Air Venturi EC-3000 compressor

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Humdinger

Humdinger

Member
Jun 3, 2015
1,059
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Charlotte, NC, United States
The external build quality of this compressor appears to be much sturdier than most of the direct to rifle compressor offerings so far. If this unit is as reliable as it's $1,000 retail price point indicates it should be, it could be a winner. The big unanswered question is whether the EC-3000 uses rubber o-ring compression seals similar to Hill hand pumps. I suspect it does but am hoping it uses metal compression rings. I've never been a fan of mechanized hand pump designs like the new Benjamin Traveler or any of the Omega compressors. Lots of guys buy them in spite of the fact that they are expensive for what's inside. The amount of teardown necessary to replace a leaking rubber o-ring in an Omega is not for the average home mechanic to deal with.

If the Air Venturi EC-3000 by Hill does in fact have a durable design that is reliable, it should be a contender. A new 88cf Airhog Whole Hog or AirtanksforSale Great White full armor tank set costs $750 by themselves. If you can eliminate owning a tank altogether by having a sturdy and reliable direct fill compressor capable of 300 bar fills then this compressor could be the ticket. Thus far all of the new 12 volt portable compressors and direct fill units coming out of China have all had more than their share of early failures. This is the first one I've seen that looks promising, durably built and worth taking a look at.
 
I agree! I am very interested in this compressor since I've had 3 Chinese compressors fail within he past 2 years. I'm really wanting something that will last without having to pay over $2K! I have been communicating with Jon Merrick at Hill, and just sent him an e-mail asking your questions about the compressor seals. He told me he welcomes any questions I have, so may as well take him up on his offer! Jon has already assured me the compressor is built in house in their Sheffield, UK factor and none of the parts are sourced from China. He also said they will have parts and service available through AV. They will be posting new pictures, videos and more information on their FB page soon...

https://www.facebook.com/Hillpumps/posts/2930826410282241?comment_id=2969612206403661&reply_comment_id=2994582833906598&notif_id=1582541337291798&notif_t=comment_mention
 
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Just to follow up, according to Hill, the only maintenance the consumer needs to be concerned with is changing the fluids. They said it really too soon to know if there will be a need for any other maintenance. The compressor even tells you when it's time to change the fluids! They also said the warranty is a full 12 months. Here's a quick video that was posted to their FB page:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCXBu1zWBEY&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0B563R29nbXDO6RnzsZ6DVQNEoqtR6NQjyS6NeQd47BbILmRryZeWyIw4
 
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I am looking for a backup compressor to my LC-110 and have a few questions; these are posed as a serious potential future buyer:

'They said it really too soon to know if there will be a need for any other maintenance.'

That is an interesting (scary?) statement; are early adopters meant to determine MTBF or are they doing extended or extrapolated MTBF calculations and testing prior to market availability?

The motor looks to be the same single phase with start/run capacitor setup box as the LC-110 albeit the motor is mounted 270 degrees to the 0 degrees LC-110 style mounting (none of that matters, just wondering if a common motor is shared). Where I am curious is under the black motor spindle shroud is a pully to a belt or a lubricated rod and cam assembly? It looks to be direct-drive to me so I'm curious what the pump drive mechanism is and if there is a transmission that mounts to output shaft on the electric motor.

EDIT: I also worry about the whole lead-free solder now and the control PCB and selection dial being subjected to undampered pump vibration and structured oscillation waves. My personal preference is mechanical over logic circuits in high vibration environments. IE: If an IC vibrates loose is an indicated 200 bar actually that or is it an unknown level.

Thank you in advance! I would LOVE to see one of these disassembled with all the guts out. AV has a history of rear-forward thinking with the Nomad II motherboard issues. I doubt the UK is actually fabricating and making the MBs.


 
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I am looking for a backup compressor to my LC-110 and have a few questions; these are posed as a serious potential future buyer:

'They said it really too soon to know if there will be a need for any other maintenance.'

That is an interesting (scary?) statement; are early adopters meant to determine MTBF or are they doing extended or extrapolated MTBF calculations and testing prior to market availability?

The motor looks to be the same single phase with start/run capacitor setup box as the LC-110 albeit the motor is mounted 270 degrees to the 0 degrees LC-110 style mounting (none of that matters, just wondering if a common motor is shared). Where I am curious is under the black motor spindle shroud is a pully to a belt or a lubricated rod and cam assembly? It looks to be direct-drive to me so I'm curious what the pump drive mechanism is and if there is a transmission that mounts to output shaft on the electric motor.

EDIT: I also worry about the whole lead-free solder now and the control PCB and selection dial being subjected to undampered pump vibration and structured oscillation waves. My personal preference is mechanical over logic circuits in high vibration environments. IE: If an IC vibrates loose is an indicated 200 bar actually that or is it an unknown level.

Thank you in advance! I would LOVE to see one of these disassembled with all the guts out. AV has a history of rear-forward thinking with the Nomad II motherboard issues. I doubt the UK is actually fabricating and making the MBs.

Click to expand...

All of these are excellent questions. The video sounds like it is belt driven and I hope that is true. I'd like to know if the pistons have metallic rings instead of o-rings like their hand pumps. LMNOP, I also own an LC-110. I surely hope our $2K compressors are durable enough to not require a backup compressor. So far so good with mine.
 
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They no doubt omitted the filter to keep the retail price under $2K. I added a gold filter and some fittings, including a check valve, 90 degree elbows, and a base made from a 1.5" PVC connector under the filter to make room for the connections underneath for less than $100 total. I don't think there is much residual moisture going into the gold filter. The moisture separator tower removes almost all of it. The LC-110 dealers don't even promote final stage filters but I added one anyway. It is my Rube Goldberg add on but it works and it isn't hard to assemble. I researched an adapter that allows me to use a quick connect from the compressor hose without adding a heavy adapter for the DIN300. The DiN300 adapter comes off and is replaced by a $3 adapter that is JIC to NPT. 

1583092097_15176069415e5c1181886a62.45371743_filterstand.jpg


1583092132_13321946075e5c11a43ebcb4.74456333_LC110 001.JPG

 
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I am looking for a backup compressor to my LC-110 and have a few questions; these are posed as a serious potential future buyer:

'They said it really too soon to know if there will be a need for any other maintenance.'

That is an interesting (scary?) statement; are early adopters meant to determine MTBF or are they doing extended or extrapolated MTBF calculations and testing prior to market availability?

The motor looks to be the same single phase with start/run capacitor setup box as the LC-110 albeit the motor is mounted 270 degrees to the 0 degrees LC-110 style mounting (none of that matters, just wondering if a common motor is shared). Where I am curious is under the black motor spindle shroud is a pully to a belt or a lubricated rod and cam assembly? It looks to be direct-drive to me so I'm curious what the pump drive mechanism is and if there is a transmission that mounts to output shaft on the electric motor.

EDIT: I also worry about the whole lead-free solder now and the control PCB and selection dial being subjected to undampered pump vibration and structured oscillation waves. My personal preference is mechanical over logic circuits in high vibration environments. IE: If an IC vibrates loose is an indicated 200 bar actually that or is it an unknown level.

Thank you in advance! I would LOVE to see one of these disassembled with all the guts out. AV has a history of rear-forward thinking with the Nomad II motherboard issues. I doubt the UK is actually fabricating and making the MBs.

Click to expand...

Jon from Hill Compressor reached out to me. He saw your post and sent me an e-mail clarifying what was meant. Per Jon, what he was trying to say was that it is too soon for him to put the full details out at this time, other than the liquid maintenance info, as this has not been made available for release yet. They are going to be putting the final instruction manual online soon and will have all the maintenance info ready to put up alongside this. So, stay tuned, there is more info coming...
 
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Very nice! I thought these statements were interesting:

Distributor-Only support?

"DO NOT LEAVE THE COMPRESSOR UNATTENDED WHEN IN USE!
IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT THAT YOUR COMPRESSOR MALFUNCTIONS, DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO FIX THE PROBLEM YOURSELF. PLEASE CALL THE DISTRIBUTOR
YOU PURCHASED IT FROM.
PLEASE RETAIN THE ORIGINAL RECEIPT OF PURCHASE"

Conflicting tank size (emphasis mine):

"If connected to a large diving cylinder, close the valve on the cylinder and take this opportunity to depressurise/drain the compressor."

"THIS PRODUCT IS DESIGNED TO FILL PRE-CHARGED PCP AIR GUNS AND PAINTBALL GUNS
DIRECTLY. IT CAN ALSO BE USED TO TOP UP SMALL TANKS, BUDDY BOTTLES, AND CYLINDERS
UP TO 4 LITRES. LARGE CYLINDERS AND TANKS ABOVE 4 LITRES SHOULD ONLY BE FILLED BY
COMPETENT OR QUALIFIED PEOPLE
NOT FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS OR MISUSE OF THE COMPRESSOR WILL VOID YOUR
WARRANTY AND MAY RESULT IN DEATH OR INJURY"

Still thinking about picking one of these up after a few others in the community run it through the testing wringer.
 
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This is a full account from March 10th to May 18th.

I ordered my compressor on the 10th of March with it saying it was 2 weeks out this continued to get bumped out till they got it on the 16th of April (37 days wait) & shipped it to me. I received it on the 22nd of April (43 days wait). I set it up the next day after work & it seem to work good, it was also a lot quieter then the Tuxing compressor that lasted 5 months from Amazon. Then I received a recall notice on the 1st of May (recalled 9 days later) to which I responded back too on the 4th of May (because of work schedule). I boxed it back up on the 6th of May (12 days of use) & Fed-Ex picked it up on 8th of May (off that day). It is now the 18th of May & I'm now getting hit with another fee. ($46.41 Brokerage fees to UPS) This is B.S. getting hit with another $50 fee after after spending $1000 & waiting almost 70 days that's hitting below the belt. That fee should have been covered because of the recall & under 30 days of owner ship. I also just opened the box and the thing has used oil in the crank & silicone oil all over the silicon unit. The water condensation unit is all scratched up. This is obviously a used unit. Now from the paper work is this just a temporary unit till they redo my unit or is this the replacement. If its the replacement it should be new, not someone else use unit. They know they have you since this is the only affordable compressor outside of buying Chinese (Good luck on what you get). I'm hoping that they take care of this fee because it's the right thing to do and that this ordeal that I had to deal with. I have all the e-mails to back up this whole story. 



The only good thing about this whole situation was Erica B. I don't know if she works for Pyramid Air or Air Venturi, but she tried very hard to make this exchange informative & up to date. So can't fault her.



York Solette



P.S. Waiting for my $46.41 to be reimbursed.
 
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Sadly, if you start digging deep enough you may find that all these companies are the same minus a different website/front-end. For whatever reason this hobby is somewhat clandestine in nature when it comes to importer/reseller honesty. Anyway, long story short, welcome to the reality that ... airgundepot and pyramid air are the same. I've often wondered if Pyramid Air, Air Venturi, and Airgun Depot are all the same. I had some nice experiences where I placed two orders one with PYMA and other with AGD and... oddly enough, calling in to one of them resulting in the CSR being able to see both orders.

Say hello to Erika B, of Airgun Depot:

1589844246_15083945575ec319165c76d8.81188115.png


The only thing I order from PYMA or AGD are pellets, for a reason. Sorry for all the redactions.
 
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The technology is patented, so he couldn't go into too much detail....

Click to expand...

This is self-contradictory. If you want to keep it secret, you wont patent it. If you patent it, you have to tell every single detail to the patent office hence the public in order to receive protection.
Click to expand...

Don't shoot the messenger, I was just passing on what I was told!

This is a full account from March 10th to May 18th.

I ordered my compressor on the 10th of March with it saying it was 2 weeks out this continued to get bumped out till they got it on the 16th of April (37 days wait) & shipped it to me. I received it on the 22nd of April (43 days wait). I set it up the next day after work & it seem to work good, it was also a lot quieter then the Tuxing compressor that lasted 5 months from Amazon. Then I received a recall notice on the 1st of May (recalled 9 days later) to which I responded back too on the 4th of May (because of work schedule). I boxed it back up on the 6th of May (12 days of use) & Fed-Ex picked it up on 8th of May (off that day). It is now the 18th of May & I'm now getting hit with another fee. ($46.41 Brokerage fees to UPS) This is B.S. getting hit with another $50 fee after after spending $1000 & waiting almost 70 days that's hitting below the belt. That fee should have been covered because of the recall & under 30 days of owner ship. I also just opened the box and the thing has used oil in the crank & silicone oil all over the silicon unit. The water condensation unit is all scratched up. This is obviously a used unit. Now from the paper work is this just a temporary unit till they redo my unit or is this the replacement. If its the replacement it should be new, not someone else use unit. They know they have you since this is the only affordable compressor outside of buying Chinese (Good luck on what you get). I'm hoping that they take care of this fee because it's the right thing to do and that this ordeal that I had to deal with. I have all the e-mails to back up this whole story. 



The only good thing about this whole situation was Erica B. I don't know if she works for Pyramid Air or Air Venturi, but she tried very hard to make this exchange informative & up to date. So can't fault her.



York Solette



P.S. Waiting for my $46.41 to be reimbursed.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear you are going through this. I had one on order at PA but got tired of the constantly shifting ship dates! I ended up cancelling my order and purchased another brand. Did they say what the recall is for? Also, you may want to reach out to Hill direct and let them know what happened. PA/AGD are just resellers and AV is their US distributor, I'm sure they'd like to hear how you've been treated, especially if they sent you a used compressor as a replacement for a brand new one!

https://www.airriflepump.com/cgi-bin/mf000002.pl?ACTION=SHOWFORM


 
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This is a full account from March 10th to May 18th.

I ordered my compressor on the 10th of March with it saying it was 2 weeks out this continued to get bumped out till they got it on the 16th of April (37 days wait) & shipped it to me. I received it on the 22nd of April (43 days wait). I set it up the next day after work & it seem to work good, it was also a lot quieter then the Tuxing compressor that lasted 5 months from Amazon. Then I received a recall notice on the 1st of May (recalled 9 days later) to which I responded back too on the 4th of May (because of work schedule). I boxed it back up on the 6th of May (12 days of use) & Fed-Ex picked it up on 8th of May (off that day). It is now the 18th of May & I'm now getting hit with another fee. ($46.41 Brokerage fees to UPS) This is B.S. getting hit with another $50 fee after after spending $1000 & waiting almost 70 days that's hitting below the belt. That fee should have been covered because of the recall & under 30 days of owner ship. I also just opened the box and the thing has used oil in the crank & silicone oil all over the silicon unit. The water condensation unit is all scratched up. This is obviously a used unit. Now from the paper work is this just a temporary unit till they redo my unit or is this the replacement. If its the replacement it should be new, not someone else use unit. They know they have you since this is the only affordable compressor outside of buying Chinese (Good luck on what you get). I'm hoping that they take care of this fee because it's the right thing to do and that this ordeal that I had to deal with. I have all the e-mails to back up this whole story. 



The only good thing about this whole situation was Erica B. I don't know if she works for Pyramid Air or Air Venturi, but she tried very hard to make this exchange informative & up to date. So can't fault her.



York Solette



P.S. Waiting for my $46.41 to be reimbursed.
Click to expand...

Update: Erica B. got back to me, they are reimbursing me for the $46.41 shipping and refunding me $100 dollar for all the hassle that I went through. 

You only really have 2 choice when it comes to a compressor one out of England (Daystate / Hill or out of China Omega / Yung Hang & clones) This does help make up for some of the hassle. So do you want to support the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) or Keep your money out of China?

York Solette
 
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