refilliing paint ball co2 tank?
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Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
You have to get a special CO2 tank in order to fill the paintball bottles up. Plus, you need some additional hardware to fill them. You'll need to chill the tanks with a couple of purges of CO2 before you can fill them up. It wastes a decent amount of CO2 in the process.
Most of the tanks I know of, that are on our scale, are 20# models with a dip tube to pull the CO2 up. IMO, it's a lot of hassle, expense, and such for someone just using it for kegging/homebrew. I would just pay the few dollars to get them filled up for you and not worry about it.
I go to a paintball supply store and get mine filled up pretty cheap. Sure, it's not as cheap (per pound of CO2) as the larger tanks I have, but considering how much you waste, I think it's a better deal.
Most of the tanks I know of, that are on our scale, are 20# models with a dip tube to pull the CO2 up. IMO, it's a lot of hassle, expense, and such for someone just using it for kegging/homebrew. I would just pay the few dollars to get them filled up for you and not worry about it.
I go to a paintball supply store and get mine filled up pretty cheap. Sure, it's not as cheap (per pound of CO2) as the larger tanks I have, but considering how much you waste, I think it's a better deal.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
You might want to check out some of these links... See if it's something you really want to get involved with.
You'll need a "CO2 Fill station" and a scale. CO2 tanks for refilling paintball tanks have a siphon tube in them in order to transfer liquid CO2. CO2 tanks for beer don't have a siphon tube. However, all you have to do is turn your large tank upside down to get liquid out. You can get more CO2 in your paintball tank if it is colder than your donor tank. You can achieve this by placing your paintball tank in the freezer. I refill mine at room temperature and can get 16 ounces into a 20 oz tank. That will carb and push 2 corney kegs, so that's good enough for me. NEVER exceed the weight stamped on the bottle. Use your scale. Lot's of how-to videos on youtube.
Some info about CO2 here:
http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/gasses/co2dynamics.shtml
Note particularly that it is dangerous to fill a CO2 tank more than 34% full with liquid CO2.
http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/gasses/co2dynamics.shtml
Note particularly that it is dangerous to fill a CO2 tank more than 34% full with liquid CO2.
carlisle_bob
Well-Known Member
Hi
Just to complicate things:
The CO2 you put in a paintball tank is not required to be "food safe". The stuff you should use for a keg should be.
Bob
Just to complicate things:
The CO2 you put in a paintball tank is not required to be "food safe". The stuff you should use for a keg should be.
Bob
haeffnkr
Well-Known Member
Hello,
I want to fill a paintball tank for 3 gallon keg dispensing, using a beer regulator/etc.
I have an on/off valve PB tank valve that I put my 9 oz bottle.
I have a standard 20 pound CO2 tank for my kegerator. (2 actually...)
These are standard CO2 tanks for beverage dispensing and not the syphon tube type.
So my question is...
If I freeze my PB tanks and attach them to my PB tank fill fittings and I Do NOT invert my 20 pound tank, what happens?
I expect that the frozen PB tanks will suck in CO2 from the 20# and turn a little bit of it to Gas and I will get a couple ounce in the PB bottle, safely.
Only having a couple onces would be fine I think and would be enough to dispense the beer with out the hastle of flipping the 20# tank around and not worrying about high pressure/volume in the PB tank?
Flame away...
thanks Kevin
I want to fill a paintball tank for 3 gallon keg dispensing, using a beer regulator/etc.
I have an on/off valve PB tank valve that I put my 9 oz bottle.
I have a standard 20 pound CO2 tank for my kegerator. (2 actually...)
These are standard CO2 tanks for beverage dispensing and not the syphon tube type.
So my question is...
If I freeze my PB tanks and attach them to my PB tank fill fittings and I Do NOT invert my 20 pound tank, what happens?
I expect that the frozen PB tanks will suck in CO2 from the 20# and turn a little bit of it to Gas and I will get a couple ounce in the PB bottle, safely.
Only having a couple onces would be fine I think and would be enough to dispense the beer with out the hastle of flipping the 20# tank around and not worrying about high pressure/volume in the PB tank?
Flame away...
thanks Kevin
BetterSense
Well-Known Member
This is my experience doing this:
If you don't invert your donor tank to get liquid, you will get very little CO2 to transfer, even if your destination tank is colder. Don't even waste your time trying. You have to either invert your donor tank or use a dip-tube tank.
If you invert the source tank, your destination tank will get about half full the first time. Putting it in the freezer ahead of time doesn't work that well, because the empty tank by itself just doesn't absorb much heat.
If you then freeze the half-full tank and reiterate the process later, it will actually be possible to over-fill on the second iteration, so be careful. If you put an over-full tank in your kegerator, it might be ok. If you put it out in room temperature or outside, the burst disk very well may blow.
At warm temperatures, there stops being liquid in a 10LB donor tank when there's still nearly 2 pounds of CO2 left, so it's pretty inefficient to do this for your sole setup.
If you don't invert your donor tank to get liquid, you will get very little CO2 to transfer, even if your destination tank is colder. Don't even waste your time trying. You have to either invert your donor tank or use a dip-tube tank.
If you invert the source tank, your destination tank will get about half full the first time. Putting it in the freezer ahead of time doesn't work that well, because the empty tank by itself just doesn't absorb much heat.
If you then freeze the half-full tank and reiterate the process later, it will actually be possible to over-fill on the second iteration, so be careful. If you put an over-full tank in your kegerator, it might be ok. If you put it out in room temperature or outside, the burst disk very well may blow.
At warm temperatures, there stops being liquid in a 10LB donor tank when there's still nearly 2 pounds of CO2 left, so it's pretty inefficient to do this for your sole setup.
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