Gasses you can use

[CanadianFett]

I'm from a small town where paintball hasn't caught on much, and now I've come to the point where CO2 just can't keep up with my mag. I'm not really sure if there's anywhere in my town (I know there's a place 2 hours away, and seeing as there'd only be like 3 of us using it, a tank would last pretty long, so that might be my only option :(
But I was wondering what gasses I could run my gun on besides Nitro and HPA, since I'm pretty sure a welding shop fills oxygen up to 2500 psi for oxy-acetylene rigs. So I'm just wondering if I could run my mag on compressed oxygen or some other gas. The way I see it, HPA can't be that clean a gas since it's taken straight from the atmosphere, and guns don't have any trouble running on it.
P.S. My mag seems to starve under really fast firing (usually when I'm firing at nothing, can't really get that fast in a game) adn I have microline from the vert adapter to the valve. My bro just got his, and it's got macroline, and his starves too. Does this happen in braided? Or is it just the CO2 can't keep up?

[rhetor22]

although microline has pretty bad flow its probably just because you use co2.

Oxygen would work fine but it would probably be a big safety problem... if you don't lube your gun for a while and there's a spark or something, you could have a prob.

While you can get compressed air, you can also get nitrogen which is cleaner because they have to filter out the nitrogen in the process...

[Wat]

cleaner?

What exactly are you referring too? In case of a gas mixture of say O2 and N2, there's nothing unclean about it. Both gases behave as ideal gases in paintball uses and the performance from pure n2 or a mix of n2/o2 would be absolutely identical. If you really want to know why, you can look up the Law of Partial Pressures. Basically, as long as the gases are behaving ideal (not near phase change) than you can ignore what gas actually is.

As for cleaner in the sense of particals and pollutants, you won't get any air cleaner than scuba HPA. Scuba divers breathing compressed air would get sick very very quickly if there were any contaminates in the air (usually petrochemicals/lube from the compressor) so its kept incredibly clean.

[FreshmanBob]

ever notice on a lot of n2 tanks and gauges theres a label that reads "Not for use on oxygen" ?

I'm fairly sure theres a good reason for this..

[lillfroboy]

Its Plain and simple on why they say don't put oxygen in HPA tanks its because compressed oxygen is higly corosive on steel and aluminun and most scuba tanks and ceramic on the inside and a Weak titanium alloy on theoutside so the dso if the ceramic were to corrode it wouldn't make the take corrode and also if there were a spark you could have a higly serious problem put it this way if that were to happen kiss the side you were holding the tank on goodbye

[Snakebite78]

Oxygen itself does not burn, it needs something to feed off of to burn, because if it did burn , we would have all been dead in the first lightening storm. Now, oxygen does facilitate in burning, which is why something in the atmosphere will burn better in a pure O2 environment, because there is more oxygen to burn. So, if there is not fuel, no fire. Now, it is not known to me what parts of the paintball gun will burn. Things that will normally not burn well in the atmosphere or not burn at all will burn very well or will start to burn in an oxygen environemtnt.

[Butterfingers]

Dont use oxygen.

Compressed Air is probably your best bet. If you can get compressed air fills from a scuba shop it is the cleanest source of air available.

On the contrary air from the atmosphere is probably the cleanest since the pollutants are so dilute. If it is scuba filtered the air is nearly pure.

Industrial nitrogen may have oil or metal residues from the tank.

[DeepFrz97]

If you don't have a scuba shop handy you could also try your local fire department. Many of them have fill stations for their air tanks.

[Bwaites]

Actually, most welding gas supply stores can get 3000-4500 PSI nitrogen tanks without any problems.

I have no SCUBA availability here except the fire station and for liability reasons they won't fill private tanks.

I have a 4500 PSI Nitrogen welding tank and get a LOT of fills for my 3000 PSI flatlines from it.

Bill

[CanadianFett]

I've heard from some people that scuba dive that the only place to fill tanks was in the town 2 hours away, and that our fire department wouldn't fill tanks for some legal reason. Mind you, this was a while ago, so things might have changed, and maybe I can get just nitrogen filled. The "flammability" of oxygen doesn't bother me. If anything, a spark in a pure oxygen environment would burn itself out faster than otherwise. The only time I would get really worried would be if some part of my tank actually caught on fire (which I'm sure is pretty hard to do, unless your welding it or something) and since I am clinically sane, I don't think I hafta worry about that.

[mrhooie]

Originally posted by rhetor22
although microline has pretty bad flow

I have no problem with flow on my RT
and it has microline

[shartley]

For those foolish enough to think that oxygen would not be a major problem for paintball use, think again. Those that think because it itself does not burn, that it is not a major hazard in paintball equipment, think again. You know why oxygen related fires/explosions are so dangerous? Because things that normally would NOT burn (such as dust in the air, metals, etc.) DO burn in an oxygen rich environment.

I will not get into it more, but advise a quick read of the following link:
http://www.life-assist.com/recallinfo.html

[FutureMagOwner]

isnt that why metal makes a blue flame when you put it in the microwave(whoops :D)

[cphilip]

remember our atmosphere is only 21% Oxygen mos tof the rest is Nitrogen (small amount of Co2 and rare gases of about a percent though). Your talking 100% Oxygen here and that will promote near spontaneous combustion of almost anything! Not safe to do. Not a choice to use for paintball at all.

Do not forget to check with your local Fire Dept and places that fill for confined space entry air packs (safety related business's). They can fill SCUBA's too if they will. Our Fire deptartment allows us to fill from their compressor for free as they are part of the University and so are we.

[Doc Nickel]

Whoa there guys. Let's not cause any accidents here...

Okay, Fett, try ditching the Microline and give your reg a rebuild. If that doesn't help, see what happens when you switch to HPA.

As for "other gasses", if you wanted, you could use any of the "noble" gasses- Xenon, Neon, Helium, Argon, Nitrogen, etc. The problem is, helium is, after nitrogen, the cheapest of the bunch, and it's often three times more per tankful than nitrogen. Xenon will run you a couple of hundred per tank, depending on how pure it is (it's used in neon tubes.)

Your best bet is to talk to a local welding-gas supplier and ask about tanks of nitrogen. They aren't cheap, but maybe you and a couple of buddies can share a big tank.

However, DO NOT USE OXYGEN!

I can't stress that enough- DO NOT run high oxygen concentrates in ANY paintball gun. Compressed air- diving air/SCUBA- has the same N2/O2 proportions as regular atmospheric air, so there's no problem there. But using more concentrated or "pure" oxygen from a medical tank or welding tank is extremely dangerous!

And the key here to the danger has nothing at all to do with fire or flame, though that is also a danger. The problem is that, in a high-oxygen environment, oils and petroleum products oxidize very rapidly. We're talking seconds, here, a chemical reaction which creates heat and vapor which speeds up the reaction even more.

To put it very simply- oil, given a high-oxygen environment, can spontantously explode on it's own, even inside a container, without any spark or flame present.

As far as a paintball gun is concerned, the "explosion" probably wouldn't kill anyone, but I'd guarantee it'll damage the gun, blow out hoses and singe nearby eyebrows.

The guages say "not for oxygen use" since the internal needle-dial mechanism probably has a tiny droplet or two of oil on it as lube- used with oxygen, the reaction could pop the guage open, causing at least a leak, if not a larger oxygen explosion from the tank itself.

Bottom line- don't go foolin' with stuff you don't know about. :D

Doc.

[SSMercury]

Uh, Doc, Nitrogen isn't a noble gas. It's an inert and reactionless gas in the atmosphere under normal conditions, but it's not a noble gas in terms of chemistry.

Anyways, you and everyone else is right for reasons not to use oxygen. Helium actually wouldn't be a good gas to use, and neither would Hydrogen. These flow too fast, and in hydrogen's case, it is ungodly flammable. Xenon either, it would flow too slowly. Argon wouldn't be too hot, but would probably be useable. Neon would be your best bet. Or some ultralight organic compound? I think someone mentioned some sort of freon gas that doesn't hurt the ozone layer in Deep Blue for this.

[timag]

who here took chemistry 101?

Pure Oxygen is pretty unstable, so unless you want velocity in the +/- 65 range, i'd stick with HPA. Just buy a scuba tank.

[LittleJP]

Chem 110...advanced chem...got an A

haha imagine putting hydrogen in your tank for a second.

[BajaBoy]

hey if all u hpa useres out there were to all put your money 2gether.. u can rent a tank (well no..) what u do is u buy the air by a gallon.. such as propain.. ox. n2.... look in the phone book.. b-c in Pa at my dads warhouse.. we use 2 play there alot.. and he usen.. um.. propain.. and i think n2 now.. not sure but he use 2 get co2 for us.. its very cheap.. but u gotta pay every month 4 it.. or u thik u might be able 2 buy a compresser.. at www.paintballinc.com (its a booster 4 a normal compressor tho)