two CO2 tanks vs. one long air line?

[AN_TKE]

I have two places in my house that I want to have CO2 - in my basement for carbonating and in the fridge and in my kitchen at the kegerator. The two obvious alternatives are to have two CO2 tanks, or to have one tank in the basement with a line running up to the kegerator in the kitchen. I am thinking of using a 1/4" OD polyethylene/polyester line, maybe it would be 75-feet of tubing, similar to those used for pneumatic valve controls, etc.

Does anyone have any experience in doing this? If so, what are the potential drawbacks of running the tubing instead of having the two tanks? Would I experience any pressure drop over the 75', or would that be neglegable?

Thanks!

 

[Bobby_M]

no problem at all

 

[david_42]

The pressure drop would be trivial. 75 feet pushing beer would be a different story.

Consider getting a secondary regulator for your kegger. That way, you could run 20-30 psi up there and be able to adjust the keg pressure without having to run up and down. You would also be able to change the main pressure for force carbonating quickly without it impacting the kegger.

 

[AN_TKE]

thanks fellas.

 

[kanzimonson]

I vote for two tanks for the same reason it's nice to have two propane tanks - sucks when you run out.

 

[lotbfan]

Best of both worlds, run one big tank (this is what we do at work for multiple soda fountains, i think our longest run is about 250 feet) and have a small tank as a backup for when you need to refill your main tank. This allows you to get a 20+ lb. tank for better cost efficiency on co2 fills.

We go through a couple of K tanks a month and just get the delivered (too big to haul on our own in the back of my focus) and they are like 45 bucks each.

 

[AN_TKE]

I got my tubing today. Should be in business by the time I am ready to carbonate the batch fermenting now. I've got to make a manefold from copper or SCH 80 PVC, shouldn't be too much trouble.

I have the double regulator setup already and my local welding supply has tanks without a wait, so this should be a pretty trouble free build/system. should...

Thanks again.