10# CO2 filled this morning, exploded in my living room.

[Barbarossa]

^^^ This. 100F+ in my garage, I've never had anything pop. A friend of mine did have a pressure disk burst but the CO2 tank was freshly filled, and he had it in the back of his car in high temps.

MC

Now THAT must have been scary. I keep thinking about what would have happened if it blew up when I was on the highway.

 

[Barbarossa]

Very interesting discussion. I've never had an issue with heat affecting my CO2 bottles in Florida. I have 3 different sizes, 5, 10 and 20 lbs. Where I keep having problems is in the refrigerator, third time now I have put a 5 or 10 in the fridge with a keg only to find the CO2 bottle to be completely empty upon going for a brew a day or so later. I've eliminated gas loss due to hoses without clamps, used a different regulator and even turned the valve off. No problem with either tank until putting them in the fridge. I'm now wondering if it may have something to do with the burst ring mentioned here. Does anyone else experience cold side CO2 loss? Could it be loosing gas because the ring contracts, etc?

I did lost a bit of CO2 before I realized that I mixed the ball lock posts, putting back the out post in the in. I connected the gas and when I got my keg out to shake it, I moved the tubing a bit and I could hear a hissss. Very subtle.

 

[Curtis K.]

I too have had a burst disk blow on a newly filled 20# cylinder (exchange) it was behind the passenger seat of my 2-door Land Cruiser and happened while I was driving... It kinda made my heart skip a beat - very loud and great billowing vapor instantly filling the cab. It was hot outside, but not that hot - I think it was probably an overfill. I've had at least one other blow in my garage - probably more, but I'm not real good at keeping track of what is full and what is empty (I have at least a half dozen 20# cylinders). My practice now is to blead off a pound or so after getting a new exchange tank just for safety sake.

 

[Barbarossa]

My practice now is to blead off a pound or so after getting a new exchange tank just for safety sake.

That's what I thought I will do. Along with bringing a cooler with ice if it's hot outside.

But maybe I'm just overthinking.

Or maybe I'll bring in a scale to check on the weight. I'm sure I still had a bit left in the tank. The guy probably just blindly put ten pounds in it.

 

[Barbarossa]

Here's the tank afterwards. Completely frozen.

 

[yowzers]

Yes they overfilled it plain and simple. They are supposed to fill CO2 tanks to roughly 80% of the water volume so the liquid has room to expand. Worked at a gas facility for 20 years.

 

[bracconiere]

Or maybe I'll bring in a scale to check on the weight.

i started doing that with my last swap, because the tank before that when i got it home only had 13lb's.

 

[duncan.brown]

Here's the tank afterwards.

Good to see that the first law of thermodynamics still holds!

 

[MaxStout]

I would weigh my tank, but the gas supplier swaps them and I'm not sure the mass tolerances tank-to-tank would be close enough for me to get an accurate weight of the gas inside. And some times I get an aluminum tank, some times it's steel.

 

[marc1]

I would weigh my tank, but the gas supplier swaps them and I'm not sure the mass tolerances tank-to-tank would be close enough for me to get an accurate weight of the gas inside. And some times I get an aluminum tank, some times it's steel.

They should have a tare weight stamped into them.

 

[Tom R]

Maybe attach the regulator before loading into vehicle, and checking tank pressure?

A new tank swap from my LHBS is around 800PSI, and the burst disc appears to be 3000PSI. Gauge redlines at 1800PSI, so there should be plenty of indication something is amiss, right?

 

[Barbarossa]

They should have a tare weight stamped into them.

Mine has it. And I sure damn well weighted it when I got back home. I might even buy the anvil scale for that purpose. Will also help with weighting grain and closed transfers.

 

[NightFlight]

Where is the burst disc usually located?

 

[day_trippr]

Typical cga 320 valve, the burst disc module is the thing threaded in on the left...

Cheers!

 

[Gusso]

I wonder if my burst disc failed on a tank I had a couple of months back. I just bought a new kegerator, I was meticulously weighing the tank, checking for leaks. After a week on the scale, I removed it. Everything was fine for a few weeks until I noticed frost on the upper tank towards the regulator. I then noticed that the tank was empty. Originally, I just figured I didn't connect the tank right or I had a leak. But it was perfect for a few weeks prior.

 

[AngusMacDuff]

My keezer is in the garage with the CO2 cylinder inside. To make room for more kegs, I am planning to mount the 10# cylinder on the wall next to the keezer. I'm in Ohio and the garage temperature might get to 90F. The temperature-pressure charts indicate this should be no problem. I would appreciate comments and suggestions.

 

[chessking]

This burst disc of witch you speak. Is it a fail/ no fail part? Or is it like a relief valve that vents over pressure, then seals back up?
I guess what I'm asking is , is it a relief valve when it works correctly, and blows when it fails, or is it only sealed or blown. I just assumed it was a relief valve and was never sure if it ever worked, but if it blows and must be replaced, then I guess it must be working.

 

[day_trippr]

It's a one-time device.

 

[Barbarossa]

This burst disc of witch you speak. Is it a fail/ no fail part? Or is it like a relief valve that vents over pressure, then seals back up?

When I got back to the shop, they unscrewed it and showed it to me. There's a kind of three ply disk inside that hold up pressure. This disk got destroyed. They replaced it and put the screw back, then charged me 8$(Canadian monopoly money) for the disk but didn't charge me for the filling of the tank.

They tried to tell me that if it fails because they overfilled, it would fail in the first hour. I have doubts about that statement.

 

[Boobajoob]

I used to own a paintball shop and filled cylinders regularly. If you overfill the tank there's a good chance with any temp change or shaking/moving the burst can go. I've even seen properly filled tanks burst because people have left them in the back car window on a hot day in the sun.

This is why when filling a tank you need to chill it first. I'd add some CO2 then vent it out to insta-chill the tank, but the best method is to put it in the freezer for several hours to chill everything evenly then fill it from that temp. If you're filling with food grade CO2, they'll probably chill them via freezer to save the wasted gas.

Anyway, don't sweat it. Your tank is most likely fine. Burst disks are cheap and easy to replace and in this case it did exactly the job it was supposed to do. Have them replace it, chill, refill, then enjoy your tank as usual.

[edit] just seeing you already had it replaced. It's a shame they didn't want to admit the overfilled, but that's what must have happened. Especially if you didn't leave it near any heat source or shook it violently or anything.