Filling your bottles

[Bolter]

Yes it worries me a great deal. Each time I fill up, I always (even for a split second) think "what if this thing pops?"

Someone just before me may have lubed his air system with WD40 because of course, that clears any grit, and I may lose an arm?

Id would much rather someone did it for me.

 

[Thib]

Yes, but nobody will fill people's bottle.
Would you fill the bottle of someone "not wanting to do it" ? I would be afraid he did something wrong !!!

 

[Norfilas]

I think that there should be one person supervising and providing assistance. As well as a 5 minute training at the start of a session just explaining the dangers of using HPA. I wouldn't like to hand my bottle to some stranger incase they damaged it while it was in their care, cause i dunno about you guys, but i would wanna walk onto a field with a damaged bottle...

 

[Bolter]

Yes, but nobody will fill people's bottle.
Would you fill the bottle of someone "not wanting to do it" ? I would be afraid he did something wrong !!!

Yes but that is not the question that was asked.

 

[3L1TE hax]

Ha, well lets admit that that is infact an good point in this arguement, we are all worried about incompetent staff when infact, the staff should/could be equally worried about incompetent people.

Another thing , slightly off topic in this arguement but on the topic of bottle safety, what safety features are actually put into place at a fill station? I can think of safety ties (no whipping whips) Burst disks, and that is all I as an un-qualified normal human being can see, what else can we do? an extremely good point was made earlier by Wihglah i don't know if directly or by me mis-reading, but he said something along the lines of using different connectors. I just think what an intelligent idea that is, If we had a 3k fill nipple and a 4.5K nipple, So no one could possibly even try to fill their bottle over 3k as the whip just wouldn't fit over. A secong idea for over filing bottle's could be the use of some form of colouring, this sounds incredibly stupid but we could do it with tank cover, Red =4.5k Blue=3k then anyone from across the station can see someone filling the wrong bottle (thats if the fil nipples aren't changed which would be a major hassle for just about everyone....) everyone can remember a Match is a catch but odds are sods, i made that rhyme in 4 seconds but it kinda makes sense, filling your bottle at an odd whip is bad filling your bottle at a matched whip is good...

sorry off topic but i was just thinkin'

 

[Tom Allen]

an extremely good point was made earlier by Wihglah i don't know if directly or by me mis-reading, but he said something along the lines of using different connectors. I just think what an intelligent idea that is, If we had a 3k fill nipple and a 4.5K nipple, So no one could possibly even try to fill their bottle over 3k as the whip just wouldn't fit over.

sorry off topic but i was just thinkin'

This was brought up years ago, and i researched different fittings that were more suited to the pressures used. I passed this information across to the "safety minded" or "out to score points" members at the time and nothing more was heard of it.

The reason it was effectively canned?, well it's pretty obvious they wanted everyone to go down to 3000psi, and can 4500psi.

 

[CraigofScotland]

If there are diffent fill nipples, say diameter was different. Are events going to carry more lines .. or do the cheaper option of half 4.5 half 3k fill nips of exisiting fixtures. meaning at an event if say 80% show and want 4.5 fills the cues will be bigger. or the opisite at the next event...

TO be honest, over filling a 3k bottle doesnt scare me, burst disks will see to that, what will scare me is people playing with fittings while the bottle is pressurised or not fitting the reg properly, or gauge / nipple properly. Parts shooting off would do alot of damage if it contacted something soft.

Also, a little education about looking out for bottle damage would be useful, just because it is in test does not guarentee structural integrity.


It will be a tough debate and difficult to police. I just hope at the least a general education of air safety to players should be introduced. Air at that pressure should scare the poo out of people, not be looked over.

 

[Tom]

If there are diffent fill nipples, say diameter was different. Are events going to carry more lines .. or do the cheaper option of half 4.5 half 3k fill nips of exisiting fixtures. meaning at an event if say 80% show and want 4.5 fills the cues will be bigger. or the opisite at the next event...

TO be honest, over filling a 3k bottle doesnt scare me, burst disks will see to that, what will scare me is people playing with fittings while the bottle is pressurised or not fitting the reg properly, or gauge / nipple properly. Parts shooting off would do alot of damage if it contacted something soft.

Also, a little education about looking out for bottle damage would be useful, just because it is in test does not guarentee structural integrity.


It will be a tough debate and difficult to police. I just hope at the least a general education of air safety to players should be introduced. Air at that pressure should scare the poo out of people, not be looked over.

Regarding different fill nipples & the size of the queue, this is already as per the current situation - they would need the 'correct' fill nipple for the correct fill pressure.
I doubt this would happen though as it would require cylinder fill nipples to be changed.

Regarding queue size of the 4500 queue being longer than the 3000 queue - I have experienced this, and their is an easy solution - go to the short 3000 queue. (A 4500 cylinder can take a 3000 fill) I have done so in the past, though I am a scenario player so a 4500 fill gives me longer time in game. For a tournament player unless you are firing constant stream 3000 should last youa game in a 4500 cylinder.
If the queue is extremely long at 4500 the supervising staff could redirect people to the 3000 first then to 4500 for a top up (Or let people queue jump with part filled bottles)


I am also still surprised by this subject - I understood that the air pass system now in UKSPC first came from the tournament world. Is this not the case or are events not complying?

 

[Canon Fodder]

Not that this adds much but air - happy to do it myself, CO2 - scares the bejesus out of me. Really I struggle to see how you can go wrong with filling an air bottle (unless you have so little sense but then I don't want to play where you do because you'll probably shoot me in the face in the safe zone). If I'd every been shown how to do CO2 properly I probably won't mind doing that myself either.

 

[JNR-XV]

The only thing that scares me, is what someone bought up earlier. What has the person before me done with their system.

I always make sure i visually check the rig and my fill nipple, clear away any dirt/debris that might be lurking. Then when the line is connected, i always pull the line bag to make sure its connected properly. Then i start the fill very slowly, untill i hear the fill nipple click. Then i half open the lever till the bottle is full. I never just connect and whack it on. if anything happen while your filling and you have control of the air flow, at least your gonna let go and that stops the flow.

I always point my bottle to the floor away from my body too, after being 10 feet away from the towering inferno that was nige a couple of years ago, i feel its the safest way.

Other then that im quite happy to fill my own bottle.