Onboard Air

[Niedhogg]

I picked up a couple of CO2 tanks at an auction recently and was wondering what I needed to set these up for an onboard air sytem. Will I need to have these tanks certified by someone before I can get them filled? And what kind of regulator setup will I need?

These tanks are about 2 feet tall and probably 10" round, one's aluminum and the other is steel and look like they have the same capacity.. how much air will one of these tanks supply on the trail?

 

[IOPort51]

they will need to be hydrostatic tested and you will need a pressure regulator. They are capable of holding 2600 PSIG, and you can ask the vendor how many cubic feet of gas. Nitrogen is about as cheep a gas as there is. CO2 is about 500 PSIG but more cubic feet, I think, because it expands more when released from high pressure. I,m not sure how CO2 reacts to temperature changes. It would be interesting to do the math and see how many cubic feet you need to air up.

I picked up a couple of CO2 tanks at an auction recently and was wondering what I needed to set these up for an onboard air sytem. Will I need to have these tanks certified by someone before I can get them filled? And what kind of regulator setup will I need?

These tanks are about 2 feet tall and probably 10" round, one's aluminum and the other is steel and look like they have the same capacity.. how much air will one of these tanks supply on the trail?

 

[Niedhogg]

There are guys that run air tools off these things for trail repairs, along with airing up after a trail ride.. they must have some volume. Should be someone on here that has an air setup I should think.

 

[BajaEdition]

If you are just running them to fill up tires, make sure they are certified and get a helium regulator and some hose. that will be the cheapest setup and serve your purposes extremely well.
there is actually a cheaper way, sell those puppies to someone who is not aware, the cert test is around 35 clams each.
once you have offed them go to a welding supply store and tell them you want a co2 tank and tell them why. They will put you on the lease system for a round a 70 dollar deposit and the price of a helium regulator and hose, now anytime the tank is empty you bring it to them and they just swap it out for a full tank for the cost of the co2. You no longer have to recert a tank every few years as they own the tank, and if you decide to go another way return the tank and get your deposit back, now the tank cost you nothing.
If you want to use air tools ontrail, that tank is not going give you much life, they suggest a 25 gallon tanks for a air system anyway, plus you are going need an expensive regulator and water separator system anyway. plus a Compressor so you can use those tools for an extended period. I once dreamed of an onboard air system for air tools but once I set up the tools I wanted to carry I figured the weight of the tools plus the cost of replacement if they were stolen far outweighed the amount of times I ever needed air tools ontrail.
It is like an on board welder, boy I dream of that Premier system they sell, but I have seried 2 12 volt batteries, grabbed a few rods out of a plastic waterproof carrier and went to town just fine. I can never remember having perfect conditions welding on a broke down 4x4 on trail so rod is my choice of shielding over any wirefeed.

 

[Old Dog]

I have a 10# tank and can fill my 33" tires up from 8# to 25# at least 15 times. I also use it around the house to fill up low tires.
I believe the ones you have hold 20#'s of co2.

 

[Niedhogg]

Thanks for the advice Baja, I only gave 7 buchs a piece for them anyway, but I'll check with my local air-gas vender.