Vintage Double Hose

Well I finally bought one. This past week I was watching this Cornelius 130R1500 on ebay and decided to buy it. I made sure to do my "homework" first and did a few searches on the web and seemed to get back some very good feedback on this old compressor. I know absolutely ZERO about compressors and this one will be the first I've ever owned. I felt that the price was right at $550.00, and it's supposed to be in good working condition to do the job that it was intended for, and since it's vintage that makes it all the more fun to own along with my other vintage gear. I should be receiving it around Tuesday; so I'm really anxious for it to get here so I can start "playing". I've already printed out a copy of the manual that is available on the VDH website, and I'll be sure to study it from cover to cover. Thanks Bryan for making this available. Again; my knowledge of compressors is absolutely ZERO; so any comments, suggestions or advice that any of you have to offer will be greatly appreciated. As far as explaining to my "Better Half" just how it showed up on our doorstep; I got that part already covered. I'll just tell Roxann: "Hey; Roger Made me do it! That excuse seemed to work really well when I showed up at home with those Voit twin 50's I bought at Portage 2 years ago. Yeah; the good ole Roger made me do it excuse works every time! Terry

- Good for you, Terry! I'll be really interested to hear how well it works.

Eben:
After receiving the compressor I soon discovered that it runs just fine, and I'm sure for my purposes I'll be very satisfied with it. Before I fired it up there were a few things I either wanted to do or had to do to it; none of which were critical. It needed a good cleaning; changing of the electric cord, revamping the intake filter since it did not have the original intake tube that holds the replaceable filter cartridge, and putting some new oil in it. As for the filter; I replaced it with one of those round Solberg filters that you see on some of the newer compressors that has the replaceable round cartridge, and it works just fine. The guy I bought it from had also drained the oil from it for shipment and sent it in a separate quart container; but not knowing what brand it was I replaced it with some Mobile Jet II which was recommended by a number of guys who know these compressors. I then replaced the separator/filter which is part of this compressor just so I could clean it up real good and take it apart to get an idea how it works. According to the Cornelius manual that I downloaded and printed off of this site, and info I found on a number of searches this compressor as is; is supposed to deliver good quality breathing air. Maybe; but not good enough for me; so it was time for a bit of research since I wanted to add another tower to this system that served not only as a drain but also had better filtration to provide breathing air that I felt comfortable with. As I did some research I kept getting pointed in the direction of Jim Shelden who is supposed to be "The Go To Guy" with the knowledge on these compressors. Captain was one of the guy's who recommended Jim - Thanks Tom! Jim had some modified Sprague Hydraulic accumulators that he had for sale which served as a moisture trap in the lower 25% and held a replaceable filter cartridge in the upper 75% which can be repacked by the owner. This system is also equipped with a drain valve. The ones that he originally had were 14" in length; but unfortunately they were no longer available so I had to settle for the 21" unit; but that's OK. Well; again this being my first compressor I have ZERO knowledge or experience with them; so this has definitely been a learning experience; but it's been fun! So; taking into account this lack of knowledge and experience I was hoping (key word here is hoping) that when I received this tower from Jim I would somehow be able to attach it to the compressor itself. I thought I could possibly do this by attaching some flat bar stock to the bottom of the compressor by means of using two of the compressors leg bolts as attachment points, and the bending the flat bar stock upward so it would protrude up as an attachment point for the new tower in close proximity to the separator/filter tower that is already part of the compressor. Well; it was a good idea while it was in my head; but after receiving this tower yesterday and seeing it's size and weight; it appears that it's back to the drawing board. I' very satisfied with the tower I got from Jim; but now I've got to decide how I want to use it. I've seen pictures where they have been wall mounted and then connected to the compressor when being used via a quick disconnect HP hose; but I don't think I want to do that. I also have heard of guys mounting them on their own free standing base which is once again connected to the compressor when being used with a quick disconnect HP hose. This kind of creates a two-part compressor system which as long as it works is OK I guess and I might consider this method; but I'd really prefer to have it all together as one unit. I've also heard of guys making a base large enough to attach the compressor itself to, and providing enough space to have an upright support to hold the new tower which could then be permanently attached to the original separator/filter tower. By removing the compressors foot bolts this would allow for attachment points of the compressor to the new base, and whatever extra room needed or wanted to mount the new tower would be users choice. If this works without being too bulky or awkward to carry with the compressors original handle on top I will most likely go this route. I'm open to any suggestions. Anyway; Thank God I've got this compressor project to work on; because I think it's one of the few things helping me to keep my sanity with this long, awful winter we're having here in northern Michigan this year! Thanks! Terry

Sounds like an awesome project Terry. Be sure and take a few pictures and post them. Might help with potential suggestions down the road.
Even though I can get tanks filled for free at the local fire dept, I really enjoy being able to do it myself at home. I can work at the bench/multi task while I'm filling, not to mention have a cold one. When I'm done, I don't have to drive 8 miles. I just walk in the house. Ha. Looking forward to future posts!

Here's a nice picture of Terry filling a tank with his new Cornelius compressor...

Well, that might have been Terry a few squares back.

All right; which one of you guy's superimposed someone else's head on my body? I'll look even better next summer when I'm filling those twin Voit 50's I got at Portage 2 years ago. Terry

Does it have a priority or backpressure valve on it to maintain a constant 2000 PSI on the filter/separators. That is a must to get maximum water removal from the air.

Well; lets try this again. I thought I already got this reply posted; but it didn't show up. Anyway; No Tom I haven't gotten one installed on this compressor yet; but I definitely want to. I knew there was something else I wanted to get for this compressor; "THANKS" for reminding me. I'm assuming that when I get one the best place to install it would be on the separator which is part of the compressor; which would locate it between this separator and the separator/filter tower that I purchased from Jim Shelden. If you have any other suggestions I'm certainly open to them. Thanks! Terry

The valve should be after the final filter/separator. 13X sieve should be before activated charcoal. There is no point in having two separator/purifiers both containing a combination of sieve and charcoal. Put sieve in the first and charcoal in the second. Wet charcoal is not effective. Here is a good article on filtration set up.

http://www.scubaengineer.com/high_press ... iltrat.htm

Thanks for your input Tom, and also the link to the filtration setup. That looks like a very good article and I'll be sure to print it off for future reference. As for the backpressure priority valve; do you have any that you would recommend. I haven't really looked at any yet; so I'm open to any suggestions.
Terry

I have done business with these folks before.

http://www.scubacompressor.com/shop/val ... 1d187f85a0

captain wrote:I have done business with these folks before.

http://www.scubacompressor.com/shop/val ... 1d187f85a0

I have this one on mine and 140hrs later its still working fine.

http://www.scubacompressor.com/shop/bac ... 1d187f85a0

Thanks Bryan & Tom; looks like they have all kinds of good stuff on this site to get me started. Terry

You will find the compressor is the best piece of diving equipment you ever bought.