Received my new Omega compressor, initial response to it.

My new Omega compressor arrived a couple of days ago, after setting it up and filling it with the cooling fluids and water I filled my large scuba tank and my small scuba tank, I think it took about 5 hours to fill both of them, the large bottle from 1000psi to 3000psi and the smaller bottle from 1500psi to 3000psi. The only thing that I don't like having to do is to drain the moisture every 15 to 20 minutes. I wonder if an automatic drainer could be installed, like they use on shop compressors? That would be a nice feature as I get carried away when I am on the lathe and lose track of time. I was told they are very noisy but I did not find the noise bothersome, some say it sounds a bit like a washing machine running and that is a pretty good description of it. I have a high quality filter coming from Joe B for it as I am concerned about the moisture issue, there was not a huge amount, but it was visible and if it gets that much in a `15 to 20 minute period how much will it produce in 4 or 5 hours of running? 
Anyway so far so good, I will fill my other large scuba bottle tomorrow and that will have me all set for high pressure air to run my booster pump, yay, no more waiting 3 weeks for the dive shop to fill my tanks!
I will update the review after the unit has had some more run time, but so far it seems to be worth the money, time will tell. Oh one thing I did like is it does not seem to get very hot, just warm to the touch, I had expected it go get a lot hotter! More later, Neil.
 
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The filter Joe B sells is about as good a filter as you can buy for them, they are not cheap but I am not going to take any chances of moisture getting through to my tanks or guns. It is worth the money to protect your investments. The desiccant type work well on regular shop compressors but I would not put my faith in them with high pressure air, Maybe they work fine but I do not feel it is worth the risk, Neil.
 
Good review Neil.
These compressors are one area where the US airgun users are at the leading edge ! As you know ('half brit' Neil) no-one in Britain is further than approx 100 miles from the coast so there are Dive Shops all over, certainly most large towns have them. That's not the case for large swathes of the US, I gather, so there will always be an interest in "Home Filling". Here, its very rare for an individual to own a (airgun) compressor.

Of course they are a massive financial outlay, I'll stick to me FX 3 stage hand-pump for now :). (I do also have a SCBA tank).

Regarding 'moisture' its a two part problem surely ?
1) Moisture intake (from the surrounding air going into the machine).
2) Moisture 'creation' (the act of compressing air creates both heat & moisture, the moisture being evident as the comp. air later cools).

There doesn't seem to be much you can do about No. 2...
 
There is not much you can do about no2 it is always going to be produced but there are filters that will totally remove it before the air reaches the tank, and that is what the filter I am getting from Joe B will do. On my large shop compressor I have an air drier after the compressor before the air goes to the shop, it is like an air conditioner it cools the air and removes the moisture before it gets to the tools, they work extremely well, but obviously they are no good for a high pressure compressor, they are just designed for air pressures used in shops and garages. You are also correct on no1, it does rely on the relative humidity of the air it takes in, in northern CA it is not that humid and with air conditioning in the house the air is fairly dry so the compressor does not produce a huge amount of moisture, but it is still evident, but more easily filtered out. So I am confident that the filter I am getting, will prevent any harmful moisture from reaching my tanks and guns. 
By the way who is 1/2 Brit Neil ? lol
I am 100% Brit if you are referring to me, I will never admit to anything else, all the best, Neil.
 
Blackdiesel I think my scuba tank is 66cf, not sure how big the carbon fiber tanks are but that was an honest time for going from 1000psi to 3000psi.on my big tank and from 1500 to 3000psi on my smaller tank, They are not fast like the Bauer compressors, I think they are rated at about 23cfh that is per hour not per minute so it is not too far out. Do not buy one and expect it to fill your full size tank quickly. I just put another 1000psi in my 2nd large scuba tank and it took about 80 minutes. Again I do not know how large the carbon fiber tank is that they filled but from what I have seen they are considerably smaller than a full size scuba tank, I may be wrong on that as I have only seen pictures of them, maybe someone who has seen the AOA video knows what size tank they filled, Neil.
 
Well I am not sure why because unless it was a printing mistake, the Air charger puts out the same air volume and pressure as the Supercharger, I guess it is possible some are better than others, just as in anything, not every unit is exactly the same. I will empty one of my tanks after the compressor has seen a bit more run time and then fill from empty and time it to 3000psi. I am sure there is a bedding in time for the pumps, maybe that will make it more effective given some run time?
 
I received my new Omega Super Charger yesterday and besides an unusual dent on the side (right side pushing outward) it looks fine otherwise. It has 3.5 hours on it and will be awaiting the tank which was on back order from multiple vendors. Once I get the tank and my dads glass mounted to the Royale 500 I'll post some pics and do a more thorough write up on my own thread so as to not Hijack another thread :)


Cheers,
Mike
 
I was thinking of going with the ATD Tools desiccant air drying system in between my oil-free compressor and Shoebox Freedom8. Will this have any significant end result effect reducing moisture since it's only drying the air before entering the Freedom 8? My thinking was that since the Shoebox is compressing a very small amount of air at a time, the moisture created by heat would be reduced.
 
Since this has already been such a good discussion, I wanted to add a question. What is the harm of the moisture over short periods of time? If I were to open up my rifle every 3 months or so to remove moisture, would that be adequate? I'm sure the amount of moisture that makes it to the gun varies widely with humidity, temp, etc. But if I am only filling my cricket and don't want to spend the money on a fancy filter, how much damage can that moisture do?

Does anyone have any moisture related horror stories?

thanks guys!
 
"scubajeeper"Water in a gun is a killer. You need to take every precaution available to you to keep it out of your gun. Money spent to avoid problems is always a good iinvestment.
I'm just looking for more objective information other than the standard "don't do it". I've read time and time again how folks go to great lengths to avoid moisture, but I've not read any instances where it ruined a gun. Maybe I haven't been looking hard enough, so educate me. What gun have you had that water killed?
 
Any time you introduce moisture and oxygen, or air into a gun you are asking for problems, not immediately but in the long term. If you get rusting on the inside of the air tube it can seriously effect the integrity of the tube walls, when you are dealing with extremely high pressured air the last thing you want to do is weaken the walls of the vessel. I have seen what rust does to metal in the auto industry in 6 months, now you own an air rifle for maybe 10 years with a high pressure air vessel that can explode close to your face, do you want to take the risk? I know I do not, that is why I do not care about the cost of keeping the moisture out of my guns, you can not put a price on safety. You can choose to do what you want but then think about the guy who buys the gun from you, is it fair to him?
 
This statement at a cylinder hydrotesting company was referenced at the GTA forum.

PAINTBALL COMPRESSORS We have recently found an air tank that was corroded so bad the air was leaking from the fiber wrap. Several grams of aluminum oxide were poured from the tank. When high pressure air is mixed with moisture, rapid corrosion occurs. So much metal is lost that a tank can leak or explode in as little as 6 months. This is why it is important that all paintball high pressure compressors have integrated desiccant filter stacks that are serviced every 100 hours. A desiccant filter that is ignored will pass water to the paintball tank and damage it quickly. (This tank is available for inspection at our shop.)

Testing company: http://www.brassanchor.com/hydrotest/index.html