Scuba Tanks

[jenarelJAM]

ok, i went to the local scuba shop today to get my tank filled(first time ive been there) and the guy mentioned that he's selling a size 92 scuba tank(whats that in, cubic feet??) for $100 and a hpa fill station for $40. i dont think i can raise the money in the alotted time(got to pay off a $100 debt first), but i was wondering how good a deal you think it is, and how much having your own fill station helps. i figure that it would be nice to be able to have all day air wherever i go for free(most fields around here let you birng your own scuba), and it would be nice to be able to work on my gun and always have air. one of my friend's friends has a large backyard and they have played some light paintabll back there(i've never seen it, this is what he tells me) and if that pools out, i think having my own hpa tank could prove VERY helpful. i figure that to blunt some of the cost, i could charge people(a select few) around $1 a fill. i can get some money fairly fast, and its pretty cheap for whoever needs the fill. i figure that it also saves me hpa fills if i go anywhere other than my usual field(i ref, so free paint, air, admission) after a few times playing at other fields and charging my friends for air, it should pay partly for itself.
does anyone find that a hpa tank is extremely worthwhile? or if you think it would be so for me? i have a small 45/45 tank, an emag, and am addicted to paintball, if that helps.
also, what are usual prices for scuba tanks? i know that fill stations can be bought online for around $40-$50. thanks
-JAM

[Halliday]

I couldn't read all of that. $100 is good for a tank, esp 92 size. I got my 80's used for $100. The price of the fill stations is a killer, about $40-50 each.

I like having my own scuba tanks. When I go to lackluster fields I can make sure I have air and sell a little bit to pay for filling my tanks next week

[AGD202]

ok, i went to the local scuba shop today to get my tank filled(first time ive been there) and the guy mentioned that he's selling a size 92 scuba tank(whats that in, cubic feet??) for $100 and a hpa fill station for $40. i dont think i can raise the money in the alotted time(got to pay off a $100 debt first), but i was wondering how good a deal you think it is, and how much having your own fill station helps. i figure that it would be nice to be able to have all day air wherever i go for free(most fields around here let you birng your own scuba), and it would be nice to be able to work on my gun and always have air. one of my friend's friends has a large backyard and they have played some light paintabll back there(i've never seen it, this is what he tells me) and if that pools out, i think having my own hpa tank could prove VERY helpful. i figure that to blunt some of the cost, i could charge people(a select few) around $1 a fill. i can get some money fairly fast, and its pretty cheap for whoever needs the fill. i figure that it also saves me hpa fills if i go anywhere other than my usual field(i ref, so free paint, air, admission) after a few times playing at other fields and charging my friends for air, it should pay partly for itself.
does anyone find that a hpa tank is extremely worthwhile? or if you think it would be so for me? i have a small 45/45 tank, an emag, and am addicted to paintball, if that helps.
also, what are usual prices for scuba tanks? i know that fill stations can be bought online for around $40-$50. thanks
-JAM

Really Good Deal, i got a 100 cu. ft. tank for 120 and the fill stations are like $80....
and if u got a huge tank on ur gun... ull drain the tank pretty fast... when my bro puts his 91ci on mine it takes it from 3k to 2,7k in just one fill

[jenarelJAM]

alright, ill see what i can do. im reffing this weekend on saturday, but ill see if i can work for my dad on sunday(mothers day, ack) and get another chunk payed off. the guy also said i can put a down payment on it. i didnt ask how much, but i think i could find enough money to put a down payment on it, or if i work this weekend, convince my parents to let me borrow the money for the down payment because i'm working off the debt. thanks for the help.

and if u got a huge tank on ur gun... ull drain the tank pretty fast... when my bro puts his 91ci on mine it takes it from 3k to 2,7k in just one fill

i have a 45/45 tank (mentioned above) so how much wuold you expect it to go down per fill? a little over 100 psi? that would be superb. also, instead of measuring how many fills youg et off the tank, ahs anyone measured how many shots they get off the tank with a mag, because i figure that i can get around the same number of shots, and i dont care how often i have to fill my 45/45 if i can fill it after every game or so.

[Faddy]

If you have a 45/45, you won't get 4500 on your tank. Most scubas are rated for 3k, my brother has one that's rated for 3300. You should be able to get 5 or 6 good (over 2kpsi) fills on a 45ci. But you can probably get another 4 or 5 over 1500. Sounds kinda sucky, but you can always refill between games, so it works well for him.

[Hybrid]

awesome deal.

if that deal was near me, id jump on it. i need to buy a couple scuba tanks soon.

[yingyang]

How much air does the 90 hold? And cant you just fill your tank from the scuba tank or what does the hpa station do?

[Lee]

thats a good deal. i don't use mine at fields though as most places around here are prohibited by insurance from allowing you to use your own tank to fill.

i think it's very handy for teching ast home though. pita to need to shoot your marker and not have air handy.

also, with all day air at most fields for reasonable prices, a tank is just something extra to lug around and you don't get full fills. and, each subsequent fill is less and less as the pressure in the scuba goes down.

i do reccomend you get this though for the teching and fun factor of having your own air at home.

[seanpeek]

I worked at a dive shop for three years and the price of the tank sounds like it could be a good deal. Here is the thing that you want to look out for. Look to see if the tank is still in hydro. Scuba tanks need a hydro every 5 years and a visual test every year. The vip is cheep ($15). The hydro is a bit more expensive ($40). If the tank is out of hydro the price can quickly jump up to 140 for the tank alone. Another thing, look and see if the tank is aluminum. If so, don't buy it if it is older than 1988. Some store will not fill older Luxfer aluminum cylinders because of rupture problems. The pressure rating is what you are really interested in. Your 45/45 is 45 cubic inches of air only when it is filled to 4500 psi. If you have less pressure, you have less gas. If you have a SCUBA tank that is rated to 3500, 3000, or even 2250, you are not getting 45 cubic feet of air in your paintball cylider. If I were you, I would try to find a HP tank. This means that the SCUBA tank can be filled to 3500psi. This is the highest they come right now. Sadly, this will only give your paintball tank 35 cubic inches of gas. It will never be a 45 cubic inch tank w/o 4500 psi of pressure in it. I use a HP SCUBA tank (3500 psi) to fill my 88/4500 paintball tank. At 3500 psi I am only using a 68 cubic inch tank. 68 cubic inches lasts me a while. Your tank at 35 cubic inch tank at 3500psi will not last as long. Sorry if this is long and confusing, but pressure and volume can be a bit hard to grasp. If you have any questions about the math, PM me. You can figure out how much pressure you will lose everytime you fill with some simple math.

[jenarelJAM]

I worked at a dive shop for three years and the price of the tank sounds like it could be a good deal. Here is the thing that you want to look out for. Look to see if the tank is still in hydro. Scuba tanks need a hydro every 5 years and a visual test every year. The vip is cheep ($15). The hydro is a bit more expensive ($40). If the tank is out of hydro the price can quickly jump up to 140 for the tank alone. Another thing, look and see if the tank is aluminum. If so, don't buy it if it is older than 1988. Some store will not fill older Luxfer aluminum cylinders because of rupture problems. The pressure rating is what you are really interested in. Your 45/45 is 45 cubic inches of air only when it is filled to 4500 psi. If you have less pressure, you have less gas. If you have a SCUBA tank that is rated to 3500, 3000, or even 2250, you are not getting 45 cubic feet of air in your paintball cylider. If I were you, I would try to find a HP tank. This means that the SCUBA tank can be filled to 3500psi. This is the highest they come right now. Sadly, this will only give your paintball tank 35 cubic inches of gas. It will never be a 45 cubic inch tank w/o 4500 psi of pressure in it. I use a HP SCUBA tank (3500 psi) to fill my 88/4500 paintball tank. At 3500 psi I am only using a 68 cubic inch tank. 68 cubic inches lasts me a while. Your tank at 35 cubic inch tank at 3500psi will not last as long. Sorry if this is long and confusing, but pressure and volume can be a bit hard to grasp. If you have any questions about the math, PM me. You can figure out how much pressure you will lose everytime you fill with some simple math.

wow, that was a great post, alot of helpful info there. the tank is a steel tank and can be filled to 3200 psi, i think that is high enough for me.i was also searching online and found a 72cf tank for $65. it said it was in hydro, but i dont know by how much, i emailed the guy asking how long until it needs to be hydroed and how old the tnak is. i didnt think to ask what pressure its rated for, i'll ask when/if he emails me back. keep the advice coming please. thanks

[seanpeek]

Those steel 72 are great tanks for SCUBA diving, but there pressure rating is around 2250 psi. That means if you fill your paintball cylinder from the 72 when it is totally full, you will only get 22.5 cubic inches in your 45 cubic inch tank. You have essentially cut you 45 in half. Another thing, there are two neck sizes that those old 72 came in. Make sure you are not getting a 72 with a 1/2-inch neck. They don't make valves to fit them anymore. The tank will most likely be very old (1960's even). Since the tank is steel it lasts much longer than aluminum. Again, look for a tank that has a pressure rating of at least 3000psi. The volume is important too, but that will only affect how much pressure drop you see between fills. More cubic feet = less pressure drop. The 92/3200 sounds like it would be a great deal. If you can't work it out, look for an aluminum 80 cylinder. This is the most common cylinder made for diving. Brand-new you should be able to buy one for less than $150, used I imagine much less than that. Since cash seems to be a bit of an issue, this might be a good option. Hope this all helps.

[Mer]

Those steel 72 are great tanks for SCUBA diving, but there pressure rating is around 2250 psi. That means if you fill your paintball cylinder from the 72 when it is totally full, you will only get 22.5 cubic inches in your 45 cubic inch tank. You have essentially cut you 45 in half.

Not quite,

You will only get 2250 psi in your tank. If you have a 45 cubic inch tank it's always going to be 45 cubic inches in volume, there's no way to change that.

They don't use the same measuring system in paintball tanks as they do in scuba tanks.

Area of a cylinder = pie * r squared * height

If you take an average 47 cubic inch tank with internal measurements of about 4" diameter x 7" high it works out to be about 47 cubic inches.

Take an "80 cubic foot" scuba tank approximately 8" in diameter and about 3 feet tall and apply the same formula. It'll work out to less than 3 cubic feet "actual" volume. The 80 cubic feet is how much "unpressurized" air it will hold at rated pressure. Paintball tanks are measured in actual unpressurized volume.

That's why a 68/3000 tank is the same size as a 68/4500 tank. The difference is the 4500 psi tank will hold more air because of the higher pressure. They're both 68 cubic inches internal volume though.


Eric

[jewie27]

Just remember that you won't ever be able to fill your paintball tank up to 4500 psi. Also, one SCUBA tank won't give you enough pressure.

You'll need to do some "cascading".

As in filling up from at least two or even better three SCUBA tanks.

I recommend starting with an aluminum 80, which holds 3000 psi.

Then hook it up to a high pressure steel @ 3500 psi.

To give it an extra boost, get this fiber wrapped SCUBA tank that puts out 4350 psi: very high pressure SCUBA tank


At my SCUBA shop, fills are 5 bucks per SCUBA tank. If you charged your friends a dollar per fill, it would easily pay for itself. You may even make a couple bucks.

An aluminum 80 should cost around $109 new.




I currently own a PST Steel 100 @ 3442 psi.

[seanpeek]

Mer,
Thanks for the info on paintball volume ratings. I didn't know that it was measured unpresurized. However, it makes no difference what the volume number is. If the tank is not filled to 4500 psi, it is not filled to its potential volume (what ever number that is). The argument still stands, the higher pressure the better. If Jam fills his tank with a SCUBA cylinder rated to 2250, he is still cutting the "potential" tank volume in half. This is not such a big deal with a larger tank (say 68/45 or 88/45) because you get more volume per PSI than with a 45/45. His tank will become empty much faster than my 88/45 filled to 2250.

As far as cascading goes, that is just way to much work and money to fill a paintball tank. It is true that it is the best way to optimize the gas in the SCUBA tanks, but if money is not an issue, why not just get a haskel pump. That way you can pump your paintball tank to whatever pressure you want and maximize the amount of gas from the SCUBA tanks as well. It seems easier to just go pay for a fill from the dude at the field. However, that new Luxfer tank is really cool. I didn't know that they had started making those yet. I had heard that they might. Right on!!! To bad it is not steel.

[SlartyBartFast]

As far as cascading goes, that is just way to much work and money to fill a paintball tank. It is true that it is the best way to optimize the gas in the SCUBA tanks, but if money is not an issue, why not just get a haskel pump.

You have got to be kidding.

Open valve 1, close valve one. Open valve 2, close valve 2. Far too much work.

And how can you compare ~100$ for second SCUBA and a few more dolars for fittings and valves with a mulit-thousand dollar booster?!?