Some photos of the gas engine option. Found a grill cover that fits nicely.
Went with a female Foster on the fill whip. Tank is equipped with a DIN to male Foster for input. Also have a firehouse to male Foster adapter- will probably get a used firehouse tank soon. Plus want to be able to fill for any local airgunners; those two options should cover most.
Came with a length of hose for the input, to keep it a good distance from the gas engine exhaust. Scrounged a length of vinyl hose that is a perfect friction fit over that hose, to run inside to cool/dry air when it's super humid out. Probably overkill; the water separator is large & robust, but the hose was free so figured why not. I crack the valves for a few seconds midway through a fill, then again at the end. Only four fills so far, but it definitely vented less water when the hose was run inside vs outside. Will only do that when ambient humidity is high, like this morning (71%).
Rear view of the compressor.
Hardware & gauges seem high quality.
Inter/after cooler lines do seem to make a difference. Tank just gets barely warm on a 3500-4500 top off. Loses very, very little pressure after cooldown, less than I'm used to seeing after a fill at the dive shop. Don't know what compressor they're running. Good people, happy to fill for airgunners & always willing to top off after cooldown. But I don't miss the 45 minute drive each way, limited hours, $16 per fill charge, or waiting an hour for that top off.
Guesstimated time on the first few fills, but put a stopwatch on it this morning- 7 minutes 28 seconds from start to shut off, ~3550 to 4500 psi. This is the 4.9 cfm version- Was quoted (& paid for) the 3.7 cfm version, which they had said was in stock. Not sure if an inventory error or the last 3.7 they had at the time was already spoken for... but was shipped the 4.9 cfm at no additional cost.
If you have or can easily get a 220 outlet & don't plan on taking it anywhere without access to such, the vertical 220 version is probably best option. Smaller footprint, and more mobile without a dedicated cart. This one will see occasional trips to places with no convenient access to an outlet.
