Booster Info

DIY_Diver

I am new to rebreather diving, but one thing I have discovered is that if I want a decent gas fill, I need a booster pump. So could all you experienced boosters out there give me some basic information. What pressures can they boost from and to? How much drive gas do they use and at what pressure? How fast do they work ? Is there any literature or web sites I should be studying ? And have I missed anything ? Many thanks.

Barrie Law

Hi DIY_Diver,

There are a number of Boosters on the market and they all offer different specifications and it is dificult to compare them like for like because a smaller piston size normally requires less air drive but boosts less gas and a larger drive piston requires more air drive but also boosts more gas so getting the balance right for Rebreather divers is quite difficult and probably the best on the market currently overall is the Haskel - Mini Sport Booster that can be seen here;

Rebreather World Store

The other factor you need to consider is the lower the supply cylinder pressure the more air drive is required to Boost to the higher fill pressures although stage pumping can be used to help that so you would boost to an intermediate cylinder then onto your final fill cylinder.

Some boosters can be driven by low pressure compressors and others require clean air but if you just need to boost for a few rebreather divers the Haskel is hard to beat.

If you need to boost for a bigger group or regularly need to boost larger cylinders sizes the MPS is a good option;

Rebreather World Store

It is a large Bore piston size and capable of boosting large amounts of gas although it is quite heavy when it comes to travelling and air drive is above 300ltrs per min.

An other option is an electric driven booster and they can be used with Auto stop features and although slower at boosting than there air driven neighbors they are very quite to use and do not requires any air drive. The price is the downside with these electric boosters for those on a budget.

Rebreather World Store

__________________
Barrie Law
Rebreather World Store
Supplying the Rebreather World

Tel:US +19548403892 Fax:US+19543333792
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Mobile+353876880628 Skype:barrielaw
Email: barrie@rebreatherworldstore.com

SteveL

I am running a Hydraulics International 5G-DS-30 and it it just superb.

Pumps about 6.1 cubic inches per stroke and a MAXIMUM of 1 stroke per second.

Maximum boost is approximatly 30 times the drive gas pressure plus 1 times the supply gas pressure.

I run it from a tiny shop compressor (cause I already had it) it works OK for filling breather tanks and bailout - if you were doing lots of big OC tanks I would get a bigger compressor with a decent resovior.

But as for the boster 200 bar o2 from a supply cylinder with 20 bar can be done OK.

max I have filled to is 300bar with air in a HP cylinder.

It may be a bit big for many but it should go on for years with the use I give it.

Regards,

Steve

4ster

Hi,

Start off by asking yourself some questions, here is a start:
1) What size tanks am I planning to fill?
2) Am I going to travel with it?
3) How much do I want to spend?
4) This is kind of off the wall: Do I want to build one my self?

That will help narrow down your choices.

Haskel now sells a travel booster for filling small tanks in addition to the larger model. Expensive, but probably worth it.

Hydrolics International has a reasonably priced mid sized booster that a lot of people like.

Jetsam has their baby booster that was designed for a traveling Rebreather diver. It costs less than the equivalent Haskel.

If you think you want to try your hand at building one look here:
http://www.airspeedpress.com/newbooster.html

I like my Jetsam a lot, kind of like a good girlfriend. Sexy, small, well built , easy to service, doesn't complain much.

__________________
Steve
"My problem is that I have trouble reconciling my gross habits with my net income." Errol Flynn

diverreb

The heck with boosters! Please let me know where I can find a list of "good girlfriends."

Richie

Beanie

I've got a Jetsam Baby booster - Outlaw Divers, Baby Booster

I'll be doing a review of the Haskle Sport booster, probably early next year.

__________________
Beanie
Gallery Admin & Library Assistant.
www.outlawdivers.org.uk
www.beandiving.co.uk
www.beanengineering.co.uk

Jimmer

Same place you can find legitimate photos of a Sasquatch and the Loch Ness Monster.

KevDD

Gas booster - Trimix - Diving

The model DTB5C is aimed at the rebreather diver.

I was using it to boost a couple of 3ltrs of O2 from 100bar to 210bar the other night. It used 100bar from a 12ltr drive cylinder each time.

The inlet O2 supply was at a pressure of about 90bar.

The handiest way of driving a booster like this is to get a small hobby compressor to drive it as i don't have a high pressure compressor to refill my drive gas all the time. I will be getting one of these to drive my booster:
Clarke - Rebel 30 Air Compressor - Clarke DIY & Semi Pro Air Compressors - Machine Mart

Beanie

Also in the store: Rebreather World Store to give you prices

__________________
Beanie
Gallery Admin & Library Assistant.
www.outlawdivers.org.uk
www.beandiving.co.uk
www.beanengineering.co.uk