Italian-built breathing air — specced to your fill load, not the brochure.
A breathing air compressor is the kind of capital purchase a department makes once a decade and lives with for fifteen years. Get it wrong and you're either filling a 50-bottle weekly load on a unit that wasn't built for it, or you're staring at a 750 l/min station that runs four bottles a week and rusts the rest of the time.
The conversation starts with what does your fill cycle actually look like? Career department with mutual-aid cascade duty, or a volunteer house topping off four SCBA bottles after Tuesday training? Different machines. And before either: does it stay put or ride with the apparatus? A truck-mounted unit refilling on-scene during a long incident is a different build than a fixed station bolted to the bay floor.
Heiman carries the Coltri line because the range covers both — Heavy Duty for fixed in-station, Ergo for transportable / truck-mounted. Italian-built, four-stage, with the Hyperfilter dual-cartridge purification. Field-serviceable. The honest version of "spec it once, run it for a decade."
Coltri's high-volume fixed-install range has three machines — Force Four, Open, and Silent. The Silent is the one most departments end up with. Acoustic enclosure drops operating noise below the 70 dB threshold, which is the difference between a compressor that lives in the apparatus bay and one that gets exiled to a shed. Same MCH 22 / MCH 36 pumping platform as the rest of the Heavy Duty line.
Side and front profile. Worth having before the slab gets poured.
Two siblings on the same MCH platform: Force Four tops the line on fill rate — the right answer for a regional fill station or mutual-aid cascade hub. Open is the open-frame build — no acoustic enclosure, lower price, easier service access for installs in dedicated fill rooms or outbuildings where noise isn't a constraint. Full specs and product photos for both on coltri.com.
Long-duration incidents, wildland deployment, mutual-aid response into a neighboring district — scenarios where the SCBA refill capability needs to be on the apparatus, not back at the station. The Ergo is the transportable build: open-frame, integrated lift handles, sized to mount in a compartment or on a dedicated air truck. Same Grade E air as the fixed units.
Both views with handles included. Carry frame is the outside envelope.
Inter-stage pressure gauges, fill pressure switch dial, 330 bar / 4700 psi outlets, cabin temperature readout, hour meter, condensate drain timer, low-oil and wrong-rotation alarms. Same control logic as the fixed Heavy Duty units — a tech who knows the Silent knows the Ergo.
Welded tubular steel cage. Lift handles are part of the frame, not a bolt-on. Top deck has the two fill outlet ports and the pressure-relief mount. The frame is what gets bolted to the truck.
Every Coltri breathing-air unit on this page — Silent, Force Four, Open, Ergo — runs the same Hyperfilter dual-cartridge purification system. Two cartridges in series: the first uses molecular sieve to pull moisture out of the air stream; the second combines molecular sieve with activated carbon to strip oil vapor, hydrocarbons, and odor. That two-stage configuration is what gets the output to EN 12021 / CGA Grade E.
Why it matters year ten: the unit produces Grade E on year one because Coltri built it that way. It still produces Grade E on year ten because someone changed the cartridges on the schedule the manual expects. We stock the cartridges in Sioux Falls.
Before a quote goes out, we want weekly bottle count, bottle inventory, and whether you cascade for mutual aid. The right unit for a 12-bottle volunteer house is not the right unit for a regional fill hub — and the right answer for a department running a dedicated air truck isn't either of those. We won't sell you the brochure.
A breathing air compressor that ships in a crate and gets uncrated by the local crew is one that fails at year three. We commission Coltri units in person — correct mounting, electrical, drain plumbing, filter break-in — and walk the crew through daily checks, condensate management, and the maintenance schedule the manual actually expects.
Hyperfilter cartridges, separator drains, oil, intake filters — the consumables a Coltri unit needs to actually meet Grade E over a decade of service. We stock them. The unit works year one because Coltri built it that way; it works year ten because someone changed the filter on schedule.
For chiefs, training officers, and finance staff sourcing a fill-station compressor. Direct, no marketing fluff.
It depends on weekly bottle count, bottle inventory, and whether you cascade for mutual aid. A 12-bottle volunteer house topping off after Tuesday training is not the same machine as a regional fill hub running 50+ bottles a week. We won't recommend a model until we've had the fill-cycle conversation. Heavy Duty Line covers 400 to 750 l/min — there's usually a clear right answer once the numbers are on the table.
Yes. Coltri compressors with the Hyperfilter purification system produce breathing air to EN 12021 — the European standard equivalent to NFPA 1989 / CGA Grade E. The Hyperfilter is a two-cartridge system: molecular sieve for moisture, then molecular sieve plus activated carbon for oil vapor and other contaminants. We commission with a Grade E air sample on the first install.
Honest answer: weeks, not days. Coltri builds at the Desenzano plant in Italy, then freights to North America. Typical lead time is 8 to 14 weeks depending on configuration and whether the unit is a stock-build or a custom electrical spec. We give you the real number when we quote — not a brochure estimate. For departments that need a faster solution, we can sometimes route from existing North American distributor stock.
Same pumping platform, same air quality, same fill rate. The Silent has an acoustic enclosure that drops operating noise below 70 dB — quiet enough that the unit can live in the apparatus bay or share space with crew. The Open is the bare frame: louder, easier to service-access, less expensive. If the compressor lives in a dedicated fill room or outbuilding, Open is usually the right call. If it's near where people work or sleep, go Silent.
Strongly recommended for any fill operation involving high-pressure SCBA cylinders. The Armor 2 cabinet is built to contain the energy of a sudden cylinder failure — both the air expansion and any displaced fragments. NFPA 1901 contemplates rupture containment requirements for fill stations on apparatus, and most departments apply the same logic to fixed installs. The Armor 2 holds two cylinders up to 220 mm diameter and includes a DIN 300 bar fill whip standard.
We do. Heiman has a service tech trained on the Coltri MCH platform and we stock Hyperfilter cartridges and consumables at the Sioux Falls warehouse. Annual service intervals, filter changes, oil changes, and valve work all route through us. For warranty issues that go back to the factory, we coordinate directly with Aerotecnica Coltri in Italy — the department doesn't deal with Italian customer service, we do.
Yes. If the department is buying through Heiman on a chassis order, the compressor and Armor 2 cabinet can ride on the same PO with a single quote, single delivery coordination, and single warranty path. That's usually the cleanest way to handle a full fill-station spec — the truck and the fill station show up under one project, not two.
Coltri's factory warranty covers the pumping unit and major components. Specific terms depend on the model and the year of purchase — we put the current warranty document in front of you with the quote, not after. Warranty work goes through Heiman as the dealer, which means the department isn't shipping a compressor back to Italy on its own.
Most regional sellers will quote you a Coltri and let it land at the loading dock for the local crew to figure out. We don’t. A breathing air compressor is code-regulated equipment producing life-safety air — the install matters as much as the box. Heiman handles commissioning in person, with a tech who’s been through Coltri’s service training.
Before any quote, we want to know what the department actually fills. Bottle count per week. Bottle inventory. Whether you cascade for mutual aid. Single-bay or dedicated fill room — or truck-mounted for on-scene refill. That conversation is what the model recommendation comes from — not the other way around.
Heavy Duty (Force Four, Open, or Silent) for fixed install, or Ergo for transportable / truck-mounted. Single or three-phase. Petrol or diesel drive on the Ergo if shore power isn’t a given. Armor 2 cabinet on the same PO if the install needs containment. One quote covers the whole fill station.
Coltri builds the unit at the Desenzano plant in Italy with a real lead time — not a brochure number. We track the build, coordinate freight to Sioux Falls, and stage for delivery. Lead times are honest: weeks, not days.
For departments in territory, we commission on-site — mount (or truck-deck install), plumb, electrical, filter break-in, leak check, and the first official Grade E air sample. Then we walk the crew through daily checks and the maintenance schedule. Day one of useful service starts when we leave.
A Coltri compressor is a fifteen-year purchase. The conversation that gets it right takes about thirty minutes — bottle count, fill cycle, install constraints, electrical service, whether it stays put or rides with the apparatus. Email us and we’ll set it up.
