Well-used Haskel checkout, cleaning, setup and suggestions?

[tmassey]

One stop forward, one step back. But I'm committed now...

TL;DR Questions: 1) Anyone have any kind of service drawings for *any* Haskel booster, even if not an AGD-7? 2) What kind of silicone lubricant should I use, ideally O2 compatible?

I was able to replace the o-rings on the cycling valve spool with simple -017 70A Buna-N o-rings. Put everything back together. Equalized the working gas supply/destination at 1000 PSI and cracked the drive gas... No more rush of exhaust gas and the booster built pressure: rather rapidly up to about 1500-1800 PSI (with simply a closed valve on the destination output), when I stopped the drive gas. Nice so far!

I got the sounds that I expected out of the booster: mostly silence, until a loudish, explosive POOF. By now, my drive gas cylinder is empty, so the cycling was very slow.

Now the step back: at about 1500 PSI, there was a distinct breeze at the top of the booster with the sound you associate with a loose fitting. Unfortunately, putting one hand on each side of the large, central cylinder where it meets the large end caps, I feel a breeze from the left side. When it cycles, it stops on the left and I feel a much smaller breeze from the right. So... definitely going to need some more work, and no doubt more parts as well.

At this point, I've decided to keep this. I've negotiated with the seller and he's returned half of my purchase price. So at this point, I'm $500 in. I figure if nothing else, it's a cheap way for me to really learn the ins and outs of a booster. If that's all I get out of it, it's still worth $500 -- knowledge isn't free, and it's way cheaper than another SCUBA class... And if I can put, say, less than $1000 into it and have a working booster, I think I'm ahead of the game. And if not, when I buy my next booster for decent money, I won't risk damaging it due to my learning curve.

So you're stuck with me asking questions!

First step will be to start cleaning this thing. I will clean the outside extensively first, then start taking it apart. I've reviewed the Haskel maintenance videos -- they make it seem so easy! But one more time asking: does *anyone* have any kind of service diagrams for this thing -- or any 5 1/4" Haskel? Printed drawings are so much better to refer to than videos....... and the videos say things like "refer to your booster drawings for more information"...

Second: this thing uses a *lot* of lubricant. In one video, they suggest Haskel 03-G321-05T. This seems to be Novagard Versilube G321 (and $20 instead of $100: specs here). It looks milky white and thin, visually similar to Chrsto-Lube MCG-111 rather than, say, typical clear and goopy Trident silicone grease. Yet the Operating and Maintenance Manual (OM-3S) references Haskel lubricant 50866, which I'm only seeing in 5g units (and $17). Regardless: what would you suggest I use here? Particularly given that I'd prefer something O2 compatible if possible, even if I'm not planning at this moment to boost O2... (Of course, it doesn't really matter on the drive gas side...)

Any other words of wisdom before I start tearing this thing apart? A suggestion on what to start with, or what to avoid for now because it's much harder? Anything that if I take it apart I'll *have* to use replacement parts to put it back together -- like one-use-only packing or something?

Again, thank you all for your attention! I really appreciate it.

 

[tbone1004]

https://www.haskel.com//wp-content/uploads/Gas-Booster-5-0.75-Series-Models-AG-AGD-AGT-S.pdf

this is about as good as you're going to get as far as drawings go. These are about as simple of a device as it gets which is arguably why they made the videos.

If the tanks you're boosting into are O2 clean and you want to keep them that way, then I would argue the booster should be O2 cleaned. @DA Aquamaster may have some better answers on the lube as he O2 cleaned an AG30 relatively recently.

In terms of the leak that you're experiencing. I would argue at this point that since you saved $500 in the up front cost and are committed to it, that you purchase the O2 clean parts kit from Haskel and rebuild the entire unit. It will give you the experience of rebuilding and O2 cleaning the whole thing, but also brings it back to known good condition. This will prevent you from fixing one thing then finding the next weak link in the chain and almost guaranteeing rework.

 

[tmassey]

Well, here's my ugly duckling...

When I say I rebuilt it, I *rebuilt* it. Everything was disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. Literally every rubber piece is replaced, and very nearly every plastic one as well. Every exhaust, every breather, even the caps and bolts have been replaced. The entire drive intake, and both gas intake and exhaust are all new as well.

And almost all of it is stainless, as well. The only things not stainless are the drive gas valve and JIC tees (plated brass / steel) and the gas section bolts: I couldn't get Grade 5+ bolts in stainless of that length, so they're yellow chromated steel. Everything else is stainless -- even the JIC flare fittings. Here's all the old parts that were replaced:

I was able to get a PDF of the engineering drawings for the AGD-7. It's attached: hopefully it'll help someone else as well. It was invaluable.

It seems to work well -- and it moves a *lot* of volume. I was shocked how fast it is. With 100 PSI of drive gas pressure, I am able to pull 700 PSI out of the supply (for example, a single HP 100) and put it into the output (a set of HP 100 doubles) in about 90 *seconds*. That's the max I can do with 100PSI of drive gas. That bumps up to over 1000 PSI if I up the drive gas to 150 PSI.

Final price of everything ended up being just a bit over $2000. Haskel parts are *not* cheap. Some of the parts are McMaster-Carr (like the bolts, breathers and exhausts), but as you can see, the majority of them are Haskel, right from the kit. The few items that I bought generic usually required buying a larger quantity. So, for example, I had to buy ten 1/8" NPT Breathers even though I only needed three.

Now that I've got it up and running, I actually think I'm going to put it up on eBay. It was very much an impulse buy, and now that I've got it up and running, I've found that I'm not quite ready for it. I've been able to transfer the half-filled trimix tanks I've got left over from my trimix class, which was *really* cool. But at the low volume of trimix dives I'll be doing for the next couple of years, it's not really enough to justify keeping this guy around.

But at least I was able to take an ugly baby and turn it into a beautiful swan...

 

[happy-diver]

Magnificent!

 

[Segs14]

What grease did you end up using? The Haskell stuff is super expensive.

 

[TrimixToo]

What grease did you end up using? The Haskell stuff is super expensive.

Yeah, but one tube is probably a lifetime supply for most of us.

 

[tmassey]

Christolube MCG111. My kits actually included the Haskel (Nova) lube, but given that I’ll be using it with O2-clean destination tanks, I would rather the safety against cross-contamination. From what I could compare of the specs, I do not think the Christolube will be at a disadvantage.

 

[happy-diver]

Good smart move with the Nova stuff, it's a silicone

I currently find myself with three lifetimes worth, of

KRYTOX GPL206

CHRISTOLUBE MCG111

BRAYCOTE 640AC

Given my thumb and forefinger test finds all these equal
I use whichever of them comes to hand when rebuilding
my boosters and rebreathers and the other oxygen stuff


and pay no heed to shelf life or use by recommendations