Nomad II Died

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STO

STO

Member
Sep 30, 2018
714
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Maine
To be honest, every single HPA compressor out there has some record of someone having killed it. Unfortunately I just don't think any of them are as reliable as, say, a good lawn tractor. Why exactly I can't say, but I guess I can add to the list of people who've had a Nomad II compressor die. 

What happened? So for a while now my Nomad II compressor has produced a disconcerting "hammering" sound when filling. When this first started I called Air Venturi and talked to a very nice tech named Jordan who walked me through a few quick things to check, but said that anything beyond that would void my warranty so if those didn't fix it I should just use it until it fails, because it still builds pressure just fine. 

Well then is now, and so today when charging my Crown the load meter suddenly jumped from 22-23 to the high 20s and the compressor shut off. I purged the system, ran it a little under no load, added a few drops of silicone, and everything seemed fine. So I let it start pumping again and it built a little pressure before it stopped building pressure and stopped making pumping sounds. The load meter dropped down to maybe 4 or so, and it just makes a whirring sound. If I were guessing, and I am just guessing, whatever connecting rod which links the pump to the motor died. There is probably some precipitating factor there related to the hammering, which I'm at least guessing was a sticky exit valve on the high pressure side. 

Either way I fired off an email to Pyramyd Air, and hopefully they take care of me. I bought from an American company specifically because, if all pumps fail, I'd rather have one with support so now I'll get to see just what the support is like. 

By the way I don't mean for this to come off as bitching about the failure, stuff happens, and as long as AV takes care of me and this isn't a frequently recurring issue I'm perfectly happy with the compressor. I love its convenience and, at least until the hammering started, its (relatively) quiet running. But I did also recommend these to a couple people based on my initial experiences with it, and so it is only fair that I set the record straight on my compressor lasting about 4 months of being used maybe twice a week or so on average. I primarily use it to fill my Crown, so they are longer fills than a smaller tube gun, but they're not very long either averaging less than 10 minutes. 

I'll update this thread with my experiences on AV's customer service, the repair, and the compressor's life beyond. :) 

*update 6.1.19*
I just wanted to update this to say I JUST got a refund from Pyramyd Air in the form of a cheque in the mail. So I'll call my experience with the Nomad II not great all in all, but my experience with PA was excellent. Their CS reps were prompt, friendly, and god things done. So five stars for PA, not so much for the Nomad compressor sadly. 
 
STO, what is the fill pressure for a Crown? 3600 psi? I killed my Nomad 2 twice before I gave up and returned it for a refund. Lost money shipping it back for repairs. I think I was asking too much from it. It’s rated at 4500 psi max fill pressure? Maybe for a month,lol. It died filling 500 cc bottle guns to 3600 psi and 4500psi. It died the same exact way yours did. twice. Jordan at A/V was very helpful and I have nothing but GOOD to say about Pyramid Air. Bought mine through Amazon so it was an easy return. I also recommended this unit and feel remorse for doing so. I don’t think the technology is there quite yet to make these reliable beyond 3000 psi. That being said, I bought a cheap Alibaba spark clone and don’t ask for more than 3000psi out of it. It is much simpler in design, no auto shut off, no moisture accumulator, no lubrication port, no current draw meter, no built in power supply. We will see what the longevity of this unit is. When (not if) it dies it looks a lot easier to repair. At 1/3 the cost of the Nomad 2 I felt like I could risk it. I did upgrade the thermometer to degrees F and manometer from MPA to PSI for under $15.00. The Nomad worked great for a month before failure but I did not like the black oil/water I got from it when doing routine maintenance. Something was wearing to produce that. The new Alibaba unit shows faint signs of black discoloration in the 1st stage filter and produces some moisture in the filter disks (2nd stage). The Nomad had an accumulator (where the black oil/water was discharged from). I will not endorse anything of Chinese manufacture in the future. I know that they will improve just like products from Japan and S Korea have. 

Dennis
 
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@vdwb Yeah 3.6Kpsi, 250bar.



I'm bummed to hear other people's are failing too, I'd have expected better performance than this given how well reviewed on PA it is. (4.5 stars at the time of both purchase and writing) You'd have thought, if the failure rate really is this high, more reviewers would have noticed. :( I feel really guilty about the positive things I said about it when I first got mine, confident in the belief that other people were having great results as well. Doing the math it looks like a disappointing 4 hours or so total run time to failure in my case, and it looks like mine lasted more than a lot of people's. Kinda sorry performance when you think about it that way.



The thing isn't light weight. I got an email response quickly to my repair request from Air Venturi, however they just gave me an address and said "ship it here." I asked for a return label, and the response I got was "Usually you have to pay the shipping here and then we pay the shipping back. but let me see if I can get you one." If they tell me I have to pay to ship it, I'll probably say I just want to return it for a refund instead. I've talked with people who have killed both Omegas and Daystates/Coltris, but they both lasted a heck of a lot longer than this. 



The thing that really frosts my cake about all this is that compressors like this, particularly slow ones, really aren't that complicated. There aren't that many different parts or things they need to do in order to function. I keep hoping someone makes a small reliable and inexpensive unit, but I guess I was wrong and this isn't it. :( 
 
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STO,

I had to pay $60.00 to ship it back for repairs but the second time they agreed to send me a shipping label and I sent it in and requested a refund from Amazon. The trail charger looks like it may last longer due to water cooling and is $100.00 more than the Nomad 2. I am holding off on another $700.00 to $800.00 Chinese unit until I read MANY good reviews. The Alibaba.com spark clone seems to be holding up good but I am not holding my breath. Good luck on the repair.

Dennis
 
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I was contemplating buying one of the Nomad series, AV, and even the Omega compressors. But honestly, for the money, the Shoebox compressor was the best decision I made. They are $499 +$100 shipping and I had it in 2 days. Yes, you need an oil less compressor - I have one of those ultra quiet low RPM ones - and some moisture filters and hoses, but for under $1000 total, I have something that I can fix if it breaks and should out live me. It is built like a tank and it has all of the newest updates and it's made in Arizona. The whole setup is bigger than a single compressor system, but it's not meant to be mobile. I don't care about the speed, I'd much rather have the reliability and longevity. If I were to do it again, it would be Shoebox or Daystate LC110. I know there are folks who've had good luck with the other compressors, and I'm not knocking Chinese made products, they make some stuff that is ISO certified that is really good, but you rarely hear of any issues with the Shoebox or Daystate (or Bauer, or the other top diving compressors). I bought a couple rebuild kits and spacer kits, so this thing should go for years and years without worries. 



Hopefully everything will work out for you, I would love to have a more portable compressor, I just think that it will take some time before manufacturers figure out how to make them more reliable for constant usage.
 
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sto, sorry about your troubles.

Right now I have for less than 800 or even 700, 2 compressors and I am pretty happy with them, 2 because I do not rely on just 1 (even if they were bauer or coltri)

The Hatsan Spark (China version, for 300 shipping included) and the latest YH like, but all digital (yes, panel and set pressure all digital) and I must say I am pretty happy with them so far. The YH for bottles and the spark (and inside my house, in my cave) for direct fill and travel. So basically when I shoot in my range, and finish, I just plug my guns into the spark and usually in 5 minutes I am done. And once a week I fill my 6.8L and 9L CF SCBA tanks with the Digital.

Now I do not have to worry if one fails...

Shoebox is/was a compressor or a booster? seems to me to be a booster, will not work without a standard compressor or I am wrong?
 
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I second hitech. I had my shoebox going on 5 years now and I've rebuilt it once so far. I still have parts to rebuild my shoebox two more times and it was super easy to work on. Before I got the Texan, I would fill my tanks once ever several months. Now it seems like I have to fill my tank after a shooting session with the Texan. Still going strong. I get a chuckle from doc on how long it takes me to fill my tanks but just as long as it still fills my tanks, I'm ok with the time
 
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...the Shoebox compressor was the best decision I made. They are $499 +$100 shipping and I had it in 2 days.....
Click to expand...

My understanding is that they are no longer making the Shoebox. Their website doesn't appear to allow ordering, they're listed as discontinued or OOS on every website, I can't even find one on Ebay. Tell me I'm wrong?
Click to expand...

Nope, just went to their site and they are still selling them. You are wrong! LOL...

You can purchase it there and add options like rebuild kits. $499 is still the price. I think all said and done my total order was less than $650 delivered with rebuild kits. If you do decide to get one, I will say this. Carol, Tom's wife, is very good to work with. They are going to ask for proof of who you are if you purchase one, I think they've been scammed too many times so they are covering their butts. All I did was have to sign a piece of paper that they emailed me, print it out, sign it and I had to send them a picture of my DL so that they could match the CC and address with my drivers license. I took maybe an extra 5 mins and it was done and my compressor shipped out the next day. Some people complain about doing that but they are just trying to protect themselves. Anyways, they still sell them but frequently sell out and takes a few weeks for Tom to make more. Hope that helps.

Order directly from www.shoeboxcompressor.com, that is their website.
 
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hitech, did you try clicking purchase?

Click to expand...



Yes, I just did it to see if it is still available, and yes, I was able to add it to my cart. I did not go any farther because I already own one, but i was able to add it to my cart and add options. The total in my cart was $535 without the shipping added.

They are usually very good about updating their site when they are sold out. And, if you email them if they are out, they will give you an accurate time as to when they are available.
 
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i bought the shoebox and 66 cu foot tank its slow no doubt the first fill time from 0 was about 10 hours since then its been about 3 or 4 hours not sure i fill that tank every other week knock on wood no problems yet i fill it with my big compressor and have 3 filter inbetween one being a deseciant filter. so far hour meter says 29 hours since its usually 2 weeks between fills i put one drop of oil on each pad and wipe off the rods with a paper towel and put new white lithium grease each time every time before i use i take the desicant and put it on a paper plate put in it the microwave and cook it till it turns back to blue.
 
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