some models don't come with a pmv, install one.

One thing that wasn't touched on is that my 120v model required a 20a circuit to run. It would trip a standard 15a.

Thanks....the MCH-6 Icon I ordered does have an hour meter and a PMV...5.5hp Honda motor, got this for portability...

 

[SurfLung]

The honda engine sku is a non breathing air only option. Honda US prohibits their engine to be sold for use with a breathing air compressor. If you call to order it, they will inform you of that. It was a fairly recent change, within the last two years. It used to come with a honda and it was far and away the best part of the whole unit.
You can probably spec it that way if you know who to ask and what to say, but it officially isn't an option.

I just called Honda USA to ask about this and the person I talked to could not find any reference to this prohibition. He recommended I call my local local dealer because the dealer would be most likely to receive any corporate restrictions on whatever machines they can put a Honda engine on. But the dealer had never heard of this either. Would you mind posting the link or reference from which you found this out?

 

[Tracy]

I just called Honda USA to ask about this and the person I talked to could not find any reference to this prohibition. He recommended I call my local local dealer because the dealer would be most likely to receive any corporate restrictions on whatever machines they can put a Honda engine on. But the dealer had never heard of this either. Would you mind posting the link or reference from which you found this out?

That was direct from Nuvair, who is the US distributor for Coltri.

 

[Wallowa]

That was direct from Nuvair, who is the US distributor for Coltri.

You do realize I just bought a MCH-6 Icon with a 5.5 hp HONDA motor from Nuvair? I believe your information source that says Honda disallows use of their motors on breathing gas compressors is erroneous. Sure ain't Nuvair. And Nuvair is the US Coltri distributor; they are located in Oxnard, CA.

But none of that matters, does it?