Serious problem?

[Smakman]

My understanding is that the incident in which the woman was killed by a CO2 tank was because the valve screwed out out of the tank instead of out of the ASA of the gun. I now know of 4 other incidents, just locally and recently, short of the valve coming all of the way out of the tank before it was caught. Here is the clincher. In all of these incidents, IT WAS THE SAME BRAND OF TANK some of them new or near new. This sounds like a possible manufacturer problem and maybe a reason for a recall? Has anyone else here had or witnessed this problem with any tanks lately?

[Dern]

I haven't heard of this before, but it is very serious indeed. Fields/players need to be alerted to watch their tanks when unscrewing them... and which brand of CO2 tank was it that was particularly dangerous?

[Ov3rmind]

I'd contact some authorities about this if they were all the same brand of tank.

[Beemer]

Do It

Go Here

http://www.cpsc.gov/index.html

This form is linked from there. Report an unsafe product.
Then.. For consumers report: Will take you here

https://www.cpsc.gov/incident.html

Or call here to report 1-800-638-2772

Can you give us more info on what to look for? [what tanks]
You do need to take action. Get in touch with those folks with those tanks and advise them the valves need to be torqued on for everybodys safety.

If you have any trouble with the above links or need any further help let me know.

[Smakman]

Well, I didn't want to say names because I think some discussion is going on with the distibutor now and maybe it's a coincidence, like a high concentration of this brand in this region or something, but these were all Pure Energy tanks. I don't know as I would report it to the authorities as of yet,but it just seems strange to me.

[trains are bad]

My shop owner doesn't like the pure energy tanks at all. I never asked why.

[kscullin]

I have heard about this with the PE tanks. However, in the specific case where the woman died, I understand that there was an anti-siphon tube in the tank (I heard about a pic that verifies this - I've seen a bunch of stuff about it but not the pic in question). For an anti-siphon tube to be properly installed, it can't be installed by the manufacturer, unless you send your marker (or at least your ASA) to the mfr and have them install the tube - which I don't think they'll do. This means whoever installed the anti-siphon tube (if that's true) didn't reinstall the valve correctly.

As paintballers, a lot of us don't tend to think of CO2 as a high pressure gas, because we compare its 800 psi to the 3000 or higher of HPA tanks. Believe it - 800 psi is plenty high, and nothing to mess with.

I guess the moral is to a) don't mess with them unless you know absolutely what you're doing and b) don't take for granted that, just because you haven't messed with it it's fine. Always be careful - since that incident, I've made paint marks on my valves and tanks (stickers work as well) to give me an immediate visual if the valve is starting to unscrew from the tank. I recommend this to everyone.

[deathstalker]

Does PE make the tanks? I thought they just resold/rebranded them under their own name. If they buy them from another manufacturer, I'd be willing to bet there are other paintball companies who order from the same source.

[RoadDawg]

I've heard something similar happening with a PE 88/45 tank. The whole reg would start unscrewing til it would just start leaking out the threads. No matter how much/color loc tite we used it wouldn't stay on. That is the main reason I'm staying away from PE tanks.

[ShooterJM]

One of the local fields here in colorado hasn't filled PE CO2 tanks for quite some time for that very reason.

[Pacifist_Farmer]

Not to say it isnt true, but I've been nothing but satisfied with my Pure Energy tank, and have never had an issue,

If it was a series of tanks that all failed, I think it would be a "firestone"esque situation, several bad tanks in a bad run, and that might have been it

[Beemer]

Ya wait

I don't know as I would report it to the authorities as of yet,but it just seems strange to me.

Ya wait till another uninformed, uneducated little Paintballer gets killed then report it.