Thread: cheap Co2 bottles any where?? fire extinguisher maybe?

why not just use an old dive tank/oxy/gas bottle and a compressor?

hmmm because I hadn't thought about it

Actually now I think about it I brought this subject up a few months ago on here and I seem to remember the reply was something like:

A compressor will only compress air into a tank so it would need to be a pretty big tank.

With Co2 its liquid so it will hold more liters of air.

If you mean an electric onboard compressor and tank yes I thought of that I wanted to move away from electric onboard/12v pumps I don't have much luck with them.

What I would like to do is just take a Co2 tank as its got nothing electrical to break down, an air tank would too but I think it would have to be huge.

Your main problem in getting a CO2 cylinder that is still in survey is that they are all owned by someone, and they are expensive to purchase. Firms that have gear to recharge a cylinder will first want to know if it is in survey (they will check the datestamp and surveyors stamp), then they will want to see whose cylinder it is and sometimes want proof of purchase.

How do I know all this, I tried to have a small military surplus liferaft inflation cylinder refilled by CIG (now BOC I believe) many years ago. Even though it was still in service they demanded that it be sandblasted and painted with an approved paint and retested by their tester. It worked out that it was going to cost more than it was worth so I just gave up on the idea.

The only easy way I know of is to purchase a CO2 extinguisher and a regulator. You could go without the regulator but you would need to be very careful that you did not over inflate your tires as the gas comes out at very low temperature and high pressure and keeps expanding until it reaches the ambient temp. You could very easily blow a tyre. You would also want to be careful about the hose you used as the extinguisher hose may not be long enough. A tyrechuck in the end could become a lethal projectile when hit with 2,850 psi (typical pressure in an extinguisher) unless it is of a suitable rating (I don't know of any) and it would need to be mechanically/hydraulically crimped onto the hose.

To give you an approximate idea of how much CO2 you will get from your bottle, multiply the weight of the contents of the bottle in kgs by 550 the answer will be litres of gas at atmospheric pressure, 45psi in your tyre is almost exactly 3 atmospheres so you will get Wt in Kgs X 183.3 litres of usable fill.

Example: 5 kg Bottle:

5X183.3 = 916.5 litres. All you need to know is the volume of your fully inflated tube.

HangOver pity your not in Vic
i could get you a 5KG Co2 for cost

we deal in all fire fighting equipment

would'nt a small nitrogen bottle be better

i think that should have been argon

Originally Posted by richard4u2

would'nt a small nitrogen bottle be better

There was a thing a few years ago about filling car tyres with nitrogen, supposed to be better than using air? No corrosion?

Can't remember but most probably someone came up with the idea and wanted to make some money out of it ..

Originally Posted by HangOver

hmmm because I hadn't thought about it

Actually now I think about it I brought this subject up a few months ago on here and I seem to remember the reply was something like:

A compressor will only compress air into a tank so it would need to be a pretty big tank.

With Co2 its liquid so it will hold more liters of air.

If you mean an electric onboard compressor and tank yes I thought of that I wanted to move away from electric onboard/12v pumps I don't have much luck with them.

What I would like to do is just take a Co2 tank as its got nothing electrical to break down, an air tank would too but I think it would have to be huge.

and on the flipside, compressed air is a LOT cheaper than frequent refills of a Co2 cylinder......