Portable PCP compressors (Tuxing, Nomad etc) and water in your bottles.

[Helder22]

So, I have a Yong Heng and I just ordered a Double headed Tuxing (the one that comes with the radiator and water separator/filters) and I was thinking of adding a portable compressor to the collection. The one thing I'm afraid of is getting water in my PCP bottles. On my Yong Heng I added a large water separator and a large molecular seive filter. I didn't think that the little tampon thing that came with the compressor would do much if anything at all.
However, with these little portable compressor, adding a huge water separator would make little sense, as filling up the separator itself would take almost as filling the bottle in the gun. Whenever I see a video on YouTube of people filling their guns directly from the compressor with nothing but the little tampon filter, I keep picturing little beads of water building up in the bottles and then being shot out with the pellets, affecting accuracy, rusting barrels and all kinds of nasty stuff.
Am I being paranoid?

 

[WorriedMan]

No, not paranoid, at all, think you've got a firm grasp of the situation. Every so often threads show up revealing internal corrosion caused by moisture, mainly involving air reservoirs. Many say, "Must've been hand-pumped," now, however, we're seeing same results from portable compressors utilizing only a cotton "tampon," or "cigarette filter," for moisture control. Recommend anyone buying used to inquire how airgun was filled, could avoid future costly repairs. WM

 

[F6Hawk]

From time to time, I upend my SCBA tank and open the valve slowly to see if any water escapes (so far, zero water).

I need to get a valve to do the same thing with the small tanks on my guns. One of these days...

 

[maxtrouble]

I broke down and purchased Joe B's air filter. Very happy with how much water it catches. I have it mounted on a piece of plywood. Makes it easy to transport. This is at my friend's house on his deck.

 

[Helder22]

I don't know which compressor that is, but is it meant to fill scuba tanks or rifles directly? If it's for scuba tanks using a filter that large would make sense, but for slower compressors meant for filling rifles directly it might be a little counter productive, as filling the filter might take just as long as filling the small rifle bottle.

 

[beerthief]

I broke down and purchased Joe B's air filter. Very happy with how much water it catches. I have it mounted on a piece of plywood. Makes it easy to transport. This is at my friend's house on his deck.

View attachment 447206

this is the exact set up i have . no tanks just guns works great ! And what little time extra is nothing compared to H2o in the guns .

 

[rcs9250]

However, with these little portable compressor, adding a huge water separator would make little sense, as filling up the separator itself would take almost as filling the bottle in the gun.

I had an Omega Aircharger that I added a Brancato drier. Even though, I think, the Aircharger has a higher CFM than a YH it’s still low compared to my Alkin.
So to keep from having to always wait for the Aircharger to fill the drier I put shut off valves on each side of the drier to trap the air between fill sessions. Yeah it added cost but airgunning in my opinion is not much different than boating, a big hole in the water where you keep pouring in money.
I also added Pressure Maintaining Valve (PMV) so that air didn’t start flowing out of the drier till around 1600psi or so. Sieves require some dwell time to absorb moisture and the PMV makes that happen. The two round black valves are the isolation valves for the drier. I also have a drain valve on bottom.
Did I go a bit overboard sure, but it was a fun project.

 

[Gerry52]

Why not just get a filter housing that's half or 1/3 the SIZE of the big gold ones (they're out there) & use a more efficient filtering media than the "tampon" style? Problem solved.

 

[AlanMcD]

Somebody posted about this one a while back - I don't have it, but it looks like it would fit your needs:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTYXBKCJ

 

[Helder22]

Thanks, I will check it out.
For you guys that bought the Brancato air dryer, could you do a test on it? It would probably be very educational for the rest of us. Just a simple plug test. First, plug the compressor whip before the dryer and see how long it takes to reach 4500 psi, then do a similar plug test but plug the whip that comes out of the dryer. If we subtract the number of seconds it takes to fill just the whip from the number of seconds it takes to fill the whip and dryer, we would know how many seconds are spent in filling up the dryer when we are using the system to fill up a bottle in our rifles.

Example:
10 seconds to fill the whip
50 seconds to fill the whip and the dryer
= 40 seconds to fill the dryer.

Then we would know that if it's taking 3 minutes to top up a certain pcp bottle, 40 seconds of those seconds are actually filling the dryer and the other 2 minutes and 20 seconds are actually being used to fill up the bottle.

Should be a pretty quick test to do and would be very informative.

 

[beerthief]

Thanks, I will check it out.
For you guys that bought the Brancato air dryer, could you do a test on it? It would probably be very educational for the rest of us. Just a simple plug test. First, plug the compressor whip before the dryer and see how long it takes to reach 4500 psi, then do a similar plug test but plug the whip that comes out of the dryer. If we subtract the number of seconds it takes to fill just the whip from the number of seconds it takes to fill the whip and dryer, we would know how many seconds are spent in filling up the dryer when we are using the system to fill up a bottle in our rifles.

Example:
10 seconds to fill the whip
50 seconds to fill the whip and the dryer
= 40 seconds to fill the dryer.

Then we would know that if it's taking 3 minutes to top up a certain pcp bottle, 40 seconds of those seconds are actually filling the dryer and the other 2 minutes and 20 seconds are actually being used to fill up the bottle.

Should be a pretty quick test to do and would be very informative.

Time never meant that much to me to time just filling a gun . Omega trail charger and the Joe B filter i would guess about two minutes total ( not bottle just tube guns )

 

[JimD]

To me the biggest issue with just using a tampon type filter is you do not know if it is getting the water or not. I use the one that came with my YH and I change it after each SCBA tank fill and sometimes I can squeeze water out and sometimes I cannot. I added a fairly small additional filter filled with color changing dessicant. The beads take at least 6 tank fills to be half changed in color and I change them. I like the color changing beads because when I see some unchanged I am pretty sure the air in my tank is dry. The other thing I do I highly recommend is to vent the YH every 5 minutes or so of running time. My filters are above the YH to encourage water that condenses as it cools to drain back to the YH so I can vent it. I suspect I am venting more water than my filters see.

 

[LONESTAR .25]

Thanks, I will check it out.
For you guys that bought the Brancato air dryer, could you do a test on it? It would probably be very educational for the rest of us. Just a simple plug test. First, plug the compressor whip before the dryer and see how long it takes to reach 4500 psi, then do a similar plug test but plug the whip that comes out of the dryer. If we subtract the number of seconds it takes to fill just the whip from the number of seconds it takes to fill the whip and dryer, we would know how many seconds are spent in filling up the dryer when we are using the system to fill up a bottle in our rifles.

Example:
10 seconds to fill the whip
50 seconds to fill the whip and the dryer
= 40 seconds to fill the dryer.

Then we would know that if it's taking 3 minutes to top up a certain pcp bottle, 40 seconds of those seconds are actually filling the dryer and the other 2 minutes and 20 seconds are actually being used to fill up the bottle.

Should be a pretty quick test to do and would be very informative.

Interesting, I'm diving into a compressor purchase with limited personal knowledge and have read all the exhausting comments but having a hard time wrapping my head around the best way to go.
I read lots of comments from folks who have knowledge but never do I see a turn key solution/ setup. It will be interesting to see comments on Helder's request.

 

[scubajeeper]

I would never rely on cotton to keep water out of my stuff. You need a good desiccant filter and be sure to change the beads when they change color. Good filtration will pay for itself in the long run. I filter my air through desiccant and molecular sieve. You can’t be too careful.