compressed air/nitrogen

[TheJester]

Now I know that compressed air and nitrogen are the "same thing" when it comes to paintball. i also know that air is something like 76, or 78% nitrogen, making compressed air about that too. Now would there be any noticable performance, if any performance increase by running off of pure nitrogen, to remove all those other lovely gasses that are in normal air?

[HoppysMag]

nope no performance increase...

[paintslinger]

except for ur gun exploding? no of course not...hehehehe just kidding nope...there would be no performance difference its all just getting regulated down to the same psi so it doesn't matter.

[darklord]

I've never seen pure nitro available at any paintball store or field, I don't know about the rest of you.

[battlegroup]

When I first went nitro, a long time ago (1996), there were very few fields that could fill nitro. Most people with compressed air tanks had their own scuba tanks but after a few fills there was the problem of only getting half fills by the end of the day. A few friends of mine and I leased a 6000psi nitrogen cylinder from a welding supply company. Each of our shares was about 10.00/month. Which was great for air for an entire month for all of us, all of them up to 3000psi (4500 hadn't come around yet) The only problem was the cylinder weighed about 400lbs and none of us had a truck. My roomate and I kept it in our apartment which was on the second floor (al of us who pitched in lived on the second floor) Getting it up there was a real pain in the ......
For those of you over 21, with a truck and a garage, this is a good option if you are very familiar with compressed air. I highly suggest an output reg set to the max you are going to fill so you don't overfill. Our total for the cylinder was about 50.00 a month. Split that 5 ways and you get 10.00 a month and basicall get unlimited air for the month. I didn't need any special certifications or lisences. When it was down below 3000psi we would go get another tank. We did have a fitting company make a custom fill adapter for our tanks and that was about 75dollars but worked great.
Warning: I assume no liability if you try this and hurt yourself. If you are unfamiliar with filling tanks, DON'T TRY THIS

[magman007]

well, nitrogen is dencer than air, it has more particles, so, there fore, it takes less nitrogen, to fire one ball.. in the end, this may result to an extra 3 shots, but there is some performance isnt it?

[battlegroup]

The way I remember physics is this
PV=nRT
P= Pressure
V= Volume
n= number of molecules
R= is a constant
T= Temperature
with two tanks of the same size at the same temperature and pressure. It would seem to me that you would have the same number of molecules. Besides you could get three extra shots from a change in temperature, or just a few extra psi that you can't tell on a guage.
for all intents and purposes you'll never tell the difference between the two.

[TippmannMan]

i believe nitrogen is also cleaner since compressed air is... compressed air :p so in the long run (though probably not drastically) it keeps your tank/regulator in better condition

[TheJester]

Thanks for the input, the reason why i asked was i am planing on buying a fill station soon, and wanted to know what kind, and what kind of gas to fill it w/. I'll shop around, but does any 1 know a site that sells nitrogen tanks?

[paintslinger]

im pretty sure u can just use a regular ole scuba tank to fill with nitrogen/compressed air and if u go the scuba route just get a paintball fill station from a online vendor or local store.

[battlegroup]

Originally posted by TippmannMan
i believe nitrogen is also cleaner since compressed air is... compressed air :p so in the long run (though probably not drastically) it keeps your tank/regulator in better condition

Actually Compressed Air in Scuba tanks is Much Cleaner. Is has to be because it is breathing air and there are strict regulations on making it clean enough to breathe and so i won't clog regulators while you are submerged.

[Thordic]

Yeah, bulk tanks of nitrogen will most likely be pretty "dirty". You'd want to install a filter in the line if you filled with them.

If your field fills using bulk tanks, theres a good chance they are nitrogen tanks. You can get bulk 6000 PSI nitrogen tanks easily and relatively cheaply.

If they use a compressor, then obviously they are using compressed air.

Performance wise? Nothing you are going to notice.