Radiator Improved Bucket for Yong Heng

[JimD]

I like my Yong Heng but when filling my 45 minute SCBA tanks I have to make multiple runs because I turn the compressor off when it gets to 60 degrees C.  I think you can go to 75 C but I prefer to be a bit conservative to hopefully help the compressor last.  I've seen some videos of people with radiators to cool the water on their Yong Heng setups (Bison is one but I think he may have copied another guy).  They used 2 gallon aluminum gas tanks and heater cores.  Those devices are not set up for 5/16 flexible hose so they need lots of adapters.  So I started looking on Amazon.

I bought a "FITNATE 12 Pipe Aluminum Heat Exchanger" for $24.99.  It is only a little less long than the width of the drywall bucket I was using - a pretty good fit.  I put a scrap of wood under the heat exchanger so it could extend over the outside lip.  The wood is covered in white silicone on the bottom and has one screw in the center from inside to help hold it.  I made little aluminum L shaped brackets to attach the heat exchanger to the wooden block. 

I put one cooling fan on the heat exchanger a "Wathai EC Industrial Cus Fan 120mmx38mm $17.99.  I could have put two on it.  It came with the fan leads unattached to the power cord.  So I soldered them together and wrapped the connections with electrical tape.  I would have used heat shrink tubing but I'm debating adding another fan.  The holes on the heat exchanger are spaced exactly right for the fan but the threaded holes are too small on the heat exchanger.  I retaped them to the threads of the screws that came with the fan and shortened those screws about 1/4 inch.

I wanted to be able to tightly close the lid of the bucket so I put two "LTWFITTING Brass Barb Splicer Mender 5/16" $8.99 (for 10) through the lid.  I drilled 5/16 holes in the plastic lid and forced the splicers through.  This worked well, they don't leak.  I added a third hole for the power cord for the pump (bigger, another Amazon purchase).  But I had to remove the plug end so I cut it off, put it through, and then soldered it to another power cord I had from something I threw away.  I used heat shrink tubing on those connections and put a little silicone around the cord. 

I used the tubing that came with the Yong Heng but I wanted more so I bought 3 meters, about 10 feet, of 5/16ID, 3/8 OD PVC Vinyl Tubing for $7.99.  It was a little big for the connections on the Yong Heng so I added some screw type clamps I had.  It fit the others pretty tight but I put a couple cable ties on the one coming out of the bucket going to the inlet of the Yong Heng (that did not seal up the other end of that hose where it connected to the compressor.  The water goes from the bucket to the compressor, then to the heat exchanger, then back into the bucket. 

I made a run with it today after getting it all hooked up.  Works well.  My SCBA tank was already at about 3800 psi, maybe a bit lower.  I pumped it up to 300 bar, about 4300 psi without exceeding 57 C.  The compressor was also back down to about ambient temperature after only about 5 minutes of the pump and fan running with the compressor off.  So even if I have to wait between runs I won't have to wait as long.  And I can add another fan to see if that keeps it at one run.  But a 5-10 minutes wait is a lot less than I used to give it.  The compressor temperature rises noticably slower than it used to.  I will include a couple pictures so you can see what I am talking about.   

[thumbs]

Ha found it.LOL I was gettin ready to ask a question about bipods and while checkin out the threads I found the writeup your mentioned when we were talking about the Avenger.

Glad I saw the picts, not what ai thought.  No bad just different.  I would like to get away from the ice but the freeze is right next to the fill station.  I probably will give it a try anyway to make it a bit more portable.  Looks real good and sounds like it works great!  Not to expensive either.

[JimD]

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my third PCP, an Artemis P35, and decided to fill my SCBA tank.  It was still at 3200-3300, I kind of wanted to get it to 3000 but decided it was low enough for a more through test.  I have 3 gallons of distilled water in the bucket with redlines water wetter in it.  The temperature gauge on the Yong Heng was at about 19.4C when I started the run.  I filled my 45 minute SCBA tanks to 300 bar in a little under 15 minutes and did not exceed 60 C.  It flashed 60 a couple times but mostly indicated 58-59 C.  I'm not sure it ever completely stopped increasing but if it didn't it slowed down a whole lot. 

I do not always fill to 300 bar, I often stop at 4000.  So even if it got a little hotter starting from 3,000 or in a little hotter ambient weather I am very confident I can get my SCBA tank to a very usable fill in one run.  There is nothing magical about 60 C either, the pump is rated to go to 75 C. 

I spent about 5 minutes changing the cotton filter on the compressor outlet (I squeezed a noticable amount of water out of it and there was a little oil too) and checking the dessicant in my black (not gold) filter (still orange, it goes to black when it gets wet).  I'm not sure the gold filter is really necessary.  I have one but I put the black one on before I bought the gold one and it works so well I have never installed the bigger gold one.  Anyway, in those 5 minutes the Yong Heng got back under 30 C indicated temperature and I turned the pump and fan off. 

I have two fans on the radiator now.  I bought and installed another one since my initial post.  I think that was a good call with the temperature almost getting to 60 C with two fans. 

[51coronet]

Nice.  Did you add any sort of anti oxidation to the water?  If you have it sealed and intend to keep it sealed I think it would be wise to look into adding something of the sort.  Maybe an anti freeze for the anti corrosion and lubing seals properties it has? 

I currently just run my hoses into a deep sink with a plug in the drain.  The water capacity is more than what the little compressor can heat up in the cooler months.  In the summer I just do a partial exchange of the water to cool it off by draining some off and filling while the compressor is running.

This is a great approach to a sealed system.

[customcutter]

You are correct "Bison" copied this guys setup.  There is also a Yong Heng FB group, lots of info there also.  I would suggest raising your water bucket to the same height or above your compressor.  The pump is small and has limited "lift",  it flows better at the same elevation.  I just got my YH compressor and looking at trying to mist the cast iron cylinder.  May not be possible but heat is the enemy of these compressors.  75C is optimistic, you are correct to try to maintain 60C or less.  I even read a post the other day where a couple of guys were adding Tungsten Disulfide to the oil and lowering temps.  Here is one of the YT videos that Bison tried to emulate. 

[JimD]

I used my Yong Heng again a couple days ago to pump up my SCBA tank.  I started a little over 3000 but blew an O-ring on one end of my extra air dryer.  My tank dropped to about 3000 before I got things shut down and replaced the O-ring.  I pumped it up to 4000.  I changed out the fiber filter in the dryer that came with the Yong Heng and checked the additional dryer (it is still dry) and then, for no good reason, I put my hand, briefly on the air piping.  It was room temperature.  The pump and fan had been going but it was maybe 5 minutes after shutdown of the yong heng.  My temperature gauge is fairly obviously not working.  I ordered a couple more.  But I think the radiator is keeping things really cool.  The fact that the outdoor temperature is a lot cooler than it is in the summer helps too.

I am not using the stock water pump.  I bought a significantly bigger one and have never used the one that came with the Yong Heng.  It easily lifts the water from the floor where the bucket is. 

Until I get a reliable temperature gauge I plan to just limit my runs to about 15 minutes.  That is normally enough to top off the tank. 

[customcutter]

I bought 2 YH Amazon returns while on vacation earlier this month.  My gold filter came in last week, and I just shot my SCBA tank down to 3000psi.  I need to get busy and get one of my pumps set up.  I like the idea of doing a sealed closed loop with a radiator.  You are correct that heat is the enemy of these pumps.  It also appears that using mineral based oils causes more carbon deposits on the second stage piston/rings causing failures.
 

[JimD]

I use Nuvair 751 (I think, working from memory) oil.  It is pricey but I think it will help with longevity.  I need to order some more.  A quart will do an initial fill and maybe 2 changes.  I will probably order a gallon this time. 

I don't think I addressed Jason's question but the water wetter material I added to distilled water has anti-corrosion properties.  So I think I have that covered.

I just filled my 45 minute SCBA tank from about 3,000 psi to 300 bar.  It took just under 20 minutes and the new temperature gauge on the compressor never quite got to 56 degrees C.  It's cool here, it will probably go a bit higher in the summer, but I think it's working great.  I bought two gauges but if both break like the first one did, I think running only 20 minutes or so should keep the pump cool enough with my setup.  Normally it looks like that will fill the tank to 300 bar.  The temperature rises very slowly at you get into the 50+ C range.  I doubt it would ever get to 75 C.  But a 15-20 minute run on a fairly simple compressor like this seems like a pretty good run.  The stock cotton filter, my pre-filter in my setup, only has a slight amount of water in it.  Dry winter air, I guess.  In the summer I could have squeezed a noticable amount out.  The hoses are set up to drain back to the compressor, however, and there was moisture at the vent when I opened that. 

[customcutter]

Jim, thanks for the update.  I need to get busy and work on my system.  I've only topped off the SCBA tank once since end of Nov.  It was over 80* here and humid.  I don't remember the exact numbers but IIRC I think I got 18-20 grams of water in the stock filter ahead of my large blue filter.  I weighed the filter before and after.  It was completely saturated.  It also got up to almost 65*C so I misted the upper and lower cylinders with a spray bottle and brought it back down to around 55*C.  I made sure to keep any mist away from the inlet filter. 

I bought a transmission cooler for a Suzuki Sidekick that's around here somewhere, if I can lay my hands on it, I'm going to use it to make an enclosed system.  If I can't find it I'll have to buy a heater core or something.

[A moron]

In the one picture i thought it looked like a big aftermarket video card / cpu cooler radiator.
Lol

[JimD]

The radiator I use is sold for use on computer equipment.  It works well for this, however.  The connections are almost exactly the right size and it has enough cooling capacity to keep the temperatures down without the need for ice or a water change.  Pretty inexpensive too.  But I'm sure other heat exchangers will work too.

[runner57us]

Jim, thank you for posting your setup and the actual results.  I was looking at the exact same radiators but wondering if it would really provide any significantly better cooling or longer duration runs than just using the water with some ice.  Then I ran across your post and can now make a decision with some actual use data.

Also, in one of your posts, you mention a failure that caused a loss in your SCBA tank pressure before you were able to shut down the tank valve.  You might have already looked into it but a check valve in line with the connection to the SCBA tank might help mitigate that loss if it happens again in the future.  I seem to remember seeing quite a few available in a foster connection fitting for a somewhat inexpensive price (less that $10).

[JimD]

John,

I have a check valve in my extra air dryer but it is on the outlet so it did not help when an O-ring in the dryer went.  It was not a huge issue but I lost a little air getting things shut down. 

Jim

[JimD]

I ran into an issue with my setup that might affect others.  I hooked up my bucket and it's radiator with cheap vinyl tubing I got off Amazon.  I noticed recently when I was filling my SCBA tank the temperature was shooting up to 70 C really quickly.  I did not know if the water pump has stopped working or the gauge was bad or what.  It turned out I had several kinks in the vinyl tubing that were choking down flow.  I was in a fill when I noticed the kinks and the temperature dropped in less than a minute from about 70 C to about 50 C when I straightened the tubing.  I have some brake line tubing on it's way to try and get something less prone to kinking.  I've also found it helps to put a couple freeze packs in the water in the summer to lower it's temperature to allow me to fill from about 3000 to about 4000 in one run without going much over 60 C.  I don't need to do this in the winter.  The room the YH is in is not heated or cooled.

[customcutter]

Thanks for the update, Jim.  The last few times I've used my YH, I moved it inside.  I followed the advice of someone here on the forum.  I sat it on the bathroom counter, put the pump in the sink and pulled the stopper down and regulated the faucet to maintain the water level.  Then I put the overflow into the toilet and let her rip.  Temps stayed low, and there was very little water in the small black filter due to being in the air-conditioned house.  

The rubber feet on the bottom of the compressor did leave some black marks on the counter.  I was able to get them off before SWMBO saw anything.

[Bubba18655]

Put the pump in the toilet tank and drain to the sink. The float in the tank will keep the water at the correct level.
I though about using the utility sink that has a hose adapter on the faucet. Just adapt a hose to connect to the faucet and water pressure will eliminate the pump.