Coltri compressors

Hi
We (Warwick Uni club) are getting closer in our mission to getting a new
compressor to replace our 25 year old Bauer. Still works, but we want
something a bit faster, and more importantly safer and easier to use.
We've done a lot of looking around, and think the best we've found is a
Coltri MCH16/ET Compact compressor from SMP for £4150. Seems to do
everything we want, being a bit faster than our old one, much safer (as in
not completely exposed, fan belts, hot stages and all), and far easier to
use (the old one has 4 condensors to drain every 10 minutes, multitudes of
knobs and handles, a pressure gauge that lies, and basically everythings
manually operated - trying to teach our new members every year to use it is
a nightmare!).

Anyway, the only thing we're unsure of is the long term reliability of the
Coltri compressors - obviously this little Bauer has lasted us for years and
years, and is technically sound, just needs something a bit newer and safer
for us now. The doubts we're having are moving away from what is a very
reliable little Bauer to something completely unknown. We could go for
another Bauer, but the price differences seem to be quite significant so
can't justify the extra at the minute just because we don't know about the
Coltri's. However, if we find that they aren't good in reliability, then
we'd start looking for others.

Any ideas? Should we expect any relibility issues with a Coltri compressor?
Any other problems we should be aware of?

Thanks!

David

On Sun, 7 Mar 2004 22:20:05 -0000, "David Walker"
<wbsdavenews@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hi
>We (Warwick Uni club) are getting closer in our mission to getting a new
>compressor to replace our 25 year old Bauer. Still works, but we want
>something a bit faster, and more importantly safer and easier to use.
>We've done a lot of looking around, and think the best we've found is a
>Coltri MCH16/ET Compact compressor from SMP for £4150. Seems to do
>everything we want, being a bit faster than our old one, much safer (as in
>not completely exposed, fan belts, hot stages and all), and far easier to
>use (the old one has 4 condensors to drain every 10 minutes, multitudes of
>knobs and handles, a pressure gauge that lies, and basically everythings
>manually operated - trying to teach our new members every year to use it is
>a nightmare!).
>
>Anyway, the only thing we're unsure of is the long term reliability of the
>Coltri compressors - obviously this little Bauer has lasted us for years and
>years, and is technically sound, just needs something a bit newer and safer
>for us now. The doubts we're having are moving away from what is a very
>reliable little Bauer to something completely unknown. We could go for
>another Bauer, but the price differences seem to be quite significant so
>can't justify the extra at the minute just because we don't know about the
>Coltri's. However, if we find that they aren't good in reliability, then
>we'd start looking for others.
>
>Any ideas? Should we expect any relibility issues with a Coltri compressor?
>Any other problems we should be aware of?
>
>Thanks!
>
>David
>
>

I' m not an engineer or a compressor operator, but I do post and join
in the Rec.Scuba flame wars... over there a number of the guys operate
their own compressors, and they all more or less unanimously slam
coltri as unreliable and finicky to repair... how much is bias towards
what they have already, and how much is true that coldtri-sub is a bad
deal i dunno... but the consensus seems to be steer clear of coltri
sub, it's cheap but you get only what you pay for...

hope this helps... :)

rhys

> I' m not an engineer or a compressor operator, but I do post and join
> in the Rec.Scuba flame wars... over there a number of the guys operate
> their own compressors, and they all more or less unanimously slam
> coltri as unreliable and finicky to repair... how much is bias towards
> what they have already, and how much is true that coldtri-sub is a bad
> deal i dunno... but the consensus seems to be steer clear of coltri
> sub, it's cheap but you get only what you pay for...

Hmmm - it sort of helps, but sort of not. I'd have loved to hear that they
were fantastic and reliable, because then we get a lovely new and cheap
compressor. But then its nice to hear that there may be a problem *before*
we spend money on it rather than discover problems later.

I think we'll have a look round, see exactly how much a Bauer really will
cost us and if its going to be feasible.

Any other good manufacturers out there it'd be worth looking at?

David

May be - try this www.ide.de

Chris

> Any other good manufacturers out there it'd be worth looking at?
>
> David
>
>

> May be - try this www.ide.de

Ah yeah, we looked at those too.
Having done a bit more research today and talking to a few people, I'm
starting to think that the Coltri isn't too bad. Seemingly Coltri used to
make the main block for Bauer compressors a while back, until Bauer started
making their own.
I've also heard some good stories about Coltri's running fine, after 15
years or more without any problems. After looking at it, I think
considering the variability in reports, there isn't much to really allow me
to say that the Coltri would be a bad option for the club. With the Bauer
equivalent at 50% extra cost, we can't justify the extra cost from the
limited info available about them.

Looking at running costs too, it seems we can get a 330 bar, 265l/min Coltri
compressor, semi-automatic, enclosed, clean air, with fill costs of around
4p per tank compared to the 60p per tank with our current compressor due to
much cheaper filters and lower servicing costs, and all for £4350 - think
this'll be the one we go for now, just need to write up a proposal for why
they should give us the money :O)

Ta for the advice anyway, to those who contacted me both on here and
privately.

David

David Walker wrote:

> Ah yeah, we looked at those too.
> Having done a bit more research today and talking to a few people, I'm
> starting to think that the Coltri isn't too bad.

Aren't Coltri an Italian company? If so, then presumably
their compressors are just as reliable as your average
Italian car. Errm, no thanks.

I'd suggest visiting as many dive shops in the vicinity
as you can, see what they use, ask them for their opinions.

- Keith

> I'd suggest visiting as many dive shops in the vicinity
> as you can, see what they use, ask them for their opinions.

Ahh, not at all a bad idea...
I've been reading some positive comments on a couple of threads on a French
diving newsgroup (courtesy of Babelfish!), and seems that a lot more people
on the continent know about them and use them and the experiences over there
don't seem so bad as the limited comments I can find over here.

Oh, and don't think we can really base a large club purchase on Italian car
manufacturer stereotypes... :O\

David

David.

You could also do a google search for "US Navy Compressors"
look for a PDF file from subsalv.org. Its a 50 odd page listing of all
the approved tested US Navy diving gear. Unlike the UK the US under the
freedom of information have to list all govt purchaces.

There are three compressors listed Bauer, MAKO and RIX.
a further web site where these compressors were all tested also allows
you to freely download in PDF the evaluation reports and breathing gas
analysis of all three companies. Each report is about 30 pages long! I
will look up the URL if you want.

Best advise before buying any compressor is get the supplier to list at
least six dive shops who are using the particular model you are
interested in and make sure you take up these references.
Also ask for a quote from all the compressor companies your interested
in for say a second stage piston, head and liner. Get the service times
and costs in writing!! before you part the cash.

Truth is, your 25 year old bauer proberbly was value for money.
and lasted all this time, The guy who specified that machine knew his
stuff. Now its over to you!! Your call so to speak.


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On Mon, 8 Mar 2004 10:26:26 -0000, "David Walker"
<wbsdavenews@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> I' m not an engineer or a compressor operator, but I do post and join
>> in the Rec.Scuba flame wars... over there a number of the guys operate
>> their own compressors, and they all more or less unanimously slam
>> coltri as unreliable and finicky to repair... how much is bias towards
>> what they have already, and how much is true that coldtri-sub is a bad
>> deal i dunno... but the consensus seems to be steer clear of coltri
>> sub, it's cheap but you get only what you pay for...
>
>Hmmm - it sort of helps, but sort of not. I'd have loved to hear that they
>were fantastic and reliable, because then we get a lovely new and cheap
>compressor. But then its nice to hear that there may be a problem *before*
>we spend money on it rather than discover problems later.
>
>I think we'll have a look round, see exactly how much a Bauer really will
>cost us and if its going to be feasible.
>
>Any other good manufacturers out there it'd be worth looking at?
>
>David
>
http://www.divecompressors.com

just using google...

:) but if they supply the iron curtain military... they'd have to be bomb proof and able to be used by fools and pressed recruits... so they may suit a uni club with a high turnover of staff/members.

> Having done a bit more research today and talking to a few people, I'm
> starting to think that the Coltri isn't too bad. Seemingly Coltri used to
> make the main block for Bauer compressors a while back, until Bauer
started
> making their own.

Hmmm - started to have another change of heart now. Going to just phone
everyone in the country who sells compressors and see what they think is the
best they can give us in our price range, and maybe look at some
reconditioned ones so long as they're supported by some kind of warranty
from a known dealer.
The search continues... just got to beg for more time to get our budget
application in now!

David