Dive Tank- Advice with a view to purchase
- Thread starter Henry.B
- Start date
These dive bottle fill stations are a little different from the ones you fill at local sites. The ones you use at local sites, the pressure fill is regulated. With the fill station adapter for dive bottles, you screw a knob. Turning the knob full on too fast is dangerous.
Try to fill as slowly as possible( within reason) puts less stress on the bottle and doesn't heat up as much.
When it cools down you will have less of a fill in the smaller tank if its been hot,some dive shops fill bottles in a tank of water to cool them and lessen the blast if they blow!
You could decant slowly then top up when it's cooled.
With regard to fill rigs you have to decide if you want 300 bar or 232 as the adapters are different,232 is usualy whats called an A clamp fitting and 300 is DIN although 232 can also be DIN!
232 is usually cheaper and tanks are lighter.
The centre of the valve fitting un screws and then takes a DIN fitting.
Phew knew all that training as a dive instructor would come in usefull some day.
When it cools down you will have less of a fill in the smaller tank if its been hot,some dive shops fill bottles in a tank of water to cool them and lessen the blast if they blow!
You could decant slowly then top up when it's cooled.
With regard to fill rigs you have to decide if you want 300 bar or 232 as the adapters are different,232 is usualy whats called an A clamp fitting and 300 is DIN although 232 can also be DIN!
232 is usually cheaper and tanks are lighter.
The centre of the valve fitting un screws and then takes a DIN fitting.
Phew knew all that training as a dive instructor would come in usefull some day.
Sorry just seen your other reply.
Second hand as its cheaper than new,no other reason.
Mine are two 232 12 litre ones with new tests,I would ask £80 each ,tests are one month ago full test and shot blasting which costs £40 each cylinder .
I'm in West Wales Carmarthen,unfortunately well unless your nearby.
I haven't put em up for sale as I would have to take photos and put in sale section.
In the past there have been extremely fast fill systems, these had a higher risk of a flash explosion.thinking about it though, I always see people filling their tanks really quickly from the compressors at my local site... why do they do that? I was always told filling a tank quickly is dangerous because it heats the tank a lot?!
Current systems are regulated not only for the maximum pressure, but for the rate of fill.
You can still get a cylinder hot from filling, there is less chance of a flash explosion, but it is not 100% guaranteed, it is safe for cylinders to be filled, however if someone wrongly uses oil on their cylinder and it gets inside then air under pressure, heat plus oil can cause an explosion (you produce the same reaction as a diesel engine)
A cylinder is best filled without it getting hot. Start the fill, pause after a short while if filling from low, and repeat.
If the air gets hot then you get less pressure as it cools, so that is an extra reason to fill slowly.
All cylinders in paintball are tested to pressures that exceed 3000psi or 4500psi so they are safe from failing even if you over pressurise. However the burst disk is designed to fail long before the cylinder.
What this means when you fill is you must fill at the correct fill station for the cylinder - 3000psi or 4500psi.
When using a scuba cylinder then the majority of fill stations are unregulated. This brings back the potential of a high speed fill, therefore open the cylinder slowly and regulate the fill rate yourself.
You could also be using a 3000 or 4500psi (232 or 300bar) scuba cylinder to fill a paintball cylider of either 3000 or 4500psi
4500psi/300bar scuba cylinders are more expensive so less often used for paintball fills.
You could fill a 3000psi paintball cylinder from a 4500 cylinder, but its not recommended.
If a 3000psi regulator is used in the fill rig then it is perfecetly safe for a 3000psi cylinder, without a regulator you can still do it CAREFULLY watching your 3000psi cylinders gauge.
The reason why a 4500 scuba source would be used for 3000psi fills is that the source pressure lasts longer to maintain fills at 3000psi
If you use a 3000 scuba cylinder then your first paintball fill will be very close to 3000psi, the next a fraction less, and less at each fill. If you fill to a lower pressure, e.g. 2500 then the source maintains presure and you get consistent fills.
Also if you fill from empty then you get less fills, if you regularly top up then you use less from the source to maintain consistent pressures.
Check out the UKPSF HPA1 on air safety:
http://www.oaklandsfestival.host56.com/web_documents/air information.pdf
Check out this guide video on filling from scuba cylinders:
My local dive shop refills my 232 and 300bar bottles in a water bath to keep them cool during filling. I swapped the A-clamp valve on my 15L 232bar Faber to a DIN style surface valve when it was last tested. Tanks with surface valves fitted have to undergo less rigourous and less regular inspections than tanks used underwater. The cost of the valve was soon covered by the saving in re-test fees.
hi! i have a few question aswell! if i buy a dive tank and get it filled would i using a steelie at 3.5 and my mate using a carbon fibre at 4.5 both be able to fill the bottles.??
If you get a 300bar dive tank (4.5k) DO NOT fill up a steelie with it. Very big mistake.
However,if you get a 232bar dive tank (3k) then both will work on it, but the carbon tank will not fill all the way.
It can be very risky
Unless the 300 bar dive bottle valve had a pressure limiting regulator fitted restricting it to 3000psi output
Or... you are very careful with the on/off tap and monitor the gauge on your bottle constantly while filling
Unless the 300 bar dive bottle valve had a pressure limiting regulator fitted restricting it to 3000psi output
Or... you are very careful with the on/off tap and monitor the gauge on your bottle constantly while filling
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