Scary Sh*t...

[Brokemelon]

I was taking a CO2 tank of my gun when I realized that instead of the valve coming out of the gun, the tank was coming unscrewed from the valve! Luckily it was completely empty. I went to my local paintball and showed them, and the guy was like, "OH MY GOD!" which was pretty much the same reaction I had. I think he had the same vision of the tank flying across the room and lodging itself in the wall, taking part of our arm with it. I used the oppertunity to get an anti-syphon tube installed, and had them put it back together with a grip of loc-tite. Problem solved. Has this ever happened to anyone else?

 

[Buddha 3]

I've seen similar things happen to some of the walk-ons that play on the field where I sometimes practice. (the bottle unscrewing, not the arms being torn off)
When this happens, get one of them adjustable wrench things and use that to unscrew the valve from the ASA adapter (the thing into which you screw your bottle, for those who are new to P'ball lingo). Don't continue unscrewing the bottle itself (duh).
Once the bottle is off the marker, degas it. If you have an on/off valve, just open it up. If you have a pin valve, screw it onto the fill station, and allow the gas to be vented from the bottle (site staff should be able to help you with that, if you're unsure how that works). Once it is degassed, you can safely unscrew the bottle from the valve.
Slapping on some loctite is good.
Normally, you willl not see this happen if there is pressure left in the bottle, because it will 'lock' the bottle in place. But it is better to be safe than sorry, so instead of assuming that your bottle is depressurized when it starts to unscrew, get the wrenches out!!!

Stay safe. Peace.

 

[Brokemelon]

Your knowledge is endless, Buddha.

 

[Buddha 3]

Heehee...

Well, I've been playing paintball for a good number of years, plus I've worked as a sales manager for a distributor, in which capacity I also spent a lot of time on several sites. Combine that with the fact that I look to this board to keep me awake during work hours, and you end up with someone who's seen a lot happen, and doesn't mind telling other people about his experiences.

 

[Gogger]

vision of the tank flying across the room and lodging itself in the wall, taking part of our arm with it.

In theory, this shouldn't happen! If you look at the thread on the valve, you will see a small hole drilled right through. If you were to unscrew the valve from a charged bottle. It should vent out through this as soon as the hole clears the neck of the bottle.

Gogger

 

[The_Joker]

course when a ****load of Co2 starts coming out of the tank most people wouldn't be dumb enough to keep unscrewing. They're out there but hopefully it starts small enough that you can just let it bleed all the gas out. That's weird though, they should have some a little more solid than that in place, how old was the tank?

 

[Micah]

When I first got my 68/4500 it wasn't properly loc-tited ... so after my first day of play with it I kept it on my gun for what ever reason ... then when I got home I ploped down on my bed to start cleaning my kit. I began to unscrew it and the tank came off the reg (lucky it had like 200 psi in it or less), it shot off and bounced off my bed. Scared the crap out of me, I'm thankful for 2 things, one, I tryed to empty it first before unscrewing it and 2, I wasn't in it's way when it shot off.

I bet a fiber wraped tank shooting off at 4500 psi could put a hole in a wall easy ...

-Micah

 

[Buddha 3]

See how easy it is to fool yourself?
We say to ourselves 'oh, it's just 200 PSI'. But do you realise that is equal too about 13 times the atmospheric pressure?
That is pretty hefty........It's about equal to swimming underneath 425 feet of water, not survivable!!!

We use some scary stuff, when you think about it...

 

[Brokemelon]

PMI Pure Energy 12oz., about a month old. Only three or four fills on it.

 

[Micah]

What about it?