Yong Heng Advice

You're not alone.. A lot of us [myself include] have been on the fence about filling options..

In my case, I wanted to get the biggest carbon fiber scba tank I could find, so that I'd get the most amount of refills possible.
The only downside of that would be having to get the tank refilled / topped off.
1 finding a shop with a high pressure filling station - and - one that will fill a 4500 psi tank all the way to 4500. [some won't]
2 the extra cost and travel involved with going back and forth to get it done..
I'm sure there's more, but, I'll stop there. =P

I looked into compressors, and the Yong Heng seemed like a great option.

I decided that I would do both. Especially since the compressor could also fill a bit scba tank. Win Win.

The 1st thing I did was get the compressor. That way, at least I could refill my rifles whenever I wanted..
It worked great! I used it every single day for over a month to refill several rifles sever times each. I shoot a Lot after work..

Fast forward a month or so, I finally found the components to get an 88 cubic foot carbon fiber scba tank converted to a pcp filling station.
I got that, and, I used the Yong Heng compressor to fill the tank. 0 psi to 4700 psi [after cooling, the psi drops back down to 4500 psi]
I ran the comp for 10-15 min at a time, then let it cool down for 15-30 min, until' the tank was full. Total run time of 80 min.

The only downside to the compressor - It isn't portable - in the sense that you can't haul it around like you can with a tank..
[so having both is fantastic]

Price for the Yong Heng - Under $250
Price for the 88cf tank - Around $550

I guess variables would be: price, how much filling you plan on doing, where you would like to use the filling station, etc.

Sam -

Buy the Yong Heng then pick up a used scba tank later. When you buy the Yong Heng don't use stinky hydraulic oil. Buy iso100 synthetic compressor oil and you'll be happy.

Buy the Yong Heng then pick up a used scba tank later. When you buy the Yong Heng don't use stinky hydraulic oil. Buy iso100 synthetic compressor oil and you'll be happy.

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This.

^^^ Yuuup!

$20 bucks at NAPA: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/RNJ01513

I use a YH to top off a 109cuft carbon fiber tank. It takes about 30-40 mins so i use a 10lb bag of ice in a 5gal bucket with just enough water to cover the water pump and it keeps the temperature under 50c. I also bought a wet tile saw pump (royobi) at home depot for 15bux because the pump that came with the YH wasn't reliable. I have been using straight 30 weight non detergent oil for about a year now without any problems so i feel ive gotten my moneys worth out of the YH compressor.you should also buy a filter to keep the air dry,ebay sells them reasonably cheep. Good luck on your decision

No brained buy the compressor 

I get this question a lot and here is my opinion. I think it is still hard to beat a little American made Shoebox compressor. I see these things come up for sale for less that 400 USD . They are super simple and they work. I just rebuilt one for a friend. 30 minutes and 2 dollars worth of Orings and it was back in service The Shoebox isn't fast but it is durable. My friend's shoebox was mine that I had used for several years before giving it to him. I had purchased the Freedom 8 used from another airgunner who had used the booster extensively before passing it off to me.

Brian 

The biggest issue with all these inexpensive compressors is heat. Heat management is probably the biggest difference between these compressors and the more expensive ones. A great deal of heat is released in order to compress air from 1 Bar to the 300 Bar we use. This heat stresses everything including the oil. There are several strategies to manage this heat and the best is dependent on the individual compressor and its duty cycle. These strategies should be discussed on separate threads though.

I went the extra tank route, but will probably buy the Yong Hang later this spring. Paintball shop I use rarely has 4500 PSI pressure, and one self taught employee refuses to fill past 4000 PSI 'cause it's not safe (I could use some colorful descriptive terms here, but will hold my tongue for now). Unfortunately, they are about the only game in town that has 4500 PSI equipment.

The extra tank helps lots, but the freedom from driving across town to fill my tanks, the constant cost to fill my tanks, and the ability to fill to the pressure I want when I want I think is trumping the convenience of an extra tank. Don't get me wrong, the extra tank is great, but with a compressor, I'll have that much more freedom.

Me my self.i would get a new shoebox.the price dropd in half.u can get 1 for 500.00 now.fully loaded.well that's I going to get.i need a air compresser for my garage anyways alex

My Shoebox wasn't durable. After 2 years it rocked itself apart and it was too far gone to fix. That's when I tried the Yong Heng. I've been happy since I got the Yong Heng. It fills much much faster. As in, seconds on a gun and 20-30 minutes on a big carbon fiber tank counting taking breaks to let it cool. 

I just topped off all my guns and my 90ci tank last night with my Yong Heng. It’s worked great and was my best investment in airgunning since there’s no place near me to fill my tanks. And when they did there was always pressure drop from the air cooling afterwards that left a 4500psi tank usually at about 4000psi. Not anymore though, I just let it cool then top it back off. Keep the water cold with ice and use a good synthetic compressor oil like royal purple. I fill my sink with ice water then fill all my stuff up and pull the drain plug, no messing around with buckets or anything. I’m probably going to buy another one to leave up at my cabin since they’re so affordable. 

I have to change that small tampon filter every 10 min of run time, mines almost soaked with water by then. 

Buy a new tank, and then you have 15 years to save for a compressor

I have to change that small tampon filter every 10 min of run time, mines almost soaked with water by then.

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You really do need another filter, or two with the HY machine IMHO. The gold filters seem to work pretty well, and I have been thinking about adding a second one.

Many people say heat is the enemy and it really is, Mine has been running a little over a year and I will not let it run over 55C, just take your time and let it cool off. If you have a long drive to get a fill, it is really worth it, if you live in town where a fill station is a few minutes away, and is pretty cheap, then it is a harder decision.

I have already hit the black with mine, meaning I have used it enough to pay for itself in just fills, this is not counting the gas it would cost me to drive to have it filled, not counting my time. I could get it filled at the FD, but I think that is a bit of an abuse of my position so I will not do that.

In looking at these compressors every one of them has drawbacks, EVERY ONE, the drawback could be cost, could be factory support, could be anything. These machines work under some pretty high stresses, and stuff is going to go south....real question is what happens next. Can you get parts and fix it yourself, is it so darn cheap that why bother fixing it just buy a new one, do you have to pay shipping to send that 50lb monster back to where ever and wait 3+ weeks to get your machine back....none of these are perfect, do your research and just do it.

I will say one thing, having air at home is very VERY nice.

I use bounty towel in the smal yong heng filter it was soaked wit water after 5 minutes runtime

a big problem with the yong heng compressors is that the crank shaft is only supported on one side which makes an uneven load on the shaft. After a certain amount of time the crank shaft will break, this happened to quite some people around me while filling SCBA tanks. If you use it only for filling your gun it most probably will hold quite some time but filling bottles is too much for this small compressor