Pics of my homebuilt hookah

[niffler]

Hi, I just finished rebuilding my hookah system. Before I had it rigged for 12V, but I ruined the batteries, so I rebuilt it for gas power, added new hoses and 40 micron filters. Me and my cousin are testing it out tomorrow at a local pond. It has a 263 compressor and 3.5 HP motor. I have two 30' hoses, with Sherwood regulators. It has a wheelborrow style setup to roll it to the pond. Thanks for looking, Niffler

 

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[Au_Dreamers]

nice job!

Are those float pontooons?

foam filled?

Where'd you get them?

 

[stevemc]

Nice! I also used one of those Gast compressors. It looks like you will dunk your engine and compressor if you try to float it. Either use straight square tubing up topto lift it up, or have some kind of a boat/box etc that waterproofs the whole hookah. I like that you used a tank to buffer out the pulsations. Without that it really pulsates the hoses. Really smoothes that out. Some people think it is a reserve air system, they really dont have any idea!

 

[niffler]

Yeah, I am a little worried about water levels above the board....I got the floats new never used for $40 from a local guy who was going to build a gold dredge but never did. They are from Nugget Products? If it floats too low I will build spacer blocks and raise the platform a little. Thanks for looking, Niffler

 

[birdman]

That is a sweet set up! Let us know how she works.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Yeah, I am a little worried about water levels above the board....I got the floats new never used for $40 from a local guy who was going to build a gold dredge but never did. They are from Nugget Products? If it floats too low I will build spacer blocks and raise the platform a little. Thanks for looking, Niffler

Yes, it will sit WAY too low in the water. Even something as calm as a swimming pool would drown your rig. Add in a few waves and your motor and Gast compressor are toaste. Flip your frame upside down or build a straight frame for it. Second, get your air intakes up on poles where they belong. If you take a wave over them, you will probably ruin the compressor. Water doesn't compress.

Other than those two items, I like your setup.

 

[niffler]

I haven't got to test it out yet, caught a cold and I'm still suffering from it. Also, the pond I had selected as a test site has turned into a super algae pond, now I need to scope out a new spot. I think I will go ahead and raise the platform because everyone thinks it sits too low...I would hate to have my setup swamped. The intakes are going up on a pole as soon as I can build the bracket I need, along with my diver down flag, just have to feel better first. Thanks for the good feedback, and Happy hunting. Niffler

 

[Salvor6]

Maybe you should change your handle to "Sniffler."

 

[niffler]

Ha, that is funny!...as long as it is not "sniveler"!

 

[hamiddetecting]

Good job. Thank you for sharing.

 

[AUVnav]

In addition to the comments already posted, I would add the following;

1. The intakes appear to be far to low. On my dredge, a 4", I put the intake filters on 4 foot HDPVC interior water pipe with swivel mounts. This allows for the mast to be dropped for transport, and to move onsite with prevailing winds in mind. I also have CO detectors at the filters, and realize that any CO is bad, as the pump is compressing it.
2. The pulley on the gas motor appears far to small of a diameter. Given that the gas motor has no load other than the pump, you have to get the RPM/LOAD curves from each part to optimize the assembly. The noted compressor, I believe, has working RPM of 1450, the gas motor, with the load of the compressor, likely has a working clean burn RPM near 1800. That would dictate the pulleys being very similar in size.
Again, the RPM/Load curves are available for the compressor and the gas motor from the manufacturer, just get each, and match up the pulley diameters to the RPM on the curves.
3. I am not familiar with the compressor, but is there a dump valve included in the assembly? If not, you would need to add one to the storage tank.
4. I would consider making the line from the compressor to the storage tank a solid copper or other solid metal line. The constant heat and pressure will make short work of that hose, the extended length shown may have an interesting result under pressure as well, so be careful.
5. It appears that this is a common compressor for dredge applications, so are there guidelines for the size of the storage/expansion tank? With a dual head, this tank appears very small, if nothing else, for heat dissipation. Perhaps a 5 gallon tank is more appropriate, but again, there must be guidelines somewhere.

Side note: while I can only postulate, breathing overly warm compressed air, may have an effect on your lungs, the alveoli in your lungs already warm up with the absorption of oxygen. Other gasses, which divers use such as tri-mix and helium, absorb much faster on a binary level, hence the lungs heat up with rate of absorption. Thus mixed gas divers have a very high risk of lung burn, and with SAT divers, an absolute. In conclusion, I would warn that breathing the compressed air at elevated temperatures may be a health risk, so it would be best to avoid the risk.

Remember, this is your life support. Choose wisely.

Good luck!

 

[deda]

Hi, I just finished rebuilding my hookah system. Before I had it rigged for 12V, but I ruined the batteries, so I rebuilt it for gas power, added new hoses and 40 micron filters. Me and my cousin are testing it out tomorrow at a local pond. It has a 263 compressor and 3.5 HP motor. I have two 30' hoses, with Sherwood regulators. It has a wheelborrow style setup to roll it to the pond. Thanks for looking, Niffler

I'm a newbie to this forum and look forward to checking out the dozens of forums that exist.

I'm not a newbie to hooka diving or to building my own dredges and complete hookah diving systems.

The reason I'm chirping in is I've a concern on your choice for a tank for air supply.

It sure looks like its a steel tank from a traditional air compressor and if so it can and will affect your health.

A great tank is an old out of service scuba tank so if you have any dive shops nearby try them.

There's many safe choices for a tank but a metal, galvanized or not is not one of them.

My 2 cents.

Regards, ,,deda,,

 

[niffler]

My steel tank is not galvanized, and has been professionally tumbled . I am working on putting some of the suggestions to good use. I already was using a check valve, the hose is the "steam" one that Keene sells to use on this same pump, I got a 4' fiberglass electric fence post to mount the intakes up on, and I am mounting the whole shebang in the 16 foot aluminum boat I plan to use to get to the places I want to detect. I'll post pictures when I get it done. Thanks for all the replies and helpful suggestions. Niffler

 

[Chagy]

I'm a newbie to this forum and look forward to checking out the dozens of forums that exist.

I'm not a newbie to hooka diving or to building my own dredges and complete hookah diving systems.

The reason I'm chirping in is I've a concern on your choice for a tank for air supply.

It sure looks like its a steel tank from a traditional air compressor and if so it can and will affect your health.

A great tank is an old out of service scuba tank so if you have any dive shops nearby try them.

There's many safe choices for a tank but a metal, galvanized or not is not one of them.

My 2 cents.

Regards, ,,deda,,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the great advice!!!!!

 

[Salvor6]

Hi Niffler. Just finished building my second hookah unit. This time I had all the aluminum pieces red anodized. To counter some of AUVNav's remarks; the compressor is a Gast PCD-10. It is rated at 125psi. @ 2000 rpm. The typical small gas engine runs at 3600rpm. Therefore the engine needs a smaller pulley. I used a 99cc gas engine rated at 3.5hp and modified it to get more horsepower. I also used copper line from the compressor to the tank because the rubber (or PVC) hose would melt!

 

[Trembull]

I like the blue colored copper lines coming of the heads on the compressor.
And the slide out ashtray on the bottom right of the center picture
Nice setup Pete

 

[Salvor6]

Thanks Daryl. Comfortably Numb gave me the tank.

 

[niffler]

Salvor, that looks amazing and totally professional. If it works as good as it looks you will be hauling tons of treasure up from the depths. Good luck with that thing! Niffler

 

[signumops]

Carumba! Good work!

 

[jeff08xx]

Nice pics and setups guys. I especially like Salvor6's workhorse. I have a question. Can you use underwater dredges or venturi suction to move sand underwater?