CO2 Bottle Filling

I don't know if there's already a thread about this topic, but I know that over the last week or two, I've been trying to find a place that fills, sells, exchanges CO2 bottles, and kind of had a tough time finding the right kind of place. I thought that it might be a good Idea to have a thread with some locations...maybe. I found two places that seemed appropriate.

Adams Fire & Safety Inc
600 Mount Hope Rd
Wharton, NJ 07885
(973) 442-7244

It's right behind the Wharton fire house, I purchased a 5lb bottle for $65 filled and tested, and it's $15 for refills.


A G L Welding Supply Co Inc
600 US Highway 46
Clifton, NJ 07013
(973) 478-5000

The smallest they had was a 20lb, which might be good for some, but not me, and they do the exchange method for $32 per 20lb fill. They also have a bottle leasing program, $100 refundable deposit, $153 for 3 years for the 20lb, plus gas of course.

Well, I hope this helps someone.

Just a heads up WARNING.

Welding supply filling stations generaly don't sell FOOD GRADE CO2 they sell Industrial Grade. Their CO2 is usually contaminated with other industrial gasses such as Argon.

You really should seek out a retailer selling Food or Medical Grade CO2. For how long a bottle lasts it's worth the drive and your health.

I get my tank filled at the Grand Rapids, Pain Enterprises location. They have sites scattered around the midwest. Here is a link

http://www.carbondioxidesales.com/
If you look at the page it has the three colums. Where it says "COMPANY" Click on Facilities and Locations to find all of their locations. I had my 20# tank filled for $20.00

I don't work for them, or know anyone who does. It just took me a while to ferret out a place to get safe gas from so I wanted to share with the rest of you.

Robar said:

Just a heads up WARNING.

Welding supply filling stations generaly don't sell FOOD GRADE CO2 they sell Industrial Grade. Their CO2 is usually contaminated with other industrial gasses such as Argon.

...

Click to expand...

Er... do you really think that industrial users of CO2 are any less picky about the purity of their CO2? There is probably no more argon in that than in the air you breath. Found this on the net:

The only difference between these two grades of CO2 is that the
bottle that it comes in. Both gases are 99.97% CO2, the food
grade bottles are internally glass coated, whereas the industrial
cylinders are straight steel.

The reason that there is a difference, is that by law, the food
systems have the possibility of back-flowing into the bottle
when the gas runs out. If the bottle was a standard industrial
bottle, the system would have the possibility of becoming
contaminated with rust from the internals of the bottle.

Click to expand...

Don't know if that is true or not but the vast majority of home brewers AFAIK get their CO2 from welding suppliers and none of them seem to suffer from it.

Pretty much everyone on this forum that I've communicated with goes to welding supplies places for their co2. I know I do.

Yep, me too.

I go to a welder's supply. I agree with the earlier statement that a professional welder requires gas just as pure as we do. It may not be for consumption, but it may still be used for critical applications.

Oh, and there's like 4 or 5 welding supplies places in wichita falls, I suspect there a quite a few most places, just use the yellow pages.

You might go to a place that supplies soft drink systems around town and think hey, that's gotta be food grade right? Sure, and they get their huge CO2 tank from where? The same place as the welding supply place does.

Traces of argon? Doubtful but totally harmless in your beer anyway. "This highly stable chemical element is colorless, odorless, tasteless and nontoxic in both its liquid and gaseous forms."

I have an old pair of argon socks in my drawer at home.

that's argoyle BM

I too use welding CO2....the same CO2 I pump into my high intensity lit freshwater aquariums to keep the plants happy.

I stand corrected!

Honestly I researched this very subject when I was looking for a gas supplier. Upon further looking it appears there is some question as to whether there is any difference between the grades. However, I personally will continue to pay $20.00 for 20# of food grade gas. Peace of mind makes my beer more enjoyable.

BierMuncher,
I hear those argon socks work great as hop bags.

FYI, olllllo started a thread to track CO2 gas refill/trade locations and prices: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=27863

There is also an online database available with good information: http://www.brewing.schmidt-house.com/CO2db/brewgas.php?view

And for what it's worth, I get mine refilled at a fire extinguisher supply place, it's the only place I could find that didn't require tank exchanges.

I have heard a rumor that the CO2 used by paintball gun shops isn't the same. I don't know if I believe it.

On one side, I know that guns using 'green gas' as the propellent...that green gas is a lubricated propane type gas, lubed with silicone I think. helps the gun work.

but on the other side I know when I used play, my gun ran on CO2, and the tank it was filled from came from the local welding shop.

If anyone can disprove paintball CO2 containing lubricant, that'd be one more option for fills. However they usually only have 20-100lb fill tanks, and generally cost a lot more than welding/fire extinguisher shops.

but if it was your only option for some reason...

My kid fills paintball tanks out of our garage. He (I) gets the tank at the same welding supply store where I get my gaseous CO2. It's the same stuff. The only difference between his tank and mine is that his has a siphon tube extending to the bottom of the tank that dispenses liquid CO2. When my 5 pounder runs out, I'll fill it from his tank. Haven't done that yet, but I wouldn't hesitate.

Hi ROBAR, I was surfing the web hunting for a place in Grand Rapids to have a CO2 bottle refilled/exchanged and Yahoo pulled up this link. WHere in GR are these refill places?

You've resurrected an old thread. robar's last activity on this site was nearly a year ago.

Still, its not the first time I've seen these claims. And seen them debunked. My gas (like most others on here and I'm sure elsewhere in the home-brewing world) comes from the local welding supply shop. No worries. Been using their CO2 to dispense beer for years with no issues.