You've broken even but my cheap chinese job took only a quarter of the time yours took....I could break one a year and still be in profit easily.Seeing a few threads on here got me thinking.. is a compressor actually a viable alternative? Ignoring the hand pump option (no.. not happening!) I guess its something many have thought of, and ended up with the "nah, not worth it " after looking at compressor costs. Im ignoring th echeap end of the spectrun, and sticking with th=e Hills as its a godo workhouse, and th eone i expect most frequent fillers would be using (if not something bigger andd better).
I worked out how it fares.
A fill near me is around a tenner. About 1/4 gallon in travel, plus 50p parking means that its about 12.30 a fill, on top of which its a wasted morning ot get in and back. Ignoring the time, thats not cheap.
I do go through more asir than average I'd guess- 2x 3l cylinders a week wouldnt be excessive, but it depends how many I'm working on at the time.
Now. compressor cost. The hill swas 800 odd (IIRC), a service kit for future maintenance around 110 quid, filters, whips, and various fitting another 100 I'd guess, so all in its going too be around a grand. Lets say 1100 to cover it.
Electric- Id guess maybe 30p a fill, depending on when and who you're with. No other real costs I can think of, so I'll go with that.
Working it all out..
Cost of fill at the shop- 12.30
deduct cost of electric to fill gives about 12 quid.
Cost of compressor- 1100 quid.
Which means that my break even point is 1100/12 or 91 fills
Ive had the compressor arounf 8 months I think, and it that time its run for 34 hours, and a fill is generally around 20 mins. Theres also been quite a few straight to gun fills, but in my nice simpl calcs thats air that would have come from the tank so its not really important.
This means that I've probably done around
34 hours working time, divided by 20 mins/fill gives around 100 fills. Take it down to 30 mins/fill, gives me about 60 fills (im going worst case here).
Even using 60 fills, I need another 30 or so to hit the break point, which is about another 4 mohtns (based on the same rate)
CONCLUSION- I made the right choiceEven with filters,bit aand peces and such like, I should break even in about a year, which is 4 months time. Given the cost of the Hills, its a big outlay but over time it does work itself out. For me, deffo a good investment, and even if I got rid of it to0morrow I doubt i'd lose anything.
Its worth working out out for yourself what it would be, as its likely to be a lot different.
If you pay a fiver a fill, its a 2 min walk down the road, and you need it done once a month, its going to be around around 33 months or a bit shy of 3 years. Whether its worth it is a personal decision, but I was surprised at how its changed whjen they first appearde and tok about 10 years to break even!
I bought one of these last year as a spare, after the deal was highlighted on here. I already had a " decent" one and still use it every few weeks to top up my 3 & 7 litre tanks. I've just bought a 12 litre too as i'm going to be buying a FAC Maverick in .25 as soon as i get my variation back and ill be using a lot more air. For me it's the ease of having all that air available to me when i want it rather than the cost.
When you say a quarter of the time.. is that for a gun fill or a cylinder? I’m filling from usually around 140/150 to 300 on a 3 litre, and allowing for cooling.
Sounds like you’re getting about the same as me in terms of cost etc so I’m on the right ball park. As you say, the time is probably the biggest factor- I either have to take time off work ) usually working through lunch and taking one long one) of go in Saturday which means I can’t get to the range which pretty much negates the purpose. Im probably getting a lot more uses in terms of fills, and to be honest I tend to fill, turn it off for a good breather and then restart so total time is probably nearer 15-20 mins if I wasn’t doing other things in between.
I know how it feels. Never give up.
I agree the water cooled Ying Tongs are a fantastic bang for buck and for bottle filling the best low cost option. Mine lasted 6 months before snapping the main shaft. It was during lockdown and a new one was not available at less than double the cost, the Hill had not been released but the Trailcharger was available for next day delivery.
Generally, I never run mine above 65C or 250bar. At 65C I stop it and let it cool for 20 or 30 minutes or next day, no rush, can always use the bottle whilst the Hill cools.
These are the magic words. "No rush" You can only shoot one gun at once! I shoot with 4 PCPs and a springer. I fill the PCPs early in the morning while it is cool. I wait a few minutes between each gun, and have a coffee. I cool the input air, which minimises input moisture. The water cooled compressor never goes above 40 degrees. The output air passes through a normaI double pad and molecular filter, cooled to -10 degrees with a wine bottle cooler gel pack, to condense out any remaining moisture. I only fill the guns to a max of 210 bar. The air containers do not feel at all warm after filling- the best indication of good moisture removal. My back-up bottle is topped up at 240 bar and would suffice for 2 shooting sessions should I have a problem. No rush.
The time to break even! But see my later post where I calculate properly. Like everything, it depends on what you count without missing anything out. In terms of time and equal performance, a watercooled job will run for a bit longer than a Hills before a wait to be cooled- especially when some ice is chucked into the cooling water. Then it will cool fairly quickly. And you'd stop at more like 55 rather than 70.
