Tired of driving to the dive shop to fill my tanks, so I bought a Bauer compressor. Just arrived this morning, going to start setting it up tonight in the garage. I am pretty excited about it
Hoping to have everything for gas blending up and running before Halloween. So here is the question: How important is gas analysis? Should I worry about taking an air sample and having it analyzed? Or should it be fine with fresh oil and filter?
If it were me, I'd sure want to know the quality of the gas I'm using to blend and breathe. Doing PP fills on a cylinder that is lined with oil mist is probably not a great way to start, neither is 50 ppm CO in a breathing gas.
If I had just bought a compressor and designed my own gas blending station, I'd also make sure that I took the appropriate blender course and was trained and certified to dive the mixes that I blended. It is not so much what you do know, it's what you don't know that will mess you up. Trust me....been there...done that.
But hey, thats just me and my opinions, YMMV.
Just remember, Darwins theory works its magic every day....
Here is a bit more incentive to get it right....
New or used, what size, stock filtration or upgraded? That is just the starting point. But you do want to get you air tested, it is a very easy procedure.
"Doing PP fills on a cylinder that is lined with oil mist is probably not a great way to start" All my tanks are O2 clean.
"I'd also make sure that I took the appropriate blender course and was trained and certified to dive the mixes that I blended." Already signed up for gas blender and advanced gas blender, will be taking them soon. also have read Oxyhackers manual on the subject. But I would like to pump some plain old air before taking the class, that's why I asked.
"New or used, what size, stock filtration or upgraded?" Used, Bauer Utilus, 3.8 cfm at 5000 psi. Standard filtration -I bought some new Lawrence Factor x22249 cartridges, will change right away. It is running standard oil, but I may switch to synthetic. I need to find a hyper filter for it for PP blending.
So: How much $ for air sample, how long to get back results, who do I contact to do it?
They may not stay O2 clean if you don't analyze what the compressor is pumping.
My point was that by analyzing the air prior to using it, you can avoid all sorts of problems along with peace of mind that you are breathing contaminant free air.
"They may not stay O2 clean if you don't analyze what the compressor is pumping." Good point.
The Grade E exam is 100.00, and for OCA it runs 130.00 This is a single text you can buy packages like store do for 4 test at a little lower rate. I do have the test kit here, as I am due for one next month. I am dropping my kids off outside Milwaukee Sunday night if you want to meet up for it.
Once you set up your hyper filters you'll want to retest. Pay very close attention to the hours, temp and humidity while using the small filters.
Todd made very good points earlier.
Based on hours of pior use, you need to talk with a tec at bauer about switching oils, there a few fine points and I cannot find it right now, but they will know.