picked up RIX SA6 yesterday off Craiglist (for a very good price ) and was wondering who has a good line on filter systems. With the RIX I believe that all I need is a water seperator to lower the percentage of water down?? This compressor is an older model with the single sheeves and has the brass cooling tubes. I will have to build a framework for it and going to mount some wheels under it for moving it around if I need to. This will be a learning experiance so any advise will be great.
Yes you need a filter with (at a minimum) dessicant in it to remove moisture. The whole "sweet air" biz is a recipe for major tank corrosion. Google "sheldon sporting goods" in KS and call Jim. He can set you up with a repackable filter for a reasonable price.
Sounder wrote:Under normal circumstances, I would never tell another man how to shave his balls... but this device should not be kept secret.
For drying the air coming from my RIX compressor , I just use a standard 32" filter housing (which is designed for a much larger compressor) with a X65677 filter in it. That filter is almost all dessicant and produces air that tests to -90° for dewpoint (aka Bone Dry).
Those filters run about $45 and I change mine annualy, but they are generally only about 12% "used" when I change them.
I can't tell for sure from the picture, but if the priority valve on the end of the hose is AE, then it is rigged wrong and isn't doing anything for you.
Right now, the compressor just has a mechanical filter to remove some moisture. Of course, Rix fans will say that is all you need and that the air is meant to be moist so it doesn't dry your mouth. Nice theory, but moisture in the air means wet tanks ... not good!
As has already been posted, the addition of a filter tower to your system will allow you to dry the air using molecular sieve and carbon. There are a couple of very nice towers, short and tall, that are marketed under lots of different names ... Mako, Global, Trident, LF, etc that are great and some "home made" styles that are nice as well. Pricing is all over the board as well. You will find towers anywhere from $300 for the home made ones to well over $1000 for the name brand ones.
For your compressor the short tower should be fine. It is the right size for mounting right on your compressor base and can filter up to 13,000 cubic feet of air (optimum conditions). Using the tall tower on a small compressor is somewhat of a waste of chemicals as it is difficult to use up the cartridge unless you dive like crazy. Of course, there is also something to be said for the peace of mind of having overkill filtration.
Take care of your compressor ... keep it cool ... keep it clean ... do suggested maintenance religiously and be careful of "air system growth:. For some reason, those little things tend to grow from a simple compressor to a huge bank of bottles and an array of valves, filter towers, pipes, gauges and fill hoses.
rcontrera wrote:I can't tell for sure from the picture, but if the priority valve on the end of the hose is AE, then it is rigged wrong and isn't doing anything for you.
Right now, the compressor just has a mechanical filter to remove some moisture. Of course, Rix fans will say that is all you need and that the air is meant to be moist so it doesn't dry your mouth. Nice theory, but moisture in the air means wet tanks ... not good!
As has already been posted, the addition of a filter tower to your system will allow you to dry the air using molecular sieve and carbon. There are a couple of very nice towers, short and tall, that are marketed under lots of different names ... Mako, Global, Trident, LF, etc that are great and some "home made" styles that are nice as well. Pricing is all over the board as well. You will find towers anywhere from $300 for the home made ones to well over $1000 for the name brand ones.
For your compressor the short tower should be fine. It is the right size for mounting right on your compressor base and can filter up to 13,000 cubic feet of air (optimum conditions). Using the tall tower on a small compressor is somewhat of a waste of chemicals as it is difficult to use up the cartridge unless you dive like crazy. Of course, there is also something to be said for the peace of mind of having overkill filtration.
Take care of your compressor ... keep it cool ... keep it clean ... do suggested maintenance religiously and be careful of "air system growth:. For some reason, those little things tend to grow from a simple compressor to a huge bank of bottles and an array of valves, filter towers, pipes, gauges and fill hoses.
billandwende wrote:So I wondered who got it. I got the SOLD e-mail.
Enjoy your find. I'm glad a NWDC member got it.
I replied to his posting withen 15 min. of his posting, and headed up there shortly after. $500 for it was worth the three hour and a half hour drive and being to tired to dive on Sat lol.
[quote="rcontrera"]I can't tell for sure from the picture, but if the priority valve on the end of the hose is AE, then it is rigged wrong and isn't doing anything for you.
Looking at it I do not even think that it is a priority/backpressure valve, just a manifold. Should I mount a valve after the tower to help maintain pressure in the tower to help keep the moisture out and before the tower to help the third stage? I have read that it works best to keep the filter/media under pressure for this.
Right now, the compressor just has a mechanical filter to remove some moisture. Of course, Rix fans will say that is all you need and that the air is meant to be moist so it doesn't dry your mouth. Nice theory, but moisture in the air means wet tanks ... not good!
Yeh but it makes great advertizing lol.
As has already been posted, the addition of a filter tower to your system will allow you to dry the air using molecular sieve and carbon. There are a couple of very nice towers, short and tall, that are marketed under lots of different names ... Mako, Global, Trident, LF, etc that are great and some "home made" styles that are nice as well. Pricing is all over the board as well. You will find towers anywhere from $300 for the home made ones to well over $1000 for the name brand ones.
Dang these run to just under and to twice as much as I paid for the compressor lol. The compressure is going to be the cheap part of this.
For your compressor the short tower should be fine. It is the right size for mounting right on your compressor base and can filter up to 13,000 cubic feet of air (optimum conditions). Using the tall tower on a small compressor is somewhat of a waste of chemicals as it is difficult to use up the cartridge unless you dive like crazy. Of course, there is also something to be said for the peace of mind of having overkill filtration.
Yeh better safe then sorry, should I get a visual moisture indicator in my system or how do you know when to change the filter or media?
Take care of your compressor ... keep it cool ... keep it clean ... do suggested maintenance religiously and be careful of "air system growth:. For some reason, those little things tend to grow from a simple compressor to a huge bank of bottles and an array of valves, filter towers, pipes, gauges and fill hoses.
Well it should not get to carried away as I do not plan on pumping tri mix (for deveral years yet lol), although I would like to mix nitrox.
A Priority valve is called for on the outlet of the separator even if you don't put a filter tower. It raises the pressure which raises the density of the air and makes the separator function that much better.
As for the moisture eye ... you bet! Those things make inspecting for moisture a LOT easier than popping the top off of the tower and inspecting the indicator on the side of the cartridge.
By the way, I can't really tell from the picture, but is that a pressure switch on the outlet?
I would recommend opening the moisture separators and look at/clean the mesh screen. Be careful it could be seized. Use some O2 lube on the threads when putting it back on. Replace the orings if they are cracked.
Do the thrust plates show wear? Does one move when you hand turn the compressor? The movement should be almost imperceptible. Keep them greased.
Check the tie rod ends. Keep them greased (with RIX grease)
Have you checked with Dave DeJong to see if he still has a filter for sale.
Make sure you align the sheaves. The models that have only one belt eat belts.
Verify your priority valve pressure. I like mine at 1500psi.
If you don’t have two whips you should. Three is even better.
Make a mixing stick and pump nothing but nitrox for a dollar a fill.
rcontrera wrote:I can't tell for sure from the picture, but if the priority valve on the end of the hose is AE, then it is rigged wrong and isn't doing anything for you.
Welcome to the "fun" of air system ownership.
Why do you say the priority valve on the end of the hose is rigged wrong? It looks like that in the manual.
Nice find.. I saw it but wasn't fast enough on the trigger! I sat too long thinking it was too good to be true.. hope this turns out to be an awesome system for you mang!
Congrat's if it's good it'll be SWEET!
Ripper of drysuits, mocker of divers...there are no atheist divers in a mistimed Deception Pass dive. Jeremy
Jeff Kruse wrote:Why do you say the priority valve on the end of the hose is rigged wrong? It looks like that in the manual.
If that is an AE valve, the inlet is at the end where the yoke is installed now ... backwards from how it should be. And the higher the pressure the better. 1800 is the stock pressure that the valves are pre-set at the factory but the setting is user adjustable.
) and was wondering who has a good line on filter systems. With the RIX I believe that all I need is a water seperator to lower the percentage of water down?? This compressor is an older model with the single sheeves and has the brass cooling tubes. I will have to build a framework for it and going to mount some wheels under it for moving it around if I need to. This will be a learning experiance so any advise will be great. 
