Hi Kids!
The beginning of last summer sometime I purchased a Daystate LC110 mainly because I was sick and tired of going through the pain of loading up my big freakin storage tank, and 4 or 5 SCBA tanks, and making the 45 minute drive to the paintball shop. We also got 2 more storage tanks to make a cascade system over the subsequent weeks.
I thought my air problems were over. I was wrong.
By late summer the LC110 would only fill my tanks to 250 bar, and I had to change the oil every 4 or 5 hours because it turned a very dark brown and was just gross. It turns out that the oil that came with the compressor wasnt the right kind. It also became apparent that the Coltri MHC-3 pump used by Daystate is not at all suitable for use with a cascade system.
I sent the compressor in for warranty repairs, and after several months of waiting, and many emails I was sent a brand new one! Yay! Of course that still left me with an unsuitable compressor for my needs.
You would be correct in saying that the LC110 is a good compressor for filling SCBA tanks, or airguns. However, I cannot abide waiting the 20 minutes or so for the compressor to fill up a SCBA bottle, especially when I'm shooting. The time to fill up a SCBA tank from my cascade system which consists of three 430ish CF bottles is a couple minutes at most, or quicker if I really want.
The search actually began while my LC110 was out for repair. I was back to using the painball shop and it annoyed the heck out of me, especially because the surplus compressor the shop uses had no water/oil separator that I could discern,
I actually made a large down payment on a Daystate T2 (Coltri MCH-6) but after reading multiple places that it too was unsuitable for my cascade system I spent that money on miscellaneous parts and pieces, and the search continued.
My initial criteria for a compressor was that it be considered a continuous duty unit. It also needed to be at least capable of 3cfm or more, and it should have auto drain. Of course, another major major concern was the cost.
So, then we were hit by the 2020 plague. My health declined, and so did my ability to generate billable hours. My Daughter applied for unemployment right away so she didn't have any of the problems some people had. So with what I was able to make, and her UI we were doing good. My partner also returned from wherever her runs off to when the winter hits, so we were actually quite flush.
With all my bills paid, and money in the bank I decided to pull the trigger on an Alkin W31. It doesn't have the auto condensate drain but I'm used to that and it wasn't worth an additional $1000 I didn't have to get that option.Other than that it met all my criteria.
So, you would think that a month later I'd have at least 25 hours on it, and would be able to give y'all a better review. But alas, I had 3 cardiac events over as many weeks. My trigger time dropped to nearly nil, as did my air consumption. As of Monday I had 1.1 hours on the unit, which was basically the slight break in we did when it arrived to make sure it wasn't going to explode.
Monday morning I woke up and felt good enough finally to revisit my new toy that I had been neglecting. I first opened the valve partway on one of my cascade tanks. and hour or so later I went to check on it and the pressure was down to below 100bar. Good enough I figured, so after chipping the ice & frost off the valve, and drying it off well I hooked up both my Omega filters, turned on the Alkin and waited 5 minutes for it to warm up before I closed all the drain valves.
The racket the Alkin initially makes is scary. It sounds like the insides of it are about to be outside of it. It's very disconcerting for sure, but totally normal if you're expecting it, which I was. It quiets down in seconds when under pressure. It isn't a quiet compressor, but neither is it oppressively loud. I didn't need ear protection in my garage which I had closed so as not to disturb my neighbor.
In any event, I hooked up my baby monitor and went back into the house fully expecting for the filling to take at least 3 hours, which would be considerably less time than the LC110 took to fill it from 225 bar.
Freakin' A!
It was done in 1.5 hours! Even with me draining the condensate every 12 minutes. I actually thought something was wrong with my gauges for a minute. I opened up all the big tanks and the pressure dropped to 4050psi. Another 30 minuets and they all were topped off!
So, now that I have extensive experience (3.2hrs
) I'm happy so far.
But, it's not all roses. There are several things to be aware of. The compressor doesn't come with a plug, and the one I got requires single phase(w/e the hell that means) 220v. There are models that requre 3 phase (is that 3 times better?) 220v, as well as engine powered. I have a fuse box (yes fuse) in my garage that feeds off the main circuit breaker in the house. I had to spend a bit of money on an electrician to come run wire, install a socket, and put on the plug. $300 total. Also again, it isn't quiet. If you have neighbors very close to where you have the compressor You won't be doing any drunken 2am fills. It's also heavy as hell. I couldn't hardly move it, let alone lift it. I had to pay a neighbor (a rack of smoked ribs) to help me get it where I wanted it.
OK, finally a couple of positive notes. When I filled my Cascade tanks it was 85 degrees with humidity nearing that of a sauna. With a laser thermometer I had hardly any heat increase after running under pressure for 10 minutes. Awesome indeed! Another great thing is that the scheduled maintenance schedule is amazing. For instance, it calls for an oil change every 100 hours. Another item requires a yearly service assuming 8 hours a day of use.
I wish I really did have the 25 hours on it, although as fast as this unit is I doubt I'd have anywhere near that even if we had been shooting like usual.
Because of the heat, humidity, and the volume of air I was sticking into the first tank, I ran 2 additional Omegas. Usually one is used between the Cascade and a SCBA tank when filling. I also had an additional fan blowing on the unit, although I'm thinking it was unnecessary.
So, I now have a continuous use compressor, with a nearly new(5hrs) Daystate LC110 for backup. I should be ecstatic right? Well, in retrospect I wish I had spent the additional money I didn't have on the auto condensate drain. My room is on the second story of my house and going up and down those stairs every 10-15 minutes with a stupid heart sucks, although my cardiologist would approve of the exercise. the sadist bastid!
The beginning of last summer sometime I purchased a Daystate LC110 mainly because I was sick and tired of going through the pain of loading up my big freakin storage tank, and 4 or 5 SCBA tanks, and making the 45 minute drive to the paintball shop. We also got 2 more storage tanks to make a cascade system over the subsequent weeks.
I thought my air problems were over. I was wrong.
By late summer the LC110 would only fill my tanks to 250 bar, and I had to change the oil every 4 or 5 hours because it turned a very dark brown and was just gross. It turns out that the oil that came with the compressor wasnt the right kind. It also became apparent that the Coltri MHC-3 pump used by Daystate is not at all suitable for use with a cascade system.
I sent the compressor in for warranty repairs, and after several months of waiting, and many emails I was sent a brand new one! Yay! Of course that still left me with an unsuitable compressor for my needs.
You would be correct in saying that the LC110 is a good compressor for filling SCBA tanks, or airguns. However, I cannot abide waiting the 20 minutes or so for the compressor to fill up a SCBA bottle, especially when I'm shooting. The time to fill up a SCBA tank from my cascade system which consists of three 430ish CF bottles is a couple minutes at most, or quicker if I really want.
The search actually began while my LC110 was out for repair. I was back to using the painball shop and it annoyed the heck out of me, especially because the surplus compressor the shop uses had no water/oil separator that I could discern,
I actually made a large down payment on a Daystate T2 (Coltri MCH-6) but after reading multiple places that it too was unsuitable for my cascade system I spent that money on miscellaneous parts and pieces, and the search continued.
My initial criteria for a compressor was that it be considered a continuous duty unit. It also needed to be at least capable of 3cfm or more, and it should have auto drain. Of course, another major major concern was the cost.
So, then we were hit by the 2020 plague. My health declined, and so did my ability to generate billable hours. My Daughter applied for unemployment right away so she didn't have any of the problems some people had. So with what I was able to make, and her UI we were doing good. My partner also returned from wherever her runs off to when the winter hits, so we were actually quite flush.
With all my bills paid, and money in the bank I decided to pull the trigger on an Alkin W31. It doesn't have the auto condensate drain but I'm used to that and it wasn't worth an additional $1000 I didn't have to get that option.Other than that it met all my criteria.
So, you would think that a month later I'd have at least 25 hours on it, and would be able to give y'all a better review. But alas, I had 3 cardiac events over as many weeks. My trigger time dropped to nearly nil, as did my air consumption. As of Monday I had 1.1 hours on the unit, which was basically the slight break in we did when it arrived to make sure it wasn't going to explode.
Monday morning I woke up and felt good enough finally to revisit my new toy that I had been neglecting. I first opened the valve partway on one of my cascade tanks. and hour or so later I went to check on it and the pressure was down to below 100bar. Good enough I figured, so after chipping the ice & frost off the valve, and drying it off well I hooked up both my Omega filters, turned on the Alkin and waited 5 minutes for it to warm up before I closed all the drain valves.
The racket the Alkin initially makes is scary. It sounds like the insides of it are about to be outside of it. It's very disconcerting for sure, but totally normal if you're expecting it, which I was. It quiets down in seconds when under pressure. It isn't a quiet compressor, but neither is it oppressively loud. I didn't need ear protection in my garage which I had closed so as not to disturb my neighbor.
In any event, I hooked up my baby monitor and went back into the house fully expecting for the filling to take at least 3 hours, which would be considerably less time than the LC110 took to fill it from 225 bar.
Freakin' A!
It was done in 1.5 hours! Even with me draining the condensate every 12 minutes. I actually thought something was wrong with my gauges for a minute. I opened up all the big tanks and the pressure dropped to 4050psi. Another 30 minuets and they all were topped off!
So, now that I have extensive experience (3.2hrs
) I'm happy so far.But, it's not all roses. There are several things to be aware of. The compressor doesn't come with a plug, and the one I got requires single phase(w/e the hell that means) 220v. There are models that requre 3 phase (is that 3 times better?) 220v, as well as engine powered. I have a fuse box (yes fuse) in my garage that feeds off the main circuit breaker in the house. I had to spend a bit of money on an electrician to come run wire, install a socket, and put on the plug. $300 total. Also again, it isn't quiet. If you have neighbors very close to where you have the compressor You won't be doing any drunken 2am fills. It's also heavy as hell. I couldn't hardly move it, let alone lift it. I had to pay a neighbor (a rack of smoked ribs) to help me get it where I wanted it.
OK, finally a couple of positive notes. When I filled my Cascade tanks it was 85 degrees with humidity nearing that of a sauna. With a laser thermometer I had hardly any heat increase after running under pressure for 10 minutes. Awesome indeed! Another great thing is that the scheduled maintenance schedule is amazing. For instance, it calls for an oil change every 100 hours. Another item requires a yearly service assuming 8 hours a day of use.
I wish I really did have the 25 hours on it, although as fast as this unit is I doubt I'd have anywhere near that even if we had been shooting like usual.
Because of the heat, humidity, and the volume of air I was sticking into the first tank, I ran 2 additional Omegas. Usually one is used between the Cascade and a SCBA tank when filling. I also had an additional fan blowing on the unit, although I'm thinking it was unnecessary.
So, I now have a continuous use compressor, with a nearly new(5hrs) Daystate LC110 for backup. I should be ecstatic right? Well, in retrospect I wish I had spent the additional money I didn't have on the auto condensate drain. My room is on the second story of my house and going up and down those stairs every 10-15 minutes with a stupid heart sucks, although my cardiologist would approve of the exercise. the sadist bastid!
