Air quality question

[SqrlHntr]

While getting my tanks filled at my local scuba shop, the shop owner and I were discussing air quality, filtration, etc. He brought up an interesting point about breathing air vs compressor air. While it prob is a moot point given the amount of compressors and hand pumps used, but has there been any study on breathable air, which is ultra filtered and almost pure, vs compressor air filtered with desiccants and cotton filters and the long term effects on airgun components? I have no doubt that the cotton filters and desiccants cannot remove all particulates and moisture and be as ‘clean’ and dry as the breathable air his setup provides. Would seem to me that any silicone in the airtube could potentially trap particulates. Might be way overthinking this, but had to ask out of curiosity. 

 

[Chickenthief]

If your gun starts to rust on the outside from natural humidity, then be conserned!

If the compressor has a priority valve (holds min. 150bar~2200psi before it releases) then by simple condensation alone over 98% of humidity is condensed and expelled through the drain.

Take a water saturated sponge of say a gallon, now squeeze that into 1.5cui and observe how much water is squeezed out by pressure alone.

Add to that the desiccant filters we use and i would bet $ for donuts we're pretty good going.

There are stringent rules for moisture, CO2 and CO content for breathing air but they are way over our heads.

 

[jarmstrong]

breathing air filter 

https://www.nuvair.com/for-nuvair-3-3-5-coltri-mch-6-american-airworks-fast-35-max-air-35-and-nautica.html

the filter that came with my coltri compressor is this one

https://www.nuvair.com/filter-cartridge-for-nuvair-3-3-5-coltri-mch6-max-air-35-and-nautica.html

 

[toku58]

For your airgun Dry air is the biggest concern. Nitrogen would be better than compressed air IMHO.

But the main thing is to have DRY air. I've had to rebuild guns due to moisture from hand pumps. (Never again!)

Any air source I use needs to have multiple layers of moisture protection.

 

[dizzums]

really, the inside surfaces of the gun need to be taken care of just like the outside if you want it to stay in the best shape possible that includes seals to .. if things are exposed to oxygen theyre going to break down and moisture is simply a catalyst carrier .. that said i dont worry too much being reasonably careful to keep moisture low .. but after, lets say a couple of years or 5k rounds dependong on conditions im positive theres going to be some evidence of deterioration that a cleaning and wipe down with at least a light application of silicone oil will keep in check ..

 

[Odoyle]

The breathable quality filtered scuba dive shop air or home dive quality compressor are second best compared to nitrogen.

Don't go there on other compressors and hand pumps. Nobody wants to know the real truth even with inline filters.

Good news is the residual oil vapor that gets filled into the PCPs through all the cotton filters seemingly (mostly mentally) clean is likely gonna act as a good effective rust and corrosion film to protect the internals under pressure.

 

[GeneT]

I have never seen this question definitively answered. Having read threads like this with interest over the years I'd say air quality almost doesn't matter. There's probably some tiny difference (any gun is going to need rebuilding eventually) - and there are probably a few guns that are just going to rust like crazy (inside and out - I think ChickenThief had the best sanity check) It's certainly playing it safe to use clean, dry air or nitrogen, but how far do you want to take it? How clean is the air on the outside of your gun? With the proliferation of YH and other cheap compressors, I think we'd be hearing a lot more about air quality if it were critical.

I have a couple of guns that have been filled (repeatedly) with a handpump as well as an AV4500. I can't recall precisely how old they are - 10 years? No issues to date.

Just my .02,

GsT

 

[bdmoody]

Dry air is one reason I bought a dive quality compressor. I bought a used FX gun that was always filled with a 12 volts sparky type compressor that probably used a cartridge filter of some sort. Shortly after owning it, the AMP reg stopped working. Took the air tube apart and I had to perform an Exorcism on the green crud on the reg, the discolored aluminum, and crap on the inside of the tube. I quickly realized that if I was going to enjoy this sport, I had to figure out air and hand pumping was not going to be a longer term solution as I bought guns with larger air capacity. My first PCP was a Leshiy and it is easy to air that gun up.

My experience is that air humidity does make a different experience and I bought a compressor to keep air dry. No experience with Nitrogen.

 

[bandg]

Dry air is one reason I bought a dive quality compressor. I bought a used FX gun that was always filled with a 12 volts sparky type compressor that probably used a cartridge filter of some sort. Shortly after owning it, the AMP reg stopped working. Took the air tube apart and I had to perform an Exorcism on the green crud on the reg, the discolored aluminum, and crap on the inside of the tube. I quickly realized that if I was going to enjoy this sport, I had to figure out air and hand pumping was not going to be a longer term solution as I bought guns with larger air capacity. My first PCP was a Leshiy and it is easy to air that gun up.

My experience is that air humidity does make a different experience and I bought a compressor to keep air dry. No experience with Nitrogen.

That is a logical assumption given what you observed but not conclusive. I'd agree that safe is better than sorry and drier is probably better. But I don't know for certain that it will make a difference in any but the worst cases.