Refilling my own tank?? THIS EASY??

[Ball Buster]

hey guys,

Ok, I was chatting in the AOL chat room and someone told me it is relatively simple to refill my own tanks... I was told all I need to do is to get my hands on two scuba tanks and a fill station and I'd be golden..

What I'm wondering is this.. They said I needed two scuba tanks because one will only fill to 2k psi and the other is used to top it off.. If I have a 3Kpsi tank can i use two 2k psi tanks to fill it or do I need to find two 3kpsi tanks??

I'm a certified diver so, I know you have to be one to get scuba tanks filled, etc.. If it is as easy as I have heard, this will work great for me as I have to drive 25 miles to get a tank filled and it costs me right at 6 bucks for a 68/3000. So, if I can fill my own and my friends tanks this easy, we're going in on some tanks and a fill station... Please let me know..

Thanks Guys..

BB..

[DryIce]

Well if you have a 3000 psi scuba tank your first fill will of course fill your paintball tank up to 3000 psi... After that though the pressure is going to drop off and you wont be getting any more 3000 psi fills. What I *think* he was trying to suggest is getting 2 tanks and using one to fill to 2000 psi and the other to top it off. This would let you get a full 3000 psi fill for longer.
Hope this helps
:)

[TheTramp]

DryIce is right, the two tanks are for a cascade which will inable you to get close to 3000psi fills longer. You don't really have to worry about this. If you have two tanks then great, use them bout. If you only have one tank you can still get fills over 200psi all day.

edit: 2000psi right. A 200psi fill wouldn't get you very far. :)

[MajorDamage]

I think ThTramp means 2000 PSI...
Its very easy to fill a tank. Me and my buddy are like the regulars up there, and are friends with the owner, ref, and other guys who work there. They let us fill our own tank. Not at all as hard as youd think. Very easy!

ENDO!

[Nitroduck]

You only need a scuba fill valve ($60ish)

1 80cf 3k station will get you about 1 , 2500psi fill, and drop off about 100-200psi per fill if your tank is dead empty. 2 stations will let you get about 10 fills at 2500psi, but wont let you get as many lower fills.

I personally tried a 120cf steel once......Worked like a dream, my 2, 3-man teams used it in a whole tournament without it giving lower than 1500psi fills.

I personally sugguest a 120cf if you can afford one, since your a diver, you know how much they cost. Also, you dont need to be licensed/trained to fill them, it takes about 2 minutes to learn the simple procedure.

I am now looking into a cascade 6k nitrogen system they use at industrial welding places. I was at a tournament where they had 2.......It lasted 11 teams the whole tournament providing reliable 3k and 4.5k fills for the whole tournament.

[joeyjoe367]

I've seen this 3000 PSI hand pump that was made for a .22 cal Airgun... Would it be possible to grab one of these things ($200 or $300 a pop) and fill your paintball n2 tank with it?

I've never seen it in person, but I doubt that it uses the same kinds of fittings...

[Ball Buster]

120cf?

So, basically. I could get just 1 3500psi 120cf tank and i'd be golden??? Or do I need two of them also?

Also NitroDuck

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How is that looking? What do you think it will run you?

Thanks

Jeff

[Skyssx]

Originally posted by joeyjoe367
I've seen this 3000 PSI hand pump that was made for a .22 cal Airgun... Would it be possible to grab one of these things ($200 or $300 a pop) and fill your paintball n2 tank with it?

I've never seen it in person, but I doubt that it uses the same kinds of fittings...

You would pump your damn arms off!!

Any scuba tank over 3000 psi has to have some type of special valve and regulator, i'd rather just get a 3k and not worry about special adaptors. You don't *have* to fill to 3k each time, with an 80 foot scuba tank you should get a full day's air (12 fills of progressively lessening pressure) out of it no problem.

[TheTramp]

There is a Aluminum 80 cf 3300psi tank with a normal K-valve. Just slap you fill adaptor on there and you'll get at least one or two 3000psi fills. You can get the tank at www.diversdiscount.com (or something close to that) for around $150 shipped. that's $10 less then a 3000psi tank at a dive shop around here.

[Ball Buster]

don't have to fill to 3kpsi?

Ok, if you can "not fill" the tank to 3kpsi and still shoot well, what is the point of having a 3kpsi tank??

Wouldn't a 3kpsi tank filled to about 2kpsi not shoot as well as the full 3k? this is sorta starting to sound like I should just go buy 2-3 more n2 tanks and just get them filled... who knows...

i'd really like to fill my own tanks, but if it's going to mean not shooting as well then forget that..

If i get 12 fills out of 1 tank, with progressively lowering pressure.. what is that 12th tank gonna shoot like?

[DryIce]

its going to shoot exactly the same as the first tank
just not as long
more psi just means that you will get more shots out of your tank.

Say you were getting 700 shots out of your full tank during the first part of the day when filling to 3000psi

when you get down in the day filling to 2000 psi you may only get 600 shots

these Numbers are of no way scientificly done but more just a few round numbers off the top of my head to give you an idea.

hope this helps.

[Nitroduck]

1, 3500psi/120cf should last about 10+ fills over 2000psi.

Only differance between a 2k fill and 3k fill is the 3k gets more shots....Same reason they make a 4.5k, 5k, 10k and such. Just more shots per fill.

The LOWEST you really want to fill at is 1200psi, that will give you about a hopper full before needing refilled (depending on gun).

[cphilip]

Re: don't have to fill to 3kpsi?

Originally posted by Ball Buster
Ok, if you can "not fill" the tank to 3kpsi and still shoot well, what is the point of having a 3kpsi tank??

You forget the gun is regulated to 450 and then 800 psi (example...or whatever) at the tank. So there will be no difference of the pressure coming out to the gun until it drops below this "end use regulated pressure". Not the total internal tank pressure.

[Jeb_Hoge]

Just be careful...I thought I had my tank secured to the fill adaptor when I opened the valve on our team SCUBA once, and it wasn't. I couldn't hear out of one ear for about 10 minutes, and it really scared the heck out of me.

[Hasty8]

I have an interesting question here.

Now granted, I know nothing about filling tanks other then going to the fill booth but I do know my physics.

How would you get 3000psi in your HPA bottle from a 2000psi scuba tank? Unless you have a compressor on the line I don't see how it is happening.

How can you fill to 2000 from one bottle and "top off" to 3000 from another 2000psi bottle? Maybe if you have then linked in a series and they are both opened at the same time. This will add to the toal pressure but it will not equal 4000psi. My mind is rusty but I think two 2000 psi bottles linked together and being expelled out a single hose [depending on hose diameter] could give you almost 3200psi +/- 52.elbs. Once the internal pressure of your HPA bottle is greater then the pressure in the fill bottle it's not doing anything.

Again, I may be wrong.