I’m a new owner . The fill valve operation has me unsure Filling the tank seems to go ok but the disconnect has me questioning . Once the air tank is filled you are to close the valve on the air tank and then close the lever on the fill valve . What happens then is what has me in doubt. The compressor immediately goes into over pressure and the pressure relief valve opens with a pop. Seems like the fill valve handle should release pressure preventing the over pressure. The operation of the fill valve handle does not seem intuitive to me. What am I doing wrong or misunderstanding.
Question for Alkin owners
- Thread starter bubblerboy64
- Start date
Ok I watched a YouTube video. You open the DRAIN valves after filling. I’m going to talk to Alkin tomorrow their instructions are not clear
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I know what u mean the fill whip should have a bleed valve .... i fill between 2 100 cf omega tanks with the hp3 valves and I dont use the handle on the fill whip at all I have the auto purge and shut off version of the W31 so there's only one drain at the bottom of the air filter housing and the way I disconnect after a fill 1st close the valve on the omega tank 2nd open the drain valve on the W31 filter 3rd utilize the bleed valve on the omega hp3 valve to release pressure from the fill whip i dont use the toggle at all i leave it open
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Exactly. I’ll report back on what Alkin says but seems to me that fill whip could be eliminated entirely. The only plus is the gauge but you could use the gauge on the tank being filled or the third stage gauge on the compressor .
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I have the same auto model as heavyw8, and my routine is-
Once the compressor auto stops and purges, I close the bottle valve, flip the bleed toggle on the fill whip to bleed fill whip foster connection, and disconnect from tank.
I only drain the filter canister if I am done with the compressor for the day.
Edited to remove erroneous information.........
Once the compressor auto stops and purges, I close the bottle valve, flip the bleed toggle on the fill whip to bleed fill whip foster connection, and disconnect from tank.
I only drain the filter canister if I am done with the compressor for the day.
Edited to remove erroneous information.........
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Chuck the issue for me is when I use the fill whip toggle it has not depressurized requiring me to open the drain valve. Let’s see what Alkin says
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Close tank open bleeders shut down compressor no need to close fill whip. Before removing fill whip use the open/close lever on fill whip as a bleeder to remove any air still trapped in line.
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Sonny I agree with you. The point then being what’s the point in having the lever on the fill whip. Seems to be redundant and confusing (at least initially)
I’d just as soon have a direct attachment to the compressor and eliminate the fill whip entirely.
Using the drain valves and the third stage gauge. That’s what I did on my daystate 110
Again let’s see what Alkin says
I’d just as soon have a direct attachment to the compressor and eliminate the fill whip entirely.
Using the drain valves and the third stage gauge. That’s what I did on my daystate 110
Again let’s see what Alkin says
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I use it to toggle the last bit of air out of the fill whip as there seems to be a back flow/check valve between the whip and 3rd stage. A bleeder in the fill whip would just be another place to fail in my opinion. BTW my unit like yours I'm assuming is not auto stop/purge. Those units open the purge valves before the safety valves open, I have not had a safty valve pop yet since I've had mine. I close the tank at or just below 320 bar and immediately open 1st, 2nd and 3rd stage bleeders to lower pressure and let it run a minute or so longer before shutting off the compressor.
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I think the confusion centers around Alkins directions then? Unless I am misunderstanding that’s ( meaning what we are doing with the drain valves) is not what the directions say. Again unless I’m not understanding. There was a separated paper specifically related to the use of the fill whip and no place on that paper are the drain valves mentioned.
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I completely removed the fill whip from my compressor, as it's stiff and cumbersome, not to mention Heavy, and redundant. I added an adapter fitting to a male quick disconnect, so all I do is attach my fill whip to my bottle, and read the pressure from my tank gage. Now it's just like any other compressor I have used. If I knew I would have ordered it that way, saving some $$ and just told them to put the Auto off feature on instead. I rarely run my compressor more than 8 minutes to top my tank, so auto drain would not be useful to me.
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EXACTLY. 100% I”m waiting to hear from Alkin but seems to me you are spot on and have done just what seems reasonable.
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I agree with Bubbleboy64 and Smithfan4152. I think the instructions in the W31 manual on the fill whip operating sequence are confusing and in incorrect order.
My only very minor quibble with the Alkin compressor is that the fill hose assembly is a brick and the lever isn't as convenient as a bleed screw. The entire fill whip is much heavier than it needs to be. The factory fill whip weighs 2 lbs.9oz. as pictured. It has far too many adapters and heavy components. Smithfan4152 and I made the same mods to our W31's. We removed the 1/4 NPT threaded fill whip connection to the compressor and replaced it with a 1/4 NPT to 1/8 NPT adapter. It has a female 1/8NPT threaded male Foster attached to the adapter. Now we just snap on the tank hose quick connect to the male foster on the compressor. It's so much lighter and much easier to use. The bleed valve and gauge on the tank give us the same functionality as a factory fill whip.
Bubbleboy64 is correct that the fill whip lever is counter intuitive and not as user friendly as a bleed valve would be. Here's the confusion it creates. A bleed valve drains the entire fill hose. Opening the lever merely drains the space between the fill whip assembly to the air tank. The remainder of the fill line remains pressurized because there is a check valve in the Tee connector in the lever and gauge assembly. To drain the pressure in the factory fill hose between the hose gauge and the compressor the user must bleed pressure at the filter housing. This is confusing to owners used to bleed valves and no check valve in the fill hose. That is compounded by the incorrect opening and closing directions in the owners manual.
Sonny's directions in this thread are correct. The factory owners manual is wonderfully detailed but confusing in this critical sequence on pages 31-32.
I would prefer a fill whip that directly connects to the DIN300 and which leaves off all the gauge, tee connector, lever, and adapters. They work better for divers, but not for air gunners.
Here's a photo of the original fill whip which I removed and my filter tower connector mod. It's simple with no loss of any filling capability.
My only very minor quibble with the Alkin compressor is that the fill hose assembly is a brick and the lever isn't as convenient as a bleed screw. The entire fill whip is much heavier than it needs to be. The factory fill whip weighs 2 lbs.9oz. as pictured. It has far too many adapters and heavy components. Smithfan4152 and I made the same mods to our W31's. We removed the 1/4 NPT threaded fill whip connection to the compressor and replaced it with a 1/4 NPT to 1/8 NPT adapter. It has a female 1/8NPT threaded male Foster attached to the adapter. Now we just snap on the tank hose quick connect to the male foster on the compressor. It's so much lighter and much easier to use. The bleed valve and gauge on the tank give us the same functionality as a factory fill whip.
Bubbleboy64 is correct that the fill whip lever is counter intuitive and not as user friendly as a bleed valve would be. Here's the confusion it creates. A bleed valve drains the entire fill hose. Opening the lever merely drains the space between the fill whip assembly to the air tank. The remainder of the fill line remains pressurized because there is a check valve in the Tee connector in the lever and gauge assembly. To drain the pressure in the factory fill hose between the hose gauge and the compressor the user must bleed pressure at the filter housing. This is confusing to owners used to bleed valves and no check valve in the fill hose. That is compounded by the incorrect opening and closing directions in the owners manual.
Sonny's directions in this thread are correct. The factory owners manual is wonderfully detailed but confusing in this critical sequence on pages 31-32.
I would prefer a fill whip that directly connects to the DIN300 and which leaves off all the gauge, tee connector, lever, and adapters. They work better for divers, but not for air gunners.
Here's a photo of the original fill whip which I removed and my filter tower connector mod. It's simple with no loss of any filling capability.
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Humdinger. This seems right on to me and it would save the price of the whip which would have to be significant. There are discussions going on behind the scenes on this. Let’s see what happens
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https://youtu.be/KkP6PRUpGMg
Might be the problem....idk but my drain never removed pressure from my fill whip from day one and if my tank didn't have a bleed valve I wouldn't be able to remove my tank
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Sonny. That’s qa REALLY nice assembly from the tank to the gun. I might ask you for the specifics as to how to assemble the same.
Why not the same setup from the compressor to the tank eliminating that toggle handle ?
Why not the same setup from the compressor to the tank eliminating that toggle handle ?
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I watched heavyw8 video and that’s what Alkin tells you to do. BUT two things. First if you are filling to 300 bar you hardly have time to close the valve on your tank and then operate that toggle lever before the pressure goes over the limit AND more importantly at least on my unit moving the toggle did not vent the fill whip though that vent hole he pointed to. That procedure did not work for me.
As an aside pretty hard to follow along with the compressor running
As an aside pretty hard to follow along with the compressor running
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Yeah the video shows you how not to damage the fill whip with back pressure so i was thinking maybe some of us have fill whips that are damaged internally " filler value "
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