Can you lay co2 bottles on their side in the fridge?

[thetmaxx]

5 lb bottle would fit better on its side, is this ok?

 

[JoeyChopps]

Yes

 

[Smashing]

NO! You should never lay the bottle down!

 

[Smashing]

You'll send liquid co2 into your reg and ruin it. Plus the safety cable on the tank might fail. Never never. Don't even store it that way.

 

[JoeyChopps]

Ok guess I was wrong I stored mine in my keggerator door on its side for like a year and a half with no problems what so ever

 

[billtzk]

No. CO2 is a liquid under pressure. It is constantly converting from liquid to gas in the top of the tank where the valve is. If you turn it on its side, you could get liquid CO2 coming out.

 

[Smashing]

Ok guess I was wrong I stored mine in my keggerator door on its side for like a year and a half with no problems what so ever

Yes you were. You got lucky.

 

[JoeyChopps]

I would rather be lucky than good any day of the week

 

[thetmaxx]

I guess ultimately that was my question, does co2 go to liquid under pressure like propane.

Thank you all!

 

[JoeyChopps]

I have been wondering all day if this is true or an old wives tale. I'm an aircraft mech and we have liquid nitrogen carts for servicing tires and struts. The nitrogen in the bottles its liquid and comes out as a gas and the bottles are on the cart on there sides and they are just fine. Same as lp forklifts there tank is stored on its side right behind the driver. I have a hard time beleving I got "lucky" with my co2 bottles on its side for over a year and a half with several fill ups

 

[Marlowefire]

Yes

No

 

[DeafSmith]

You probably didn't get liquid coming out because the CO2 tanks are only filled to about 34% full with liquid, according to this site:

CO2 Dynamics

That site is more oriented to paintball, but I'd think the same basic facts applied to CO2 for kegging. Personally, I would never lay the bottle on its side while in use.

 

[BrewMU]

It could make a difference. If the pressure is high enough that the CO2 is liquid, there will be vapor at the top, at CO2s vapor pressure. If you turn it on it's side, there will be liquid at the top - If anything were to go wrong, it would be a leak there, and I think you'd know it. It'll probably be okay.

 

[JoeyChopps]

Storing co2 bottles on there side is the norm on paint ball guns still thinking this is bs

 

[SwampassJ]

I have been wondering all day if this is true or an old wives tale. I'm an aircraft mech and we have liquid nitrogen carts for servicing tires and struts. The nitrogen in the bottles its liquid and comes out as a gas and the bottles are on the cart on there sides and they are just fine. Same as lp forklifts there tank is stored on its side right behind the driver. I have a hard time beleving I got "lucky" with my co2 bottles on its side for over a year and a half with several fill ups

Because your forklift propane tanks are designed to be on their side. Put a 20lb tank meant for use in grills on it's side you'll pull liquid propane. I have no idea about CO2 tanks, I've never had the pleasure of using one.

 

[Smashing]

Storing co2 bottles on there side is the norm on paint ball guns still thinking this is bs

Yea but the are at a bit of an angle. Shoot one straight down and see how cold things get. Most PB guns don't have regulators on them either, the little bit of liquid that's shot warms up to a gas inline. Those with regs run tanks with anti-siphons in them. It's basically a copper tube that's installed internally in the valve and curved towards the top of the tank to suck only gas. I run them in all of my horizontal tanks.


Bottom line, co2 in a tank is mostly liquid. It makes sense that a horizontal tank can suck liquid and ruin your expensive regs. If you want to run it on it's side your better off having the valve a bit higher than the rest of the tank.

 

[Smashing]

Crude diagram.....

 

[JoeyChopps]

Yea but the are at a bit of an angle. Shoot one straight down and see how cold things get. Most PB guns don't have regulators on them either, the little bit of liquid that's shot warms up to a gas inline. Those with regs run tanks with anti-siphons in them. It's basically a copper tube that's installed internally in the valve and curved towards the top of the tank to suck only gas. I run them in all of my horizontal tanks.

Bottom line, co2 in a tank is mostly liquid. It makes sense that a horizontal tank can suck liquid and ruin your expensive regs. If you want to run it on it's side your better off having the valve a bit higher than the rest of the tank.

Well that makes sense on how I was "lucky" for all that time stored on its side. The valve on my co2 bottles was slightly higher and the regs were straight up from there. As a plumer once told me "**** don't run up hill." I think this subject is not as clear cut as some of the other posters make it. So I still see no problem with laying a bottles on its side as long as the valve is slightly inverted

 

[Smashing]

Well that makes sense on how I was "lucky" for all that time stored on its side. The valve on my co2 bottles was slightly higher and the regs were straight up from there. As a plumer once told me "**** don't run up hill." I think this subject is not as clear cut as some of the other posters make it. So I still see no problem with laying a bottles on its side as long as the valve is slightly inverted

That's a fair assumption for sure.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Storing co2 bottles on there side is the norm on paint ball guns still thinking this is bs

Storing maybe, but not using. Some paintball tanks have special bent dip tubes inside them so if they are connected directly to a paintball marker (they don't call them "guns") they can be used in a horizontal position without liquid co2 going into your marker. But since you're running around like a maniac and sometimes shooting from weird angles, this system is not foolproof.

I speak from experience when I say that it's a bad idea to use a co2 tank in anything other than a mostly vertical position, even with those special dip tubes. I've had my paintball marker freeze up too many times due to the liquid co2 coming into my marker's inner workings. It's kinda cool to see snowflakes shoot out of your barrel, but when you're pinned behind some cover and two guys whose guns aren't shooting snowflakes are gunning for you, the reminder of wintertime coming out of your barrel is not a welcome sight. I switched over to having the tanks on my back in a vertical position and then a cord connects the tank to my marker. No more freeze ups for me.

 

[JoeyChopps]

Neat didn't know that much about paint ball guns also speaking from my experience store and using a co2 bottles on its side slightly tilted is ok