Customer says Nitrogen is better?

[Rope a Dope]

I have a customer that comes into my shop and says at his work he gets nitrogen pretty easily. So he fills his paintball tanks with nitrogen. He says it's better than when he filled it with air because nitrogen is more dry and more consistent and you don't see a white puff out the end of your barrel when you shoot it.

He's a nice guy and even shoots a warped E-Mag (very few shoot mags here in CA) and he just got his brother into the sport. Not come elitist jerk that says we do it all wrong and nitrogen is better, lol. He just says he has noticed better performance with nitrogen than air because it is more dry. He says he has to oil his gun more often because of it.

Anyone ever use nitrogen, is it better? I ask because every paintball article I read said for paintball nitrogen has no advantage over air in a paintball gun.

Next time we're at the field he said he'll give me a few fills so I can see for myself.

[cris8762]

it might be slightly cleaner...but i dunno, that's just what i would assume if he's using pure nitrogen

[Miscue]

Urm, it's not significantly "better." CA is mostly nitrogen anyway.

[DJBacon06]

I would guess its cleaner (I use Nitrogen) there really isn't a difference...afterall, Nitrogen makes up 70% of the air we breathe (and put into your tank in your case) anyway.

[Rope a Dope]

ah, thought so, lol

Maybe it's just like that scene in Spaceballs where Mel Brooks opens a can of french air and breathes it. :)

[68magOwner]

umm, ive always used nitrogen, because thats what the proshop has, but somebody let us know if its really better, so i can be greatful its all they have :D

[Kevmaster]

at my field....we tried both, went with compressed air because it was cheaper...

they're equal for all intents and purposes..

[rdb123]

Originally posted by Kevmaster
at my field....we tried both, went with compressed air because it was cheaper...

they're equal for all intents and purposes..

Here's a question: supposing you get your tank filled with air, would you have to completely empty your tank before taking in nitrogen?

Thanks

[Mag Master 04]

strait nitrogen is cold, very cold, just like the effect co2 has...when moving at a high rate and compressed so quickly it is cold...with CA it is warm because the molecules expand faster...and give it a warmth, we have strait nitrogen at work and its crazy cold, but we cant compress it enough to fill my tank:(

[SSMercury]

Originally posted by Mag Master 04
strait nitrogen is cold, very cold, just like the effect co2 has...when moving at a high rate and compressed so quickly it is cold...with CA it is warm because the molecules expand faster...and give it a warmth, we have strait nitrogen at work and its crazy cold, but we cant compress it enough to fill my tank:(

Eh? I'm sorry, but I can't make heads or tails out of this entire post. Could you clarify it?

[Butterfingers]

Originally posted by Mag Master 04
strait nitrogen is cold, very cold, just like the effect co2 has...when moving at a high rate and compressed so quickly it is cold...with CA it is warm because the molecules expand faster...and give it a warmth, we have strait nitrogen at work and its crazy cold, but we cant compress it enough to fill my tank:(

Liquid nitro is cold Gaseous nitro has the same properties as air.

Liquid and compressed nitrogen are two diffrent things.

For all intensive purposes gaseous nitrogen and air are the same. Air is composed of 70 percent gasous nitrogen anyway. If you get you fills at a scuba place the air is 5x filtered and certified breathable. Dosent get higher qual than that.

[Methylphenidate]

78.084% nitrogen in the earths atmosphere

thats scary that i knew that off the top of my head.
WOW im actually learning in school i never noticed it before

[thei3ug]

he better find out what grade of nitrogen he's using...

if he works in a machine shop, tell him he better be putting a filter on that fill station. Who knows what he's putting into his gun. He could be getting all sorts of particulates.

As for "cleaner," it all depends. that's like claiming that seawater is better than koolaid because it doesn't have all the red stuff in it.

As for more consistant.... no. that's already been touched. they both behave the same.

As for dryer... once again, depends on his source of nitrogen, but just because you see a little condensation doesn't mean it's any better.

[Lohman446]

I was under the impression that pure nitrogen (assuming good quality no particles etc.) was slightly more desireable than compressed air. The reasoning behind it having to do with no fluctuation in the amount of different gasses inside your tank which could effect consistency. That being said, most who have made this argument, have also immediatly noted that while it is theoretically better in all practical purposes you are going to see very little difference between nitrogen (as a gas - if someones dealing with or has managed to put liquid nitrogen in their tank they need a new tank ASAP) and compressed air in application in regards to paintball markers.

[logamus]

Originally posted by Lohman446
it is theoretically better in all practical purposes you are going to see very little difference between nitrogen (as a gas - if someones dealing with or has managed to put liquid nitrogen in their tank they need a new tank ASAP) and compressed air in application in regards to paintball markers.

and thats the bottom line because stone cold said so.


remember, either source is a billion times better than co2.

[sniper1rfa]

you wont see any difference. Air might have a higher moisture content because it isnt refined, but who cares? HPA and compressed nitrogen are both ideal gasses as we use them. they act essentially the same. (actually, they DO act the same for our purposes).

[OfficerGoat]

I think I'm going to try Compressed O2 in my gun :eek:

DISCLAIMER This is meant as a stupid comment, using pure oxigen is a very bad idea..... unless you intend to use your gun as a hand grenade...Seriously its that bad/DISCLAIMER

[Kevmaster]

Originally posted by sniper1rfa
you wont see any difference. Air might have a higher moisture content because it isnt refined, but who cares? HPA and compressed nitrogen are both ideal gasses as we use them. they act essentially the same. (actually, they DO act the same for our purposes).

sniper hit it on the nose. They're both acting as ideal gasses, and for our purposes...thats ENOUGH!

[magking1971]

WoW Methylphenidate, Thanks for the new sig:D

[Ityl]

If you are using air from a scuba or dry air then it will be hard to see a difference from nitrogen. But air straight from the atmosphere likes to expand a lot more than nitrogen when heated, mostly because of the moisture that's in it.

I would think this would be very important in an RT valve because it already heats the gas more than other guns. So using clean N2 should yeild the best consistency, even over dry air.

[SSMercury]

No, the're not ideal gases, we compress them too much to act as such. :)

There really isn't much difference between the two, for our purposes. All we care about is flow rate, and how much push it can give (He flows REALLY fast, but just spreads out too fast to push a paintball, and is rather expensive for a gas for paintball. There was a discussion on that before I left a year ago, on alternate gases. I think we came to the conclusion that Neon or Argon would be the only real alternate gases appropriate for use for paintball propellant.)

And, as someone said, make sure it's filtered appropriately.

Lohman, air is a mixture of gases that equalize almost instantly. The gases diffuse to equilibrium so quickly that it's pretty homogenous, to the point of insignificance.

[sniper1rfa]

nah, neon and argon dont work any better, i have tried both. Helium leaks out real fast. just differences in weight. weight has nothing to do with energy available to us. 3000 psi is 3000 psi, it doesnt have anything to do with the gas. Same thing as 300 fps being 300 fps, despite the gun.

spreads out too fast to push a ball? huh? thats how it pushes the ball, by spreading out.

[Muzikman]

Helium would leak because of the size of molecules. They are too small and leak past the orings. Argon works, but no better than N2 or Compressed air and it's more expensive. I don't know anyone to have tried neon, but it would be about the same as argon, but even more expensive.:)

[1ofkind]

nitrogen just sounds cooler

[Rope a Dope]

Originally posted by 1ofkind
nitrogen just sounds cooler

Very true.

People think all paintball guns use air. When you tell them you use high pressure air they say they can fill your tank with their shop compressor, and it's a good one cause it's big! lol

Say you use Nitrogen and they give you an amazed look like paintballw as invented by NASA.