Ancient 7oz bottles

[tafan]

Yes sorry back to the point in hand!

The old bottles will have a D.O.T stamp on them. these should not be filled in the U.K. it is not legal.

You are looking for the pie mark, remember the two verticle lines with a wavey line above them. would have been something you would have come across at school when you were asked to work out the radius of a biscuit!

Bottles need to be tested every five years to make sure that they are still able to hold the enormous pressures safely and not explode when filled.

There are several marks on the top of the bottle, the date stamp will be month and year ie 04/96 this is a bottle made in april 96

you have five years before this needs to be retested ie april 2001 after that it shouln't be filled.

Most new bottles now have an end date on them as well. don't worry trying to find this, yours won't have one!

The other markings on the bottle will give you the normal working pressure of the bottle in BAR and the test pressure in BAR, again those aren't really your concern, let the test station worry about that!

As for taking the reg off and having a gander inside, my advise would be not to. firstly (not being rude) but you don't know what your looking for and secondly you don't know how much pressure to set your torque wrech to when putting the valve back in.

the objective ofthe test is to stop bottles exploding and causing death or serious injury so i wouldn't suggest that a lick of paint and an honest guv to be a sensible approach. it's your face the bottle will be next to when it goes bang!

Be smart and buy a new one. £15 ain't worth dying for!!

Taf.

 

[Ian Mac]

Dezincification shouldn't be an issue as I suspect the 7oz tanks have not been stored in acidic or alkaline water.

 

[Bandwagon]

To the original poster...

Irrespective of what some obsure HSE reg may or may not state about the size of a bottle, the simple fact is that it is currently out of date judging by the date stamp and the fact that you know it is ancient

If you take it to any site they will refuse to fill it for saftey reasons. If there is no date stamp on it ... they will refuse to fill it for safety reasons.

To be perfectly honest you could turn up to a site with a copy of whatever HSE reg applies and a bloke from HSE waving his arms and demanding that it be filled. The site would still refuse to fill it on safety grounds and whatever they say stands.

At the end of the day it is the sites safety policy, insurance and reputation on the line and trust me, they won't risk it for a £15.00 bottle - if a bottle is cleaned, painted and polished - they willl still look for the two basic signs - i.e 'Pi' mark and date stamp. If neither are there, forget about getting it filled. Hell, if a site doesnt like the colour or make of your bottle they are still perfectly within their rights to refuse to fill it !

To the other two upstanding pillars of the paintball community ...

Eh ?

The chap asked a perfectly reasonable question about a very important safety aspect of our game. Hopefully he won't be trying to get these filled anywhere soon.

Get your acts together and stop trying to score points against each other, as this issue potentially involves the safety of paintball players and site gas operators.

 

[tafan]

Ian

well pleased you now accept that brass does as such "corrode" and that you agree with me that it does depend on things that i have already mentioned such as PH etc.

what i don't get is that having said origionally that the bottle shoudn't be filled you now seem hell bent on fighting the case for filling it?!?

neither of us know how the bottle has been stored or what it has been subjected to. i am simply trying to point out that the bottle could well be extremely dangerous to fill. every very legitimate point i raise you try to poo poo? mate what's your problem, clearly the bottle is dangerous to fill end of chat. if you have some problem with me because i proved you wrong about the brass dezincification thing then just call me a git and have done with it. sadly what you are doing is endangering the life of piercee100 by implying that there is no reason for the bottle not to be filled.

mate it appears that you are under educated on the subject and don't really know anything about dezincification, i assume that is why it took you so long to respond. having a peak on the internet were we?!? it's a heck or a U turn from your origional post that brass doesn't corrode - make your mind up

piercee100, buddy please ignore this guy, he'll do you no favours. bin the bottle and get a new one. if you can't get hold of one i can.

Taf.

 

[piercee100]

Okay guys! Thanks.

The bottles actually have 1987 stamped on them so yes they are certainly more than 20 years old and so it is for the best I don't use them- It makes sense certainly from a safety point of view. I had no idea though that Co2 bottles needed testing- I thought that was just for Air, but when you think about it, its a good idea.

So I'm still going to use my old Pumps at the big game, so I've ordered 2 boxes of 12g sparklets.


Can anybody recommend somewhere to buy small Co2 bottles?

 

[tafan]

i've made a few phone calls for you, am waiting to hear back on prices and sizes etc, will let you know what i find for you.

12 oz bottles are easy to get hold of. is this okay for you?

Taf.

 

[M600]

whatever you do dont throw the bottles away, keep em or give them to me

 

[M600]

clearly the bottle is dangerous to fill end of chat.

to be honest i dont know why you are getting so angry, and how would you know if its dangerous? ive filled bottles from 1987 and 1990 and they work fine, the 1987 one was even over pressurized by accident (due to temperature difference) and the burst disk went. and no one is saying fill the bottle so take it eaaaaaasy

 

[tafan]

The cheapest i have found is £17 for a 12oz.
let me know if you're interested.

M600, not angry mate, concerned that's all. a death in the sport will do us no favours!! look at ukpsf website, they seem to confirm that bottles do require testing.

Taf.