Others Tried My Local Dive Shop For Air

[PasadenaMike]

Wow you mean I can throw my compressors away and have premium breathing air for my guns? This shop uses a Bauer compressor to fill their tanks and have 4500 psi. $10 for small tanks and $20 for large tanks. They even offer hydro testing services. It’s not the most convenient way to fill but it is certainly premium air. I filled my little tank today to try them out. No problems. Best part is they’re 8 minutes from home.

 

[Farmplinker2]

Wow you mean I can throw my compressors away and have premium breathing air for my guns? This shop uses a Bauer compressor to fill their tanks and have 4500 psi. $10 for small tanks and $20 for large tanks. They even offer hydro testing services. It’s not the most convenient way to fill but it is certainly premium air. I filled my little tank today to try them out. No problems. Best part is they’re 8 minutes from home.

There's a paintball field close to me that offers "PCP Air Rifle Fills". If I get something that needs a lot of air, I might check them out.

 

[Danman]

Wow you mean I can throw my compressors away and have premium breathing air for my guns? This shop uses a Bauer compressor to fill their tanks and have 4500 psi. $10 for small tanks and $20 for large tanks. They even offer hydro testing services. It’s not the most convenient way to fill but it is certainly premium air. I filled my little tank today to try them out. No problems. Best part is they’re 8 minutes from home.

That is a no brainer in my opinion! Where it becomes not worth it is how long the drive is to get said air. If I had to spend an hour round trip one a month say to get my HP air I would do it, and do some other shopping at the same time perhaps. Anymore than that and it's eating into shooting time! No compressor maintenance & cost vs drive time and as you said "premium" (dry) air evens out pretty good! Tanks aren't cheap but neither is a decent compressor!

 

[PasadenaMike]

Yeah I had no idea they could do 4500

 

[Mike Brown]

Yeah I had no idea they could do 4500

When I was still a scuba driver (almost 40 years ago) they didn't fill much over 3000 because that's all the cylinders were rated for-carbon fiber ones didn't exist yet. How times have changed.

 

[ctshooter]

If they can do 4500 consistently that could be a great resource. What I've seen from some dive shops is they have 4500psi capability, but they fill tanks from a cascade setup and you can get a fill as low as 3800 psi sometimes if the cascade tanks haven't been topped off.

I did dive shop fills for a while when I first started. Due to distance to/from is was not worth it for me in the long run. If I were going to have to rely on a dive shop I might consider going the route of N2 as an alternative.

 

[Brazos]

Wow you mean I can throw my compressors away and have premium breathing air for my guns? This shop uses a Bauer compressor to fill their tanks and have 4500 psi. $10 for small tanks and $20 for large tanks. They even offer hydro testing services. It’s not the most convenient way to fill but it is certainly premium air. I filled my little tank today to try them out. No problems. Best part is they’re 8 minutes from home.

If I had something like that 8 minutes from home I would not own pumps. I don’t have a scuba shop anywhere around me.

 

[Farmplinker2]

If I had something like that 8 minutes from home I would not own pumps. I don’t have a scuba shop anywhere around me.

Check welding shops and paintball fields. They might be able to refill your tanks.

 

[pan60]

when I was first looking into all this the closest shop was a one hr drive to get there and I called a doz time over a period of a month and drove by a few time to try and get ahold of some one to see if they would fill the tank and when I finally got someone on the phone they said only the owner can fill to 4500 psi and I ask when would he be there and they said they never know but he stops by maybe once a moth : (
so I bought a compressor

not sure what they define has small and or large tanks but I assume mine are large? at 20.00 I could not justify that even at 10.00 I would just by a comp.
if I set up and shot all day I will need to top off my bottles that me and the wife shoot and maybe a buddy.
you factor the drive in and back the cost and time for me its not worth it not even close.
the way my mind works if I lived next door and could get the tanks filled for free, I would still own my own compressor.

 

[Coyote1936]

Scheels and cabelas both fill to 4500 psi filling dive tanks and of course scba tanks. It’s nice because I’m just getting into air guns again after years away from the hobby let’s me buy a few good guns before I have to worry about buying a good compressor. Some fire stations fill tanks as well for their breathing tanks but that’s hit or miss whether they will fill tanks for the public. Luckily mine will fill them as long as it’s a certified dot tank.

 

[Brazos]

Check welding shops and paintball fields. They might be able to refill your tanks.

I live out in the country. Ain’t nothing around me unless I drive an hour. No big deal as they make pumps and I have them. Personally, even though I own a nice 4500psi tank, I am getting away from filling tanks and just filling the rifle direct.

 

[Hammerli]

If you shoot a lot, hand pumping gets old fast. I tried one of the Yong Heng pumps and it works well for me. It fills my 3L and 6.8L carbon bottles well.
My closest dive shop is about 12 miles away, but they will only fill to 3600psi, even though they have 4500 capabilities.

 

[Bud-sc]

I have a dive shop nearby but they don't fill tanks there and then....have to wait 2 weeks before getting one back....

 

[Scriv]

You've hit the holy Grail! Good for you. Nice to see someone catch a break.

 

[jps2486]

You should be so lucky. My local dive shop is run by a jackass and won't look at me without a dive certificate and he won't pump more than 3200 psi. Fortunately, a good friend bought an Alkin compressor and helps me out.