My Hill EVO310 journey

[sagalout]

Having run up close to 83 hours on my 3 year old EC3000, which is equivalent of around to 150 fills of a 7L bottle from 200 to 300 bar, I decided to buy a new EVO310 for no other reason than I could and I wanted to try all the new features. I intend to document the life of this 310 on this thread.

It's got just under 3 hours on it now. Done the firts oil change at 2.5 hours and the oil had a small amount of the standard Hill black cloud in it which I assume is from the "self lubricating" cast iron base ring thing. I will change it again at 5 hours and then make a decision on 10,15 or 20 for the next.

 

[colinb]

With inheritance tax at 40% every pound you spend saves your children 40p! So by buying this near £1000 beat, you have saved them £400! Well done!

 

[sagalout]

So by buying this near £1000 beat, you have saved them £400

Like your thinking Colin. Just need to hide the cash from selling the other one from the kids and Mrs Lout.

 

[sagalout]

What's what are my likes/dislikes compared to the EC3000?

LIKES

• The run hours meter is now in hours and minutes and not just hours as before.
• The rotary control knob (RCK) movement and choice selection is much more defined click, it feels sturdier, a much nicer feel (as the bishop said to the actress). The old one is a bit wingy whammy, not enough to be a problem but enough to be "hmmmmm could be better".
• When the required pressure is set, the displayed selection goes dreckly to the start option. The old one required a "click" of the RCK. Much more user friendly.
• The "start" screen shows the current compressor temperature in real time. The old one only displayed temperature whilt the compressor was running. This new feature is a very nice for me as I like to wait for a significant temperature drop before restarting after a cooling stop.
• If the fill is aborted the display goes to the previous start screen maintaining the required set pressure and showing the temperature in real time. This allows me to abort the fill when a cooling cycle starts (or at any other time) and drain the condensate filter, change out the first 2 cotton filters in my chain for dry ones

DISLIKES
Only one so far and that's the automatic purge when the charge cycle stops. It spews water and silicone into the surrounding area. It really needs some form of catcher. I thought initially a plastic clip and bowl type arrangement but have since thought the "brass" bit with the blow hole could be tapped and a metal tube screw in. The metal pipe could have a plastic type attached to carry the aforementioned spew down to a bottle or some such thing.

WOULD LIKE
I'd like the option to set the temperature at which compression restarts after a cooling cycle. The 5°C preset drop happens very quickly as does the subsequent 5°C rise, so the post cool down runs are very short and just like the other very short thing @Scoie it's annoying.


I think that's about it. Was it worth the cost to change? For me yes it was, it's been an itch for a while so I just done been and scratched it .

 

[FX_Dave]

Nice idea on the catch can for the purge valve. Maybe that’ll be on the 320, they need to leave something to “improve” for the next one. I have a rag to wipe down after every time it does that on my
evo3k. But I agree - it splatters inside the cowling piece, on the steel (?) frame the fan mounts to. Got to be careful around there when it’s running.

 

[Whispering Walter]

Fold a sheet of kitchen paper in half and half again. Position the brass bleed screw in the middle of the wad, fold the edges of the wad upwards around the screw, unscrew and catch all water and silicon in the paper.

 

[FX_Dave]

Oh yes that is essential. I think we are both talking about the dump valve that vents when in the cool down cycle. Separate to the bleed screw to depressurise when filling is done.

 

[sagalout]

Fold a sheet of kitchen paper......................

I use a white towel rag for the main bleed screw, then I can see instantly if there's any discolouration in what's been captured.

As Mr Dave said above we are talking about the final stage purge valve that dumps the pressure so the compressor is not starting under final stage pressure, this has no effect (or very little?) on the condense filter.

 

[ReSyC]

Good to see you're getting on well with the new one!

Reading this thread reminded me I needed to change the oil in mine (regular EC3000), all done and running smoothly I considered one of the new EVO ones but its not worth it for my usage. Mine is a shade over 2 years old and I haven't hit 10 hours yet lol.

Mine must be one of the later 3000's with updated firmware as several of the things you mention (runtime in hours and minutes, nice clicky selector wheel) are features that mine has.

I agree it'd be great if you could either set the cooling temperature where it resumes, or if it were somewhere lower than only 5 degrees below the cutoff - somewhere around say 40 degrees.

I messaged Hill about that some time ago, as well as a question about cooling as it happens. Smaller compressors will run until you switch them off or they reach pressure without overheating but the Hill continually climbs until it cuts off suggesting the cooling is insufficient. I asked if they had any plans to improve the cooling, faster ducted fans or anything but I didn't get a reply and forgot about it.

 

[sagalout]

Mine must be one of the later 3000's with updated firmware as several of the things you mention (runtime in hours and minutes, nice clicky selector wheel) are features that mine has.

I didn't know there had been an upgrade, but it makes sense that things are improved over the whole life cycle of the product.

Smaller compressors will run until you switch them off or they reach pressure without overheating

The logic there is if pressure isn't achieved before overheating they will overheat.

Hill continually climbs until it cuts off suggesting the cooling is insufficient

I'm a bit lost by your logic there. The Hill is designed to cut off when it gets to a preset temperature below preset pressures. I think it's something like upto 250 bar it will run to 70°C and over 250 bar it's 65°C. So the Hill will not overheat.

 

[ReSyC]

I didn't know there had been an upgrade, but it makes sense that things are improved over the whole life cycle of the product.


The logic there is if pressure isn't achieved before overheating they will overheat.


I'm a bit lost by your logic there. The Hill is designed to cut off when it gets to a preset temperature below preset pressures. I think it's something like upto 250 bar it will run to 70°C and over 250 bar it's 65°C. So the Hill will not overheat.

What I mean is that if you are using something like a Tuxing to fill a 1L bottle or similar, it will warm up after starting until it reaches its a stable running temperature (somewhere in the 40s I believe) and then keep going.

The cooling fans are sufficient to keep it from getting any warmer in operation than that and it will chug away until you either switch it off, or it fills whatever is connected on the other end. They also have a high-temp cutoff for safety which is around 80 degrees I think.

The Hill doesn't do that.

It has a thermal cutoff that varies with pressure load to prevent over-stressing it which is a great safety feature, but from the second it starts the temperature just continues to climb. It pushes through 40 degrees in no time at all and keeps climbing until it hits the thermal cutoff.

I mean to say that if it had sufficient or effective cooling onboard, it would keep the temperature within a working range before reaching the cutoff as a safety feature, not climbing to cutoff every time it runs for more than a few minutes.

I wouldn't run it for any significant length of time anyway, no point overdoing it but it just feels like the fans aren't effective enough to keep it cool in use and it could be improved.

Hope that makes sense

 

[colinb]

Like your thinking Colin. Just need to hide the cash from selling the other one from the kids and Mrs Lout.

You didn't say you'd sold it. But if you did, it was at a loss? And if so, that loss is chargeable against any other capital gains....

 

[sagalout]

Hope that makes sense

Yes mate.

 

[sagalout]

I timed a fill from 245 bar to 274 bar on my 5 litre bottle, this was from ambient temperature to 65°C. The procedure I use is to pressurise the main filter system from the bottle to the one way valve from the bottle before starting the compressor. The compressor then took about 35 seconds to bring the compressor and filter chain prior to the one valve to current bottle pressure and open the valve.

Obviously, your timings will vary based on your filter system volume and the initial pressure.

Out of interest, I then took the time and calculated how long the compressor would be working to add 100 bar to different sized bottles.

 

[sagalout]

MK1 Purge Spray Eliminater, no expense spared when LoutWorks is problem solving


PS Only one bedsheet was harmed in this solution (I am a bit worried that Mrs Lout might notice the hole in our bedsheet when she gets home tomorrow )

 

[Dodododger]

Would you know if the 3000 Evo the same as the 310 Evo aside from the colour? Or if there is a specification difference would you know what that is please? Thanks

 

[sagalout]

I ain't 100% on that on that but from the name I would guess the major difference is the 310 bar capabilty. @HillPumps will know. You'll probably have to wait til Monday for an answer tho, I heard he flys to his yacht in the Bahamas for the weekends.

 

[Firsttwodie]

I ain't 100% on that on that but from the name I would guess the major difference is the 310 bar capabilty. @HillPumps will know. You'll probably have to wait til Monday for an answer tho, I heard he flys to his yacht in the Bahamas for the weekends.

I did see it mentioned on a post before that, that was the difference between them being the 310 can do 310 bar I assume as you’ve had both can you only set the old one to 300?

 

[sagalout]

3000 Evo the same as the 310 Evo

I assume as you’ve had both

Not had a 3000 EVO, I had an EC3000, the EVO is an EVOlution of the EC3000.

 

[Boron]

MK1 Purge Spray Eliminater, no expense spared when LoutWorks is problem solving
View attachment 758149

PS Only one bedsheet was harmed in this solution (I am a bit worried that Mrs Lout might notice the hole in our bedsheet when she gets home tomorrow )

You didn’t use Juan Sheet instead?
That would've been plenty…