Hand Pumping To Fill A Tank? - Scuba Tech Tips: S12E04 

The more I watch Alec, the more he reminds me of Bob Ross!

Never clicked on a video faster. One of these days you gotta show us how to make a DIY compressor, using only a bike pump and lawn mower engine.

HPA hand pumps are perfect! you save on your air fills, you save on your gym membership and you get a nice long surface interval

Exactly what I wanted to find out. Thank you!

Thanks for all the great videos!

I'm glad I found your channel. I'm in Niagara falls and you seem like the coolest guy

One thing you didnt mention, is that it gets harder to pump with rising pressure in the tank. Depending on your weight (and strength, but mainly weight), you wont even be able to get the tank to 3000psi. That goes for tanks of all sizes.

Looking forward to my next season with a mini tank still learning the basics so thankful I got an electric pump

Have you ever considered doing a livestream? I think that would be really cool and would watch if you did one.

Interesting, thanks for sharing 🙋🏻🙋🏻

Being a certified Master scuba diver and an assistant instructor I would have to say after listening to this RU-vid the guy is correct. it's not wise because the filter is not the right one to scrub the air. It can be said that a four-stage hand pump can be used to fill a SCUBA tank in the event someone does not want to dive deep. The parts per million of noxious gases all depend on the atmospheric pressure. The deeper one goes the more dangerous even a small amount of noxious gas becomes. What is breathable at 20 ft can be deadly at 80 ft. It all depends on how one approaches it. It's not recommended and too risky.

Had a good laugh but as always thanks for your videos !!

Nothing but great advice.

Love your work. need to cover more ways to build your own equipment. try DIY surface supplied air unit

cool good info as usual !

I read in the air gun digest that a king in England (17/1800s I forget his name) had an air rifle that he hunted stag with. He could get up to one dozen shots with one fill but he had a servant that took over 1200 strokes of the pump to fill it. AHA if I were only a king!!! Fun video Alec you've got a new subscriber.

Love the video!

Excellent!

I have the smaco as a bailout rig, and have hand inflated it with the hand pump; IT IS BRUTAL WORK. I bought a small compressor to fill it. One thing that I will say is the smaco tank is soo much fun when I'm just hanging out at the pool for the day. I have probably had more use out of it by far than my actual 80cu tank

The Bob Ross of Scuba !

I've also read that the closer to full you get the more the resistance you will have as the pumping gets harder and harder as the pressure builds

Thank you 😊.

Hey Alec, what do you think about apeks rk3 fins? I’m doing my dive instructors course, and find the Avanti quattros a bit stiff, and love the feel of the seawing novas, but they seem a bit too floppy for things like frog kicking. I’m also afraid of the hinge breaking when standing on my fin tips at the bottom of the pool. I’m not sure if the gorilla version make frog kicking etc any easier. Any tips? Thanks

I use a hand pump to fill my pcp airgun, with an air volume of only 112 ccs it still takes about 5 minutes to get even that small volume to 3k psi.

Hey alec, I'm a newer diver and am looking to get a bcd. I've been heavily considering a backplate and wing set up but am wondering if it is worth investing in at a newer level. My main reasons for backplate and wing is as follows, good trim, customizability, more future proof, can use twin tank set up. Is it worth investing in the backplate set up or should I save a few hundred bucks buy buying a regular wing bcd? If I ever get to the tech diving level of scuba it would be well into the future. By the way the only gear that I'm missing is a bcd and a tank (easy to rent). If it affects your answer I am in Florida and dive in springs and ocean environments, typically in warm water.

I used to free dive off ft Lauderdale beach with a snorkel at thirty feet

Sir nice review ❤️

I have one of these pumps for a PCP type airgun or pellet gun and to fill the REALLY SMALL tank on the gun it takes A HECK OF A LOT of pumps and if you've got a bad back like myself this method is not something you'd want to do very often, but it works good if you don't have a scuba tank to fill with.

Wow Alec, I had to laugh all the way through your video! I reckon you could dive much deeper than the mini tank advertises if you hooked up that Dacor Pacer reg hanging behind the samples on your bench! Next time I go skydiving I'm going to ask the guys to give me the latest mini parachute which is just about the same size as Mary Poppins umbrella.

I built my own 3 stage compressor years ago using an old military 3 stage cornelius air force bomber compressor, hooked to a 120 volt motor and pulleys and I could fill my dive tank in about 15 minutes. I ran it through a carbon dive filter and ran it on compressor oil a friend gave me from his fishing boat dive compressor. It worked (and still works) extremely well. I have done many dives with no issues. If you dont have a knack for building things, I believe you can buy a "shoebox" style filler, but I think those run slow and its kind of an all night fill.

4 hours so stretch it out to 3 or perhaps 4 days off and on hand pumping so you don't overheat your pump.

You did answer some questions. Yes you can, but No, its not practical to do so. Thank you for making this video and posting.

I have one, and yea, not ideal lol. But, that said, apparently they do sell compressors for like $500+ USD last time I looked. They're relatively small and you can do it right in your backyard. Personally I don't dive enough to warrant that. But as far as those little tanks go. I've used them in like 20 foot depth to go spear fishing. They worked great honestly, just for like a super quick dive when you wanna go down and check something out real quick in a situation where you probably couldn't hold your breath quite long enough.

Can the pump fill a big diving cylinder or are the fittings different.I think it is a good idea for if you are sailing on a yact long distance where there is no space for dive compressors and you want to look under the boat😊👍

Hello Alec. Do I need a C-Card to get a Spare Air Filled? Reason I ask is, I Help at my Gyms Pool. Sometimes they ask me to Retrieve stuff from the Deep(7 Ft) End. Or do some Cleaning. Fins and Snorkel Great for Retrieval, Not so much for Cleaning. I can Breath Hold the Length of the Pool (75 ft) along the Floor. Up to 132 Times in a day. Thank you

Next question. I’m on a sail boat. I have a sun panel. 1 by 1 meter. What is the smallest electric pump I need to fill a tank the size you mention. And second. Do I need a battery to have a functional system.

Hi there ! I am thinking about buying this air tank for my trip to bali. Is there any type of electric air compressor that can fill this thing up that would also fit in my suitcase?

1 more question, if i can use manuel air pump how much time after 1 lt scuba tank 0 - 200 bar how long does it take to fill

every day 20 minutes on a 12l bottle. make you capable of doing a weekly small swimming pool dive :). and staying in shape😂

thanks pops, good thing i heard 1st before buying from amazon hhahaha didnt really think that its dangerours

We do vehicle recovery And do a lot of under water recovery Usually no more then 4-10 feet in ditches and canals Usually under for less then 1 minutes to hook up a sling threw a rim/tire Any concerns of why a system like this would not be ideal?

Curious, How Much does the ( Filters ) on the exist Hand Pump ( Cost ) & how long, before you have to ( Replace ) Them......?

Thanks

Hey Alec, can you do a show on how the heck to get the freaking tank strap tight and have it tight when you return to where you are going to remove all your gear so you can rinse off??? I got 6 BCs and they all have webbing on them and I have to share them with Sherri, who has her own tank and our tanks are a very small size difference so we have to resize the straps Everytime we use the bc. None of the bcs get used weekly (yet), and my old stuff had a metal strap, on one and the webbing on the other but it was used every day. Now it seems I got right when I get in but they seem to get lose.. very lose when I'm in the water for an hour. Lol

Does the air tank have to be turned to the on direction for it to fill or keep it closed??

How. How does it connect? I've been pumping for 30min....zero pressure. Please show how they connect properly. Are there I rings that could have fallen out. What does the yoke do...because it does not hook up to the pump.

With all do respect for a person that weighs 115 pounds and is 5"10 my pump slides smooth and I can fill my 4500 psi tank in around 40 minutes my pump does heat up because of the pressure giving it a 10 minute break in between every time it heats up but if your wanting to save a little money on refilling your small tanks especially if you use them frequently it's a very good option

I just watched your video. My son who will be 12 soon, wants to start up scuba diving. Last summer his friend came to visit with his grandpa(retired scuba instructor), he took the boys to my pool(max 9ft) to dive with all the works. He told me my son was a natural and my son fell in love. Now my son wants us to get licensed, but before I invest a lot of money into a passion of a 11 year old, I was thinking of getting the set you just showed in the video for x-mas to see how dedicated he really is or if this is just a passing craze. I would hate to spend tons of money on scuba gear that he might only use for 1 summer. But I also don't want to spend 100's on junk either. So, if he were to only use this kit to practice in my pool.. is this safe, legal? Also, is this the route you recommend I take, or do you have a better idea you can give me? Thank you for your time & please help!

Alec why is diving at 10 feet so dangerous to embolism? I must have forgotten something from my diving instruction. I spend a lot of dives at 7/10 feet metal detecting, Except for boat props I thought it was pretty safe, please excuse my ignorance ! Thanks

i guess a manual pump could do ok with a spare air 300 which is like half a liter? if you free dive and need a few breaths.

I have a 160psi shop air compressor at work can i use it to fill the tank?

Hi sir how are you please sir i have a smaco tank i keep it in my boat to use it some times. do i have to fill it when i wanna use it or i can fill it in air and store it on the boat which way is the right please Thank you sir

How many fills can you get from a regular 80cf to the 1L pony bottle?

Wow. Hard to believe

And the larger the cylinder the force needed get exponentially harder. It is harder to fill a 10l tank to 100bar than it is to fill a 1liter to 300bar.

I would probably get an embolism just trying to pump up a cylinder. Maybe hook the pump handle to a wheel of your car and drive around the block a few times?

Four hours to fill an S80 .... awe c'mon Alex it will only be three hours as they should have 50 bar left from the first dive .. ha ha ha. I'll stick to a proper compressor thanks. Love your sense of humour BTW.

LoL. Very entertaining indeed.

When I first saw this, couldn't believe what I was seeing. I like to target shoot air rifles as a hobby. Some serious air rifle folks shoot what is known as "PCP" rifles, which are charged by pumping air (up to 3500psi) into a reservoir screwed into or built into the rifle to power the pellets. To me, you were holding up a PCP rifle pump. Alec, the hand pump supplied to you is exactly the same (except for paint - the only change) as a model available on-line designed for charging air guns. To charge an air rifle tank (much smaller than the air tanks you showed) takes well over an hour, w/much perspiration. Guess the folks in China saw another revenue stream they could squeeze from an existing product. Shame they had to pick such a dangerous route - folks should be required to have an air card to purchase these things.

Reminds me of Red from that 70s show.

Someone should redesign the Hand pump into a form of foot pump that is like a stair master exercise machine of sorts.. I bet it would not be near as bad or tiring to fill these tanks

You can buy an air compressor that'll charge from your car battery and save some sweat. PCP air gun enthusiasts use them almost as a necessity.

Someone should make a stationary bike SCUBA pump... "The Peloton Pump"...

I pump my 15L tank since yesterday (just joking). Buying a dinner for 5 and spend many hours. Better thake this 5 to get air fill in 5mins?

OKay, so i know nothing about nothing when it comes to diving and yes i will actually do a course before i get one of these thanks but..... can't you fill a scuba cylinder with an air bed pump?

Air embolisms can occur in 10ft of water if you hold your breath. I Dont think these little tanks are bad as I do own one because they are nice to have for shallow water dives. The issue appears when someone who is un educated holds their breath and dies from these. I think these are a great product if you know what your doing and on a budget

You're funny, and don't sweat and fart around when you pump cause it's going to go in the tank and taste weird the next dive. 😉

I understand that doing physical exercise after a dive is a formula for DCS. So the likelihood is that the student would be doing his/her second dive already bent - not a good idea!

I’ll Probly leave the pump around the house maybe 10 minutes a day dive a couple times a week, no dive store can’t afford compressor, gonna get a 1L

How deep can you dive with that tank safely.

I got to this video by looking at the same technology used to fill pcp style air rifles, they sell pretty much that exact pump for filling the mini cylinders on rifles I currently own a divers scuba tank for filling my rifle with at the moment, but when the air has ran out of it, and its out of date and out of shape and gets cut in half, i dont think ill be buying another just to fill my rifle So im thinking about buying and using one of those hand pumps, i cant say how much the cylinder on the rifle holds, but its about 12 inches long and an inch diameter I dont run rhe air completely out of the rifle, the lowest it goes is 110 bar, then gets pumped back up to 190 bar, so theres an 80 bar difference Interesting video though 👍

The problem after 100bar it's a very hard do used pump.

I'm sure they can make bigger more efficient pumps those pumps were made for those tiny little tanks and I mean more efficient hand pumps with bigger size cylinders

Dive shops should refill these for us and give a small amount of guidance for use. Or do a cheap course specially for the small tanks. Instead of not filling them. Or making us become certified diver. I free dive and snorkel already and are well aware of the dangers. Like you say, a knife, gun, hammer, axe is far more dangerous Another great video from a very wise man. 👏 thank you

Real question is how fast will it fill my truck tire when I'm late for work lol I wonder if a young hang electric air pump would work but you would need a air purifier for it but there only 150$ more than that hand pump 😉🤔👍👌✌️💯🍻

Hey this is a bit of a confusing subject to me as someone who hasn't dealt with very much pressurized gases. So I just read that PSI is the force exerted on the vessel the gas is in, does that mean the gas in the 6 cubic foot tank is more compressed than the gas in the 80 since there is less surface area in the tank or does it work the exact opposite way around where since there is more surface area it needs to exert more force in order to cover the entire surface area in there? Or is it neither and 3000psi is 3000psi?

This is the first video of yours that I've watched, and its very informative. I have yet to scuba dive, but I did buy the exact tank and pump that you talk about in this video to use it in my in-ground 8' deep pool. Everything you say is spot-on: it is time consuming to pump up the tank, and takes a great deal of energy. I usually only pump for 5 or 6 minutes, and then get about 4 minutes swimming around underwater (to clean the bottom of pool, or experience sensory deprivation, or play underwater scrabble with my daughter, etc). My question is this: For my current use of the tank, is it possible to use an electic air compressor? And if not, why is that? I'm aware that the company that I bought the tank from sells specially made air compressors to fill it, but I don't have the background in the field to know why I couldn't just find an adaptor for my electric air compressor, and then attach it to the filter on the hand pump. Is it a pressure issue, or a particle issue?

Been using that kind of handpump Not for diving but for my pcp airgun And i think using it to refill a scuba tank is very exausting.. Prefer to support local diveshops haha

pumping for filling any air tank is a great appreciation of how weak we are, the humans. A hefty human is just able to produce the work a 1/4 HP motor produces so when you consider that the smallest dive compressor has a 2HP motor, is is easy to figure that this small pump can fill a tank as long you have the energy and the perseverance to complete the job. pneumatics is so useful in automation but, it is the worst enregy conversion mode, a good example is that a 1 HP pneumatic motor needs 25 CFM at 100 PSI to perform to its rating. To produce that volume of compressed air at 100 PSi, you need 6 HP of electric motor on a 2 stage compressor so an efficiency of 16%.

If one was to do that an take chances. May as well go for one of the Chinese electric pumps. Run breathing air compressor oil on it and 2-3 3stage filters for moisture/oil/smell. An have the intake pull air through 15/20 feet of desiccant to prefilter any moisture as possible before the compression. An buy a carbon monoxide detector. And release some tanked air onto it an least make sure if something is there it’s not enough to set it off. I don’t recommend doing it. But if it had to be done would be the way I would do it over a hand pump. And would keep it to surface almost snorkel use.

Can you put the adapter on a compressor or is it permanently attached to the pump it comes with?

All that’s missing from this video is the song pump it up by Joe Budden 😂 I enjoy the quiet humor on this channel lol Just dive with a garden hose in your mouth next time 🤷‍♂️ haha I’m kidding.

They also sell a kit with 1.9 l tank with electric compressor...which seems best option..hand pumping more than .6 l seems like a bad idea.

If these tanks are manufactured by reputable manufacturers could you change the second stage for a low pressure inflator hose and use it for a drysuit inflator system? I'd just fill the tank myself with my compressor rather than hand pump it.

But is it safe? The guy at the dive shop said if the air is not properly filter it could kill me! Guess I’ll have to find out the hard way but i will be asking for a refund if it that happens!

Do you need to know how to scuba dive to use this ?

Apart from the advise not to exercise in between dives to avoid the bends!

why are you most likely to have an embolism in 10feet of water?

I dive Nitrox so I’ll just keep supporting my dive shop. Even if I did use Nitrox I would still bring it to the dive shop. Forget that pumping junk stuff. Suppose someone is pumping there scuba tank and there is a car or truck running near by??? I would only pump if I lived on a island all to myself and there was no dive shop around lol

What about moist air getting into your tank and ruining it? But yes it can be done.

Can you go to 9 in a half feet with this

How to fill 2liter tank?

My experience is these pumps aren't practical, 20min to hand pump is no good, but tranfering air from a larger scuba tank works well...

I want a small tank that I can pull outta my backpack and jump in the ocean like 007!

Pump plus both cylinders dual cylinders neoprene

from Alec to Lou Ferrigno to refill a tank?

You must own a scuba shop? LMAO. I'm just joking. I see where you're going with this. Not me, I will go to my local scuba shop. Thanks for the tip!!

He MUST.be related to Norm MacDonald!

For those of us that dive with steel cylidners, you don't want to use a handpump for any sized cylinder! This is because high pressure is required in order to "squeeze" the water vapour out of the air, as the water vapour is effectively uncompressable. This means, the more you compress air, the drier it gets, ie for any water content in the intake air at 1bar abs, more water gets squeezed out and caught in the filters/water traps the higher the pressure. This is why commercial compressors include a fixed pressure maintaining (residual pressure) valve downstream of the pumping system and the filters/water trap. In effect, even when you connect a cylinder at 0 bar, the pump is still pumping against around 150 bar that the residual pressure valve is generating, so that the air actually filling your cylinder has the least water content possible. This is wasteful of energy, because the energy required to compress the air to 150 bar, which is then allowed to expand into the cylinder to less than that 150 bar, is mostly lost. It's therefore critical that dive stores and compressor owners filling steel tanks that can (and do!) rust internally ensure there compressors residual pressure valve is properly adjusted, and certainly not bypassed in an effort to reduce the cost and time to fill a tank. And it means that using a basic hand pump where the output pressure is only that of the tank at any particualr point in the filling cycle is a no-no as well!

would love to see that hand pump rigged up to a fly wheel and a electric motor on slow of course you wouldn't want to get it to hot?