Home Made Hookah

[Salvor6]

Well I finally broke down and made my own hookah. It cost less than $300. I found the Gast twin cylinder compressor on Ebay for $100. I bought a new 2-1/2 hp engine at Harbor Freight for $100 (with the 20% off coupon) and mounted it all on a 3" by 1" piece of aluminum 16" long. It helps to have your own machine shop. I even made my own pulley and then had all the Al parts anodized.

 

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[Panfilo]

Looks great Salvor, very professional job! You might just have some orders coming in for the next few dozen! I would only suggest you distance the air compressor intake from the engine exhaust so as not to breathe the toxic carbon monoxide but you surely know that, not sure is the one hose is the intake. Congratulations!
Panfilo

 

[stevemc]

Looks good Pete! I like the belt tensioner. I made one that used a bolt on the bottom with slots. I take it that is for only one person, as the 2 person has a 5 hp Honda. I had a 5 Hp Honda on mine and it flipped in the water and I put on a Harbor Freight 6.5 Hp Honda Clone. It is much heavier, but it pumps out more air than 2 could use. With the 5 Hp, with 2 it wasnt bad, but sometimes you could tell that the other diver was breatheing harder, as it would get a little harder to breathe. But that was just at above an idle. The new one idling is plenty. When I flipped the old one over I got a used one that had a 3.5 briggs, and it was just for 1 person.

 

[Salvor6]

I meant to post this on the Diving & Underwater Equip. board. Panfilo I have a long hose for the intake thats mounted far from the exhaust. Steve the pump is the PVD 10 pump that puts out 6.5 CFM at 100psi. It is for 2 divers and the engine (actually 3hp) seems to have enough power to keep up the supply. I want to build a couple more but those pumps are difficult to find used.

 

[LM]

Bad ass!

How much does it weigh?
Do you have plans/prints for those of us playing along at home? Is the machining limited to the pully?

 

[cornelis 816]

Pete you may try Les Savage for additional pumps . He has a lot of materials laying around . Another nice item to think about is a buffertank so you don.t suck air directly from the compressor . In general well built , and an exellent job . Cornelius

 

[pistolpete]

Looks great but......if that is not real breathing hose you have, do yourself a life saving favor and get the real deal. It's costly, but it is made for breathing compressed air an rated for at least 400 psi. Plastic and vinyl hoses are not meant for breathing compressed air.

 

[Salvor6]

I don't have plans or blueprints. I just laid it out as I went along. I'll check with Les Savage for more pumps. The hose is FDA food grade breathing hose from Amazon Hose.

 

[capt dom]

for a cheap S.S. air expansion tank look into
soft drink pressurized syrup containers on ebay

I used these on a few 12 volt hookas I have built

 

[inletsurf]

Make sure the motor exhaust is plenty far away from the compressor air intake!!!

 

[FISHEYE]

I built a expansion tank out of a stainless steel Budweiser beer keg.Tomorrow ill get some pics of it.Nice job on the pump,pete.

 

[Salvor6]

Thanks Fisheye. Thats the only last componenent I need is a cheap storage tank.

 

[bikerlawyer]

I made one out of a big PVC pipe that worked pretty well.

 

[stevemc]

Yep, I have seen PVC expansion tanks work well. Many people think it is for reserve air, which of course it isnt, it helps with the pulseing that the pump does, the hose doesnt shake so bad. If you go to a big plumbing place, they could cut you a 2' long piece of 6" PVC and sell you 2 caps, and then you drill and tap and put in a brass fitting for the hose from the pump, and one for the reg. I have seen them with just one fitting like an RO water system pressure tank, but the 2 fittings work better. A water system pressure tank would work good for a reserve tank, just pump the bag to 50 PSI. I had thought of doing that for a boat only hookah, since all the tanks I have are non stainless steel. I have a 5 gallon RO tank that would work good. But like I said, it only has 1 fitting.

 

[FISHEYE]

Heres my beer keg expansion tank.Its a little dirty with sand.Had it upside down outside.With 2 more hose couplers i can run 4 hoses off this tank.The compressor i have handles 6 hoses or 6 people.

 

[Randyd]

Nice set up, I like your belt tensioner! Some of the gold dredgers use the stainless Pepsi tanks.

 

[architecad]

I bought my Hookah 1 year ago and I spent $2,400.00 for it. I had the chance to build my own home-made hookah. To build one, you have to be sure how you design it, because the possible multiple danger involved when you breathe no clean air. It's recommended to attach filters and oil less compressor. The picture that I attached is an example of how you could feel if you breathe contaminated air.

Salvor6, I hope nothing happen to you and find lots of coins.

Good luck

Arch

 

[cornelis 816]

Archy . I think Salvor6 is capable enough to sort everything out . Did you build one like he did ? Cornelius

 

[FISHEYE]

Arch,

Did you know you could get sick and die from a store bought hookah compressor setup?All it takes is to get mold or fungus growing in your hoses or regulator and your lungs are history.Hoses and air intake pipes can be cleaned with a very mild solution of bleach then washed out with simple green cleaner then dry air dried.This is what the scuba shops use to clean tanks for nitrox use.It doesnt matter if you build or buy a hookah compressor,you just have to know how to clean it and to take care of it so you dont get sick or die.

 

[architecad]

Arch,

Did you know you could get sick and die from a store bought hookah compressor setup?All it takes is to get mold or fungus growing in your hoses or regulator and your lungs are history.Hoses and air intake pipes can be cleaned with a very mild solution of bleach then washed out with simple green cleaner then dry air dried.This is what the scuba shops use to clean tanks for nitrox use.It doesnt matter if you build or buy a hookah compressor,you just have to know how to clean it and to take care of it so you dont get sick or die.

Of course... You have to make maintenance to your equipment.

Arch