Ice in my Co2 bottle?

Help, I seem to get clogs of "snow" from my paintball bottle... or at least it plugs and gets spit out of my sodastream injector (with co2doctor adaptor). Is this an artifact of a refill or of the adjustment or wearing out of my system?

I did get the impression the clerk that I recently gave my co2 bottle to didn't really know how to refill such a thing, but thought it might be fun to try. They seem to have a bunch of complex instructions on the wall by the master co2 tank. Could they have emptied mine first so much that humid air and thus water was drawn in?

When I reinstalled the paintball tank, nothing at first would come out. Then it reluctantly filled a few drink bottles. Finally it shot out a white clump with a bang, and drove the overfill vent crazy. I strained it thru my fingers and the white stuff seemed to be frost. It could be that my fiddly adaptor valve no longer mates right with an aging injector system too. Not so much a seal, but the actuator lever seems to bend out of shape.

Frost is common from paintball tanks, and given that you're in Hawaii (IIRC), the high humidity could indeed be an issue. If humid air got in, it should be mostly purged in the filling process which is typically to pressurize, shut off the large tank, purge to cool the small tank, then fill and weigh. There really shouldn't be enough humidity in the tank to cause things to freeze up. But if that was the case, then it would probably work itself out over time.

Typically though, frost on paintball tanks is caused by releasing a lot of CO2 very quickly, which doesn't sound like what you were doing at the time. Maybe somehow you got some liquid CO2 coming out?

It's kind of scary that it shot out with a bang. Was there a possibility that your injector was clogged beforehand?

I wouldn't think it's the adapter, if it didn't mate right then I would expect it wouldn't seal. Unless you mean that it won't engage the pin on your tank, that could be a possibility, but I wouldn't think that would cause frost.

When you say actuator lever, what is that exactly? I'm not 100% familiar with the inner workings of the sodastream. Is that what engages the pin on the tank when you push the button?

Thanks for the ideas. I wonder if the tank was overfilled and shot out liquid. Normally they underfill the tank by an annoyingly large amount, but this time when I tipped it back and forth there was no perceptible sloshing. So maybe viscosity of liquid explains initial reluctance for co2 to feed.

I rapidly filled 3 half liters, and the third filled in a far shorter time than I have ever seen, with the bang. I tried to put in more and the overpressure vent shrieked like I never heard before. I know of no reason the injector would be clogged. I hope this overfill theory expains things.

My system seems to more and more hate to feed co2 from a fresh refill. The adaptor could be an issue because I have had problems with it slipping off the tank nipple. It is fiddly because when you back off the adapter nipple so it can plunge enough, that gives it more slop to slip off the tank nipple.

Furthermore I may be guilty of overtightening the tank into the sodastream until it's seal is crushed. The 20 oz tank gives me much more leverage than the skinny stock tank, so I don't have as much feel about when to stop turning. I'm not concerned about the seal failing, but messing up the alignment of the sodastream plunger that mates with the fiddly adaptor. I visualize this when having to push really hard on the sodastream charger lever, but it works easy after the first dozen soda fills from a fresh tank.

Maybe I will retire this machine when the paintball bottle needs a hydrotest, which requires an expensive mailing. Now that agave syrup has gotten so expensive, I don't find sugar based drinks as satisfying as just carbonated pure fruit juice. Hitting the gallon sized cranberry cocktail with a bunch of bread yeast is so easy and wholesome tasting!

I found a contributing factor was my co2 doctor adaptor pin apparently slipping to the side of the paintball tank nipple. This from the evidence of the c02 shooting out of the injector at 45 degree angle, which is amazing due to it's long straight shape. I adjusted the adaptor to have less play and it currently works fine.

If you ice up the valve you may damage orings and get leaks later. Try not to let CO2 leave the tank that fast. A bigger tank will help some. (What size paintball tank are you using??)

They likely under fill the tanks in your area due to the high avg temp. A full tank on a hot summer day will blow it's burst disk here in NJ (if left if the sun). I imagine it's much worse where you are in HI. (Keep in mind that just like a propane tank a CO2 tank is called "full" way before it is physically full. This gives the liquid room to convert to gas at the top of the tank. Without this pressure in the tank would reach dangerous levels.)