10 Questions You Should to Know about gas booster pumps

cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".

I need to make my gas blending more efficient. Currently I am PP blending nitrox & CF filling Trimix. I am not pleased with the CF method for various reasons.

A gas booster would solve some of the problems with the CF & PP blending. I know next to nothing about boosters other than the theory behind how they work.

There are practical questions I have regarding their use. One of the boosters I am looking at has a volume of 6.2 in3/cycle. Generally speaking what is the cycle rate of such a booster?? 1 cycle per second?? If it is 1 cycle/sec I come up with about 4.5 scfm for the booster, which is adequate for me, I think.
http://www.steammachines.com/ae2-Haskel.asp This one is $ new.

Does this booster seem adequate for filling say 3 or 4 sets of double 100 FT3 tanks a few days each month & maybe 15 80FT3 nitrox bottles per week?

Thanks in advance...
Does anyone have any better suggestion as to the type/model pump in this same price range? Any ideas where I can get one? Its the method I set up about 9-10 months ago with pressure regs on the He & O2 bottles.

I have yet to be able to get the flow rates to be consistent. The percentages just fluctuate. When I make a change in the regulator pressure the resulting % takes several minutes to show up on the He & O2 meters.

You helped me a LOT with this when I set it up & your help got me as far as I did get...but the lag time between changing flow rate & the resultant indication on the meters causes me to run around like a ckicken with its head cut off.

The other thing is...last week I was filling 6 sets of double 120's and the compressor got hotter than I was comfortable with....If not for the compressor getting so hot I would consider trying to tweak my system.

Uncle Pug--thanks again for your help last year when Scott Klopin & you helped me set this up. OK... now I remember... CF = CB
Jim, I know that Omar was toying around with analyzing pre-compression... and it is true that post compression analysis has a lag time of several minutes... but... once you get it set up it shouldn't fluctuate back and forth... it will change with the fill pressure but you can allow for this.

I have tape on my ball flow gauges marked with the starting points for the various blends I want. I might waste a little gas just to make sure that it is where I want it but once set I rarely adjust.

What I have found is that ambient temp seems to affect where I must set the ball on the tape to begin with. So I fudge one way during the winter and another during the summer. Where you live that shouldn't be a problem.

I try to make the dial-in setting by bleeding off enough gas to get xxxxpsi (whatever is the median pressure between start and end) on the manifold so that during the fill, mix variation from low to high pressure will offset itself.

Nitrox is a snap. Trimix takes a little fiddlin' since increasing the HE requires you to also increase the O2 and the same with decreasing either.

As for compressor heat... I can't remember what compressor you ended up with but I have a fan blowing on the front of my RIX. I am waaay past the projected run time for changing out my 3rd stage rings (all I pump is nitrox or mix) and I attribute that to the extra cooling fan.

Some days I am filling two sets of dbl 104s and the bank of three 250cf (psi) and the temp never goes up beyond what I can touch the first stage cylinder head with my finger... this is my scientific test for okey dokey status.

Questions???