How do you transport your refilled/full CO2 tank w/o a truck?

[odie]

My local gas suppliers won't fill/swap unless you have a truck or trailer. Cannot be transported in enclosed in passenger compartment. Jeeps a no no too. Annoying.

IDK...park behind a pickup and pretend it's yours? Walk the empty up to the dock and walk your exchange back out?

 

[Rob2010SS]

My local gas suppliers won't fill/swap unless you have a truck or trailer. Cannot be transported in enclosed in passenger compartment. Jeeps a no no too. Annoying.

IDK...park behind a pickup and pretend it's yours? Walk the empty up to the dock and walk your exchange back out?

Interesting. Even the lil' 5 pounder?

 

[day_trippr]

That's ridiculous. Is that a Texas regulation or are you just dealing with idiots?

 

[lightningbug]

Backseat with a seatbelt. Windows cracked because if it leaks I dont want to pass out while driving.

 

[El Whedo]

I just strap a few on each side of my bike, and zip on home. No-one tailgates, and I always get the right-of-way! (J/K... I live in the US now and don't want someone to kill me for a little reckless fun.)

Though, it's not as impressive as a 55 gallon drum filled with something, strapped to each side of a Honda Cb 150, an Indonesian dude, his wife, and two kids all riding home together.

Or even better: in Pakistan I saw a trusty Cb 150 with a youngish goat, a cage with 3-4 chickens, and a family of two adults with a baby each in a bag on their chest, and maybe 4 children grooving on down the road.

 

[Knightshade]

Thanks all. I dropped off my 20lb to get refilled on Monday, picked it up today. Shoved it upright into a plastic crate and filled up the extra space with crap my wife always keeps in the trunk. Placed crate on floor in rear area and backed up the front passenger seat to lock it into place.

Drove home with the windows open, despite the fact that it was raining and hooked it up when I got home. All good.

 

[Broothru]

I had a rapid discharge incident in Delhi back in '98. Campylobacter, apparently

Euuuuw.

 

[mashpaddled]

That's ridiculous. Is that a Texas regulation or are you just dealing with idiots?

When I lived in Texas I never came across this. Sometimes the homebrew shop would volunteer to take the tank out to my car because it was cold and they would stick it on the floorboard below the back seat. Not saying that's a barometer of regulations but never had such an issue raised.

 

[faithie999]

Sometimes even a truck doesn't cut it. Five or six years ago I went to my usual gas supply place to get a small bottle fill. It was a shiny new bottle that I used on my kegerator. They usually didn't have 2.5# on hand for exchange, and if they did it would be some ugly, heavy steel one. So I opted to have them fill it.

Now the problem with filling a 2.5# bottle is that the tare weight is less than the weight of the fill hardware, so getting an accurate fill can be problematic. This time I got a real big overfill. It was a really hot summer day. I had a King Cab Ford at the time.

I strapped that bad boy in the back seat, turned up the a/c and headed out on the Interstate for the 20 minute drive home. Somewhere around 80 mph I heard a loud bang followed by serious fogging in the cabin and some trouble breathing. I knew immediately that the bottle had discharged, and hit the gang switch to open all the passenger windows plus the rear window pass- through to vent the CO2.

I've gone through training in hyperbaric chambers for rapid decompression. The noise and condensing moisture, plus the subtle signs of hypoxia. Not what you want to experience on a busy highway.

What had happened was an overfill and high ambient temperature in my truck. The internal pressure exceeded the burst pressure of the OPD. Now I do only bottle exchanges. I figure if a CO2 tank can handle the jostling on a delivery truck and sit in a warehouse for a period of time, it'll survive the drive home....in the trunk.

I'd be finding a different supplier. this sounds more like incompetency or poor training on the part of the person who filled it for you. the tare weight of a 2.5# steel tank is 9 lb. not sure what the "fill hardware" weight is, but maybe a couple of pounds? say 3 lb for argument. the tare weight plus fill hardware is 12 lb; the filled weight plus fill hardware is 14.5lb. if their scale can't resolve to that accuracy they need a new scale.

 

[odie]

That's ridiculous. Is that a Texas regulation or are you just dealing with idiots?

Major gas suppliers and producers...Praxair and AirGas.

I gather HB shops are most likely filling smaller tanks from a large commercial size tank. I think it's no longer high pressure liquid CO2 once it's transferred that way. And they probably get those large commercial size tanks delivered by the local gas supplier. They may not be aware of the regulations for transport.

But it's strange when I get my propane tanks filled at a major supplier they don't bat an eye at me putting propane tanks inside a vehicle.

 

[DuncB]

and if you have to use oxygen on prescription those cylinders go in the car!

Where I get my cylinders filled they have a special pump between the big cylinders and the receiving cylinders to get the pressure and fill right, otherwise it's a law of diminishing returns connecting one big cylinder to a small one. As the pressure / fill of the larger cylinder falls you will not get such a good fill on your receiving cylinder.

 

[PCABrewing]

I gather HB shops are most likely filling smaller tanks of a large commercial size tank. I think it's no longer high pressure liquid CO2 once it's transferred that way.

I think its still liquid else they wouldn't be able to achieve the filled weight.
Maybe the big tank has a dip tube, never really inspected one.

 

[PCABrewing]

But it's strange when I get my propane tanks filled at a major supplier they don't bat an eye at me putting propane tanks inside a vehicle.

If either one leaked enough to do its thing it would be a bad day for the occupant. Nonetheless most people I see just put it in the trunk.
I fear getting rear-ended more than a leak of my propane, but I do keep the windows down for the trip home.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

But it's strange when I get my propane tanks filled at a major supplier they don't bat an eye at me putting propane tanks inside a vehicle.

I had a crossover vehicle and was told at a Tractor Supply, that the limit for them was five propane bottles inside a car, no limit in the bed of a truck.

Go figure, as to how five is the safe limit.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I had a crossover vehicle and was told at a Tractor Supply, that the limit for them was five propane bottles inside a car, no limit in the bed of a truck.

Go figure, as to how five is the safe limit.

One time when someone tried to transport six bottles a war broke out, The next Covid variant peaked, the economy tanked, and a wife somewhere told her husband that he was right. They had to draw a line.

 

[Oldskewl]

I used to have mine filled at a fire equipment supply. They always told me to keep it upright for about 30 minutes. I think it was due to the temperature needing to regulate.