Getting Fills

[Bantam]

AArgh. The downside of living in Yorkshire part 33345;

There is nowhere to get fills in a lunchtime if you live in York.

I have just spent my lunch hour driving to the Diver Training College in Appleton Roebuck to get my cylinders filled only for there to be no-one there and it pretty much devoid of life (as per usual).

AAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!

I was, however, thinking over a plan this morning. I am very tempted to;

1: Get trained in how to manage a compressor and air station properly.
2: Rent a small industrial unit on the outskirts of York (clifton moor perhaps) or even use my garage if I have one in my new pad.
3: Buy and install, and maintain, a compressor and air-bank.
4: Open from 5pm in the evening until 9pm every night and weekends, and other times by appointment (i.e. people ring and say 'can I get a fill' and I open it up).
5: Sell ancillary stuff like fin straps and spares which people get through.

Eventually would do Nitrox etc.. but until then would be basic air only.

The question I have to ask is - would people use it?

Mark.

[chrisch]

Buy it for yourself Mark. Do the maths - there's chuff-all money in blowing tanks (inc. blend/mix).

Chris

[Bantam]

I wouldn't do it to make a profit - as long as it broke even I'd be happy (because I wouldn't give up my day job).


Either that or buy a little compressor and just let everyone know they can get fills en-route in my garage, for example.

Mark.

[Fiji Dave]

Just a thought - how noisy would the compressor be? And if you ran it in your garage how chuffed would the neighbours be if it did run 5pm-9pm seven days a week?

[Bantam]

Ergo why my thoughts ran to an industrial unit in clifton moor - mainly due to the noise (and that place is dead as a dodo after 5pm).

[Norbert]

Originally Posted by Bantam

Ergo why my thoughts ran to an industrial unit in clifton moor.

Your costs have just gone up again and believe me, there is no money in air fills - it's just a service (along with nitrox) that dive centres provide as part of the overall package.

Your intentions are worthy, but do the maths very carefully. Don't get caught out with any long lease obligations on the unit you might have in mind!

[divegyrl]

Juz & I bought a small compressor this week for the "top up when we get home late & the LDS is closed" scenarios.

We were planning on running it in my office out of hours (damned noisy thing) but the petrol fumes filled the office fairly rapidly, so we are moving on to Plan B (haven't quite decided on what that is yet!

The noise level is 87dB which is a tad over the european safety limit, so I doubt if the neighbours would be impressed!

It's a Coltri-Sub MCH6 for all you people out there that understand it. IMHO it's red & noisy!

Blanaid

[beanie]

I keep thinking about it but I would go elec cause of quiet ness used one in ireland real sweet

[Bantam]

The only reason I keep thinking about it is because it is very very difficult now to get a fill without doing a round trip of at least 150 miles to Otter or Robin Hood.
There at least even used to be one in Hull but that closed too

Mark.

[chrisch]

E Italiano - quindi multo rumore.....

Even non-Italian petrols are noisy but they are very slow and rarely do you get a decent fill. Several require a water release during the fill.

To fill for any sort of serious undertaking (i.e. more than a couple of fills in a weekend) you really need a decent blower. That means three-phase electricity and premises that have this or can get it. (The electric company don't really like wiring up your garage). If you can get it at home check first to see what happens to your household insurance...

So. We have an industrial unit and three-phase.

Rent and leccy standing charge of say 90 quid a week. (Thats 'blown' {sorry} the first 30 fills.

Now the comp. Ten grand? Maybe 6 if you go secondhand.
Plus banks.
And panel.

Maybe 8 to 12 grand. (cheap man cheap)

At 10% depreciation thats about £1,000 pa
by 50 wks 20 notes - another 7 fills.

So fixed costs are taking up 37 fills a week.

Variable costs - filters, electric (exc. standing charge).
I guess at maybe around 50p a fill.

So 100 fills a week at 3 quid, less variables is 2.50 a fill is 250
Less the 110 fixed is 140 notes.

Out of which comes insurance, advertising and your wages.

For which you are working weekends and evenings.

Better off with a bar job.

Unless you can get up to 5-600 fills a week (work out how many people you know and what they use in your area). In which case you need Mix and EAN so more maths to do. By now you're running a dive shop.

Best

Chris