reason why you should never oil the fill nipple on HPA tank

[kenndogg]

yeah I brought the pics to my field owner today and after seeing them he was concern with how people where actually oiling their fill nipples. I filled a few tanks today and went fairly slow with the fills. We actually talked about making some kind of enclosure box. I was thinking a box with a door made from some thick plexi glass or similar. Once the tank is hook up to the hose, you can close and lock the door and begin filling.

[CoolHand]

Plexiglass + Explosions = More Shrapnel

That's making things worse, not better.

If you must use plastic, stick with lexan (polycarbonate), NOT plexiglass (acrylic).

Acrylic shatters, polycarbonate stretches.

My suggestion is to use steel, and plenty of it. Hinges on the door four times as big as you think they need to be, and a latch that would hold a door closed while a semi pulled on it.

Or, you can go with water immersion. Scuba tanks are filled under water to cool the tank and dissipate energy should the worst occur. With a long hose and a 55 gal thick wall tank, you could dissipate some serious energy. What the water doesn't absorb, goes straight up out the top. An explosion at the bottom would make one hell of a mess, but I doubt it would damage anyone (or even the tank). As a side benefit, the water will put out any fire as well.

Of course, the REAL solution would be to have the immersion tank, AND only allow trained field personnel to fill tanks. No where else in the world are random folk allowed to play with high pressure fill stations willy nilly, why should PB be any different?

I know at our fields around here, we never allowed anyone but certified folks fill tanks (even CO2), it was a PITA, but we also made all the employees get certified, so there were a lot of them. I just about crapped myself when I went to a tournament where they had self-serve air. We all just looked at one another dumbfounded. Sure, it's faster, and cheaper for the promoter, but man is that a REALLY bad idea.

I am honestly surprised that stuff like this doesn't happen more often.

[kenndogg]

Plexiglass + Explosions = More Shrapnel

That's making things worse, not better.

If you must use plastic, stick with lexan (polycarbonate), NOT plexiglass (acrylic).

Acrylic shatters, polycarbonate stretches.

Noted, thanks

[warpig13]

Noted, thanks

I Always have filled slowly at P.O.V.

It only took the first time of the hose popping off the scare me

[CoolHand]

Noted, thanks

No worries.

I'll not expound on how I know it, suffice to say that this is first hand knowledge.

It would take some figuring, but one could also build a steel frame in which one could mount polycarb panels to form an elastic blast chamber. Basically the whole thing stretches and balloons out to contain the volume of the explosion, then bleeds the pressure off (relatively) slowly, through vent holes in strategic places. Seen this concept in action as well, and it is very effective, but I'd imagine there is a lot of design work to be done in order for it to perform as expected.

[cyrus-the-virus]

=/

[SR_matt]

didnt read any one else's posts so sorry if this has been said

paintball is the only industry that uses HPA and does "flash fills" , all breathing air tanks are filed over minutes not seconds (yes they are larger but the amount of air that goes in at one time is a lot less than the hpa tanks we use). that alone should prevent most if not next to every single combustion type failures, if the heat cannot build up fast it cant go boom. the slow fills would also give better fills no more of this "hot fill is 4500 ut once it cools down im at 3900"

fields need to have people to fill the tanks that are trained not just the "ya you do this" training but real training, 4500 psi isnt anything to screw with, heck 100 psi if its aimed just right at you skin will cut through and possibly enter your blood then can cause an embolism... so think what 4500 can do

-matt

[Pneumagger]

Natural selection can be a real *****

[Warwitch]

Natural selection can be a real *****

Yeah, somebody give that guy a Darwin award

[Tao]

can grease be used instead to lube the oring in fill nipple?

No most lubricant are flamable to some degree. With an increase in pressure you increase the flamability of the material. Dry orings have work for a long time so why try anything new? If the fill nipple is leaking then the oring is worn out or needs to be cleaned which its best to take it out anyway.

[Tao]

After seeing those pictures, My field manager asked me to put together a box to fill tanks in.


It was amazing how much slower everyone took fills, and how much more attention they paid today


Styg

How much pressure can that box hold? It better be more than 4500 psi or else it will just make shrapnel as the tank goes, making it more dangerous.
Also when the tank goes off rocketing it will hit with the side of the box with more than 4500psi I guarantee. The myth busters had a scuba tank go through two cinderblock walls! It was only filled at 800psi. Sure a 68cu tank wont go through two, but I bet it will go most of the way through one.

I would recomend a steel cradle for the tank and fire retardant gloves and weaing a mask when filling.

[raehl]

that alone should prevent most if not next to every single combustion type failures, if the heat cannot build up fast it cant go boom.

Wrong.

Room temperature is enough for a combustion failure when oil is vaporized under high pressure with oxygen.

[SR_matt]

ok well every explosive failure i have heard about happened during filling and the takes are much hotter than room temp causing it to combust. if the tanks get filled slow little to no heat builds up so it has a much lower chance of combusting if there is no additional heat

-matt

[Pneumagger]

How much pressure can that box hold? It better be more than 4500 psi or else it will just make shrapnel as the tank goes, making it more dangerous.
Also when the tank goes off rocketing it will hit with the side of the box with more than 4500psi I guarantee. The myth busters had a scuba tank go through two cinderblock walls! It was only filled at 800psi. Sure a 68cu tank wont go through two, but I bet it will go most of the way through one.

I would recomend a steel cradle for the tank and fire retardant gloves and weaing a mask when filling.

Meh, you'd have to worry more about the tanks flying around... so a nice thick lexan case would work out nicely. You could get away with making a 2'x2'x2' box only hold 22psi. After 68cu inches of 4500psi air expands into 13824cu inches (a 2'x2'x2' box) ... it's only 22psi.

High school math ftw!

[zipity_Bop]

his hand looks like a leftover hotdog after being in the fridge for a day....