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Originally Posted by TDubb
Thank you for the very usefull information! what if i wanted to support 500 players what would i need? and how much would it cost for me to get that air system online?
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Just do the math for how many people will be filling per hour. You should be good if you figure a fill is about 7 cubic feet. So if 500 people are filling once in an hour, you will need 500 * 7 cubic feet per hour which is 3500 cubic feet per hour. Divide by 60 and you are talking about a gas load of 60 cubic feet per minute. That would put you into the type of air supply they use on large national tournaments where they bring in multiple 18 wheelers with huge diesel driven compressors and hundreds of bank bottles. You are also looking at a fill station that will handle 5 - 10 people per minute - so you would need a fair number of fill stations for that kind of load.
Now if you figure you get 500 people on and off throughout the day, and the number of people filling per hour is 1/4 of that... then you're back to a 15 cfm.
As far as getting it on line... I'd say that would not be how I choose to get it. I'd work with a compressor specialist in your area. You are going to need a lot of support getting the system set up and running as well as on going repair and maintenance.
I have a scuba business, and a paintball business.. thus the 2 good size bauer compressors I'm running, and although both are virtually new, I've had to call my compressor guy several times when a valve in a head went out, or a line developed a leak. And both these businesses are heavily dependent on air. If I have no air... I have no business. So I also bought a semi portable 7 cfm that runs on 220 single phase.
It's small enough that 3 guys can toss it in the back of a pickup truck, so if I lose air at either location, I can kick in the smaller backup compressor to limp along until I get one of the large ones working again.
I bought all my compressors used, and step one was drop them off at the compressor shop, and they went through them top to bottom and fixed them up. The small one was wired wrong and kept burning out the shut off switch, the 15 cfm had some blown gauges and just needed a leaky line replaced and basic maintenance - oil change, tighten belts, etc. The 12 cfm was fine... for about a month - less than 100 hours when I bought it, but within a month a valve in a head had a problem and needed replacing.
I know on line gives someone the impression they will save money, and perhaps you will... but keep in mind that shipping a compressor across the country will cost a fair amount of money - and what service will it need now, or in the future. I have an online business for both scuba and paintball, but when I went looking for an investment like a compressor, although I did have 2 of the 3 shipped to me from across the country, I had a local guy check them out... and I've bought several compressors from him in the past. Just kept upgrading my air supply.
So look on line if you want, but I'd tell you to find someone who can come out to the big tourney you're throwing one day, and hang around with a spare compressor and a truck full of spare parts. How successful would your tourney be if your compressor died 2 hours into the 1st day?
