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

[iain/hsm]

2. Oil needs to be replaced every 15-20 hours, it will not last until 25 hours

Really? do you know why this is recommended for the MCH6 and ICON? the real reason
The one no one gets to talk about. Just asking.

15 hours is 15 fills and by that time the evidence of the real problem to human health in the old oil has been flushed away. Iain

 

[iain/hsm]

1. Filter needs to be replaced every 7-8 hours, it will not last until 12 hours

That's change the filter every 7 to 8 fills. ROFL Any wonder you not supposed to fill doubles.

If we ever get to work out the maths your gonna find our you would have paid for a proper engineering designed breathing air compressor for divers with all that oil and filter cartridges you waste.
Just saying Iain

 

[lexvil]

1.5. Basically 25mins to fill a HP100 from 500psi to full, wait 25mins per the duty cycle, start the next one.

So about 30 fills per oil change, 10 to 14 per filter, cost is pretty high for a normal diver to recoup without the initial cost of the compressor system.

nice fills in Monterey have gone up to $6 (free for instructors and tour guides booking through them) I think it’s best for most people to leave air fills to the pros.

 

[SurfLung]

Coltri has a free download of the MCH-6 Icon operating manual in PDF format. It's 56 pages long with photo illustrations, charts, maintenance, and specs. Anyone who has not owned nor operated an actual MCH-6 compressor can learn a lot from this manual. Here's a link to all of the Coltri Manuals...
Coltri Compressor Manuals

For example, there are questions here about filter life. The manual has a chart that shows hours of use for different temperatures. Baseline temperature of 68 degrees F at 10 l/min (3.5 cfm) is 10 hours. That's about 20 minutes for an 80 cf tank. 10 hours is about 30 fills per filter cartridge. Watch the hours and watch the blue strip... That's simple enough. Filtertechs cost for the Breathing Air filter is $40... About $1.33 per fill.

 

[iain/hsm]

1.5. Basically 25mins to fill a HP100 from 500psi to full, wait 25mins per the duty cycle, start the next one.

And for those who don't dive solo? lets call it an hour

 

[Tracy]

So about 30 fills per oil change, 10 to 14 per filter, cost is pretty high for a normal diver to recoup without the initial cost of the compressor system.

nice fills in Monterey have gone up to $6 (free for instructors and tour guides booking through them) I think it’s best for most people to leave air fills to the pros.

Plan for changing the filter every 15 fills depending on ambient conditions and you will probably be on the safe side.
With the lack of mechanical separation in that machine coupled with a gas engine, you can be asking a lot out of the filter.

I would recommend changing the oil at the same time. You are already in there and oil starvation/moisture contamination are the fastest and most common killers of the mch-6.
They don't hold very much oil and it is cheap. Change it often.

 

[tbone1004]

So about 30 fills per oil change, 10 to 14 per filter, cost is pretty high for a normal diver to recoup without the initial cost of the compressor system.

nice fills in Monterey have gone up to $6 (free for instructors and tour guides booking through them) I think it’s best for most people to leave air fills to the pros.

these small compressors when bought new don't have an ROI if you're really following the maintenance protocols. New Rixes certainly didn't either for all but the most active divers. The ROI comes in convenience of not having to go to a dive shop, whether that is in really off the beaten path stuff, bad relationships with existing dive shops, or just too busy to be bothered. It is definitely best to leave air fills to those that have committed to proper fill stations if it's not too inconvenient, and for those that have determined it, there are plenty of places to get used K14's, especially the low pressure variants that are not that much more expensive than these tiny things, are admittedly less portable, but are real deal compressors.

 

[iain/hsm]

Plan for changing the filter every 15 fills depending on ambient conditions and you will probably be on the safe side.
With the lack of mechanical separation in that machine coupled with a gas engine, you can be asking a lot out of the filter.

I would recommend changing the oil at the same time. You are already in there and oil starvation/moisture contamination are the fastest and most common killers of the mch-6.
They don't hold very much oil and it is cheap. Change it often.

I guess the good news is if you carry on with that plan above you're gonna end up with more oil than Texas. Either that or your paddling out back up to your knees in the stuff.

By contrast as an alternative option. Some diving engineered breathing air compressors running 10CFM
have less than a 3 litre oil sump capacity and a 5000 hour oil change. Go Figure. Iain

 

[SurfLung]

The Coltri Icon MCH-6 manual says...

1. CHECK the oil every 5 hours.
2. CHANGE the oil every 50 hours or annually.

50 hours at about 3 fills per hour is about 150 fills per oil change. The sump holds .6 liters of oil. Filtertechs sells oil for $26 per quart... Which translates to about $16 per oil change. $16 divided by 150 fills is about 11 cents per fill.

 

[grantctobin]

The Coltri Icon MCH-6 manual says...

1. CHECK the oil every 5 hours.
2. CHANGE the oil every 50 hours or annually.

50 hours at about 3 fills per hour is about 150 fills per oil change. The sump holds .6 liters of oil. Filtertechs sells oil for $26 per quart... Which translates to about $16 per oil change. $16 divided by 150 fills is about 11 cents per fill.

You have displayed sufficient ability to bury your head into the sand when in the presence of such a wealth of information at your fingertips (from engineers and service techs for these compressors) that I fear you will do the same when your CO analysis is non zero.

Best of luck continuing to use a system not intended for your use case sold to you by a commission based charlatan.