Breathing Air Compressor Specs

[dtruelove]

Anyone have a set of specifications for a 6000 psi high pressure breathing air compressor system for a new station? Also, anyone have manufacturer/service experience to share? Thanks for your help!

[CaptOldTimer]

Anyone have a set of specifications for a 6000 psi high pressure breathing air compressor system for a new station? Also, anyone have manufacturer/service experience to share? Thanks for your help!

Do a search on BREATHING COMPRESSOR and you will find lots of information.

[neiowa]

Ensure you spec pressure lube and ball or roller bearings. And know what you're getting.

Due to sale/aquisitions two of the major mid market national brands have recently "swapped' compressor blocks. You do not want to get stuck with a splash lube/babbit "bearings" block.

[dtruelove]

I have done searches and found some useful information, just looking for more from actual users instead of manufacturers. neiowa, thank you for the insight!

[CaptOldTimer]

Bauer or Eagle, can't go wrong with either.

[kuh shise]

Moisture in Breathing Air

dtruelove: We had some issues with Class D air at 6,000 psi. As the pressure inside of the cascade increases the actual "Pressure Dew Point" increases. Do a search for a pressure dew point converter on the internet. You will find that minus 60 F dewpoints at standard atmospheric pressure will rise to above 43 deg. F at 6,000 psi. This will not be a problem for a cascade in a station where the temperature is never below 60 deg. F., but if you fill a 6,000 psi bottle on an aerial and then expose the cylinder to temperatures below 43 deg., you will get moisture condensation inside the cylinder. The same thing applies to a mobile cascade system. To bring the pressure dew point down under 32 (frost point) you will need to have Class E air or a double Hopcolite adsorption column. There are also some new requirements concerning the continuous recording of the dew point, CO, and Oxygen content of the compressed gasses. We discovered this because we had our hydrostatic pressure tests run at the 5 year interval, and discovered some rusting on the inside of the cascade bottles. We were sure that we never had any high moisture problems with the sensing system, so a long discussion ensued with our compressor dealer. That is when all this information started to be revealed in the discussions. We do not use the same service to do our annual test that we use for our compressor supplier. That is how we got the real scoop on the situation. One couldn't say anything without the other disagreeing or corroberation the statements.

[npfd801]

We have a 6 year old Eagle compressor and fill station that got drug out of the station a few years ago. Don't ask....

Aside from some road rash and some replacement hoses and such, it still works well. I don't know enough about the inner workings to truly talk compressors, but we've never had an issue with it that wasn't someone else's fault.