Someone almost died - Please read - Not a joke

[143Paul]

This weekend at a paintball field in Houston a Compressed air tank separated from it's regulator when it was being filled. (3000psi tank)

The gun was ripped from the player's hand and thrown 50 ft breaking his carbon fiber barrel. The tank was thrown 600' (it had become a missel). It took us 2 hours to find the tank!!

The regulator was still on the gun - with all the threads from the tank still in it. The threads had striped out of the tank. The tank had just been hydroed. So at this point it looks like the fault lies with the place that Hydroed the tank.

The staging area was crowded and luckily no one was hit. I was standing 5' from the fill station. The tank hit the fill station and flew over a parking lot full of cars. The bottom of the tank was crushed from the impact. Take a secound to think what 3000 psi means. 3000 pounds PER square inch. This is the eqivilant of ballancing a truck (3000 lbs) on an area the size of a quarter. Now look at your tank - how many quarters will fit on the surface of your tank? That is a lot of force.....

[skipdogg]

WOW!!!!
that is amazing

[MAGS own YOU]

Ya, that happened in the back of my moms car a few weeks ago, it was 4500 psi.

[udtseal]

All I can say is WOW! Good thing no one got seriously hurt of killed.

[Load SM5]

Thank God, no one was hurt. If it's proven that the hydrotester's did something wrong that makes it all the more scary. These are the guys that are supposed to make sure our stuff is safe.

[magic55]

mags own you- what happened with the tank in your moms trunk. anyone hurt?

[scarpa43]

i was standing next to Paul when it happened.

Looking back he and i are amazed that nobody got hurt, literally the only damage (other than the tank) was the barrel on the gun. Picture a carbon fiber barrel, now picture the SS sleeve at the rear snapped in two.

After the tank was found i figured out the trajecty. It hit the fill station (one of the big orange Nitro tanks), had that not been there it would been a straight line to the field manager, Paul, and myself. It then flew over about 6 cars into the area between the staging area and the fields, as Paul said about 600 feet away.

I could go on for a while but basically everyone at the field that day feels pretty lucky.

Darren

[Muzikman]

Well, if you read the fine print when you get a tank hydrostatic tested, they do not claim that the tank is safe for use. They just claim that it was not physicaly damaged on the out side and that it can handel a preassure up to 2000psi it's normal operating preassure. No one ever said HPA is safe, but the chances of death and injury are low enough that people are willing to take the same type of system and dive down into water with them.:)

[Smokee_2_7]

Could anyone tell us what type of tank it was? (both instances) I feel a little curious- - as well as do many other people, im sure.

Thanks.

[Paintballer86]

I smell a lawsuit.....
Thats very scary though.
Could you get some pictures up?
Thanks

[Panzerr]

Lawsuit? I sure hope not, for everyone's sake.

[143Paul]

It was an older Nitro Duck

[scarpa43]

I work at the field were it happened, Paul and I were there playing around with his Emag, and i know there were a couple people taking pictures. I think the field owner took some with his digital camera, i will try to get my hands on some to share with you guys.

As far as tank brand, i do not know, it was a carbon fiber wrapped tank but you could not see the the threads. It was a medium gray color, i thought it was a Nitro Duck but cannot be sure.

And yes, Paul and i already saw the pun.

NITRO!! DUCK!!

[RaV3n_Pa1ntba||]

hrrm maybe it isn't good after your 3 years of use to sell it and get a new tank. Reguardless of whether it passed the hydro. Well i got 3 mores years YAY....

[Kevmaster]

just wondering, did the tank break and come off the reg, or did it unscrew and then come off. it may not have been the hydro fault if it unscrewed(faulty loctite/faulty manu.)

[143Paul]

The threads sheared off. It did not unscrew.

All of the threads were still in the reg.

[FeelTheRT]

Originally posted by 143Paul
It was an older Nitro Duck

yikes! i've got a Nitroduck too... Perhaps i shall drain my tank every week when i'm not playing just to be safe...

[gimp]

WOAH!!! Good thing nobody was hurt. It would be cool to rig up some sort of clamp and shoot old tanks straight up in the air like a model rocket. It wouldn't be safe, but it would be cool to see.

[AngelBoy]

Im with Gimp, we should have a contest between manufactorurs (sp?) to see whos tank will go the farthest, lol.

But anyway, that sucks. Luckily nobody was hurt or killed, just dont let footemp's parents see this! He'll never be able to play!

[IceCool32]

heh AngelBoy, you're not kidding. Well he may never get HPA, but still be able to play. I mean CO2 can be just as dangerous, I've seen many instances where the tank became a missle, and the burst disk did not do it's job.I've still yet to get my blown burst disk replaced on an old 9oz, simply because I would still not trust it.