Using Paintball Remote Line as a Cheaper CGA 320 High Pressure Hose

I have a Micromatic Regulator and a 20 lb. CO2 tank. My goal is to connect them with a high pressure hose similar to this one, but I wanted to do it for a lot less money. I bought a paintball remote line for approximately one third of the price.

My problem is that the remote connects nominally to the tank and the regulator; however, it leaks. A lot. The threads on the remote line are exactly the same as the CGA-320 threads of the tank/regulator, but the end of a paintball valve isn't threaded, allowing the paintball tank to seal with an o-ring, where a washer would be needed for the regulator. Also, the paintball remote has a tiny hole to release pressure on the female side that leaks some CO2.

I don't have a washer between the tank and the remote, and I'll try to go pick one up today, but I wanted to check if anyone has had success with this.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

P.S. I realize that, with some different tweaks, I could run a low pressure line in from a primary on the tank to the rest of the regulator bank, but I would prefer to do it the way I described above.

The paintball fittings will fit industrial co2 fittings sum what. Where they fail is exactly where you are having problems. My suggestion would be to use just the hose. Depending on your regulator, some are LH threads verses RH threads, you can remove the nut and nipple from the regulator and use that on your 20lb tank and put the hose in between. If it is a LH thread you will prob be out of luck unless you can find an adapter online. Not knowing what kind of connections that are on the paintball remote hose you may need some adapters. Quick caution on the adapters: buy them form your welding supply, they will have ones that are rated for 3000psi. The ones at hd are rated for 2-300 psi. If all else fails you might find some adapters like these:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004M49QDC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BXZNRO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BY24E8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Prob also need a western enterprise bf-4-2hp.

Hope this helps

Maybe this is a silly question, but why would you want to add line to the high pressure side? Why not do it after the regulator? Seems safer.

I believe your issue is with the tank. Typical paintball tanks have a pin that you need to depress before co2 starts flowing. When the on/off valve is turned on, it depresses the pin on the tank, whilst closing off pressure relief holes to allow the flow from the tank down the line. When you turn he valve off, it releases pressure on the pin, closing the source of the co2 from the tank, while opening relief holes to allow remaining pressure to escape, allowing safe removal of tank. They do this because paintball tanks have their connector threaded to the tank itself, and there have been cases where instead of loosening from the on/off valve, the connection gets removed from the tank and turns into a rocket.

Try turning the on/off to on before opening the tank valve, it should not leak. It also completely renders the on/off valve on the hose side completely useless, u will have to control on l/off of gas flow via the tank.

o2nut said:

My suggestion would be to use just the hose. Depending on your regulator, some are LH threads verses RH threads, you can remove the nut and nipple from the regulator and use that on your 20lb tank and put the hose in between. If it is a LH thread you will prob be out of luck unless you can find an adapter online. Not knowing what kind of connections that are on the paintball remote hose you may need some adapters.

Click to expand...

Thanks. This is spot on. Just came back from the welding shop, and there is no way to do what I want to do without replacing some parts. Putting the hose between the existing regulator parts was a great idea. If my regulator was right hand threaded, it would be easier. Because it is left hand, and the hose is right hand, I'll need one coupler that goes from Female 1/4" LHT NPT (Tank Nipple) to Female 1/4" RHT NPT (hose) and another coupler that goes from Male 1/4" LHT NPT to Male 1/4" RHT NPT.

Looked for a bit, but I'm not sure if these couplers exist. I'll check more later tonight.

Thanks to all who responded!

Just an update. Went to the welding store with all the fittings. Bottom line is this is probably not possible with left-handed regulator threads, due to the lack of fitting availability. Probably doable with right handed threads. Also, lack of an easily available male CGA 320 connector precludes using the CO2 tank fittings on both sides.

Bottom line, probably easier to buy the hose.

Thanks again to everyone.