help me on scuba tank purchasing

[Chronobreak]

So what if you have a 4500psi HPA tank? You can't get a fill station that will fill it? I mean, if the scuba tank is only 3000psi, then itwill only fill 3000psi tanks or 4500psi tanks up to 3000. Man, I'd love to get a 4500psi fill station, I wonder how much that would run me?

if you have to ask you dont want to know

they are PRICEY, and most are slow(see the one fro sale has 4 min to get to 4k psi)...while for some people it may be worthwhile for most people it is far from feasible

3k can be filled to 4500 in theory since the burst disk wont go til 5k...but yes the "experienced" fills tation operator will fill it to 3k~

[LFD92]

I have also heard that some fire stations will fill them for you aswell. Never done it myself, but have heard that from many people.

Just to put this rumor to rest, we will NOT fill it for you. DO NOT GO TO YOUR LOCAL FD AND ASK.

I actually built an adapter from spare SCBA parts in our Tech shop (our SCBA tech also plays so he was fine with it, as long as our Chief doesn't find out). I can now attach my tank to the adapter, drop it into our Cascade system and fill it up to 4500psi. I fill it at night on my shift after the Chiefs have left.

[Paintchucker]

Where is a good source for the tank adapter for the scuba tank ???

[Dewok82]

Where is a good source for the tank adapter for the scuba tank ???

Ebay and paintball B/S/T forums. You can usually pick one up for $30-$35.

[tacq]

i got mine at the local fire station fo 35 apiece at the sale just ask them if they are going to sell them any time soon but they will need hydro testing and that is about 25 dollars apiece

[Smoothice]

i got mine at the local fire station fo 35 apiece at the sale just ask them if they are going to sell them any time soon but they will need hydro testing and that is about 25 dollars apiece

Are you talking about the scuba tank or the the tank adapter?

[Dewok82]

Are you talking about the scuba tank or the the tank adapter?

I would say with almost 100% certainty he is referring to the tanks. I don't know of any adapters that need hydro testing.

[p8ntbal4me]

Ive run dive tanks for a while so Ill put my 2 cents here.


*Im assuming you want to fill the tanks and go a while on them*

If you want just 3000psi fills and you want to just attach the whip to your tank and fill:

Your best bet is to get 3 tanks, daisy them together,.. run a whip off a an end of the chain and fill away. Eventually the fills will get a bit smaller,.. but for the most part you will be fine this this. I use this setup in my living room to do gun work for testing and it goes a long time for my needs.

If you want 4500psi fills you need to step your fills and tanks:

Meaning a scuba at 2200-2500psi, another at 3000psi, the last as high as you can get it.

Stepping is time consuming (about 1.5 minutes) but can cut th cost for the need of 3 HP scubas opposed to just 1 and 2 3000s.

I know alot of guys are going to not agree with this, as my needs are not for a player that goes to the field and fills after every game. I use mine for tech work.

I purchased 3 tanks, brand new, color of my choosing,.... for $175 each. Local bought to me. Since I bought the tanks from the guy that does my HP tanks on my guns,.. he gives me discounts on the fills on all bottles I own. If I give him a days notice on 4500psi fills, he charges the 3000psi rate (this is due to the power cost of the compressor he uses. It takes $35 bucks to trip the compressor over every time he needs the 4500psi boost)

I think I spent about 600 bucks total after all the hoses, tanks, and adapters to fill from. Next purchase for me is an Air-Tex gas engine unit for mobil apps. to the field.

Some dive shops wont sell to you if you dont have a certification to dive. There are brands or stickers you can get put on tanks that say "AIR SOURCE USE ONLY! NOT FOR DIVE USE!" These tanks or stickers on tanks mean that you can take them to a dive shop and get them filled, as the insurance company whom carries the dive shop is covered because the issue of misuse of a dive tank filled by them transfers liabilty from them to the owner of the tanks. <---- as told to me by the dive shop, kinda like a hydro date stamp.

The dive tanks do need to be in date as well. Mine have a date stamp on them. If you dont want alot of hassel,.. buy the tanks new. Might be more money, but the dive shop knowing you purchased them from their shop might help you with re-hydro dating them when the time comes. Businesses generally dont want to loose customers.

Im fortunate my local shop is: A) friendly, B) has an awesome compressor, C) plays/played paintball, and D) we think the old field owner of a distant past is a complete (enter a nasty word here) as she has run the field into the ground and we both happen to have built most of the field from the beginning

[impure]

i wanted to know if i could use my dads big air compressor for our garage for anything other than blowing stuff away?

[p8ntbal4me]

i wanted to know if i could use my dads big air compressor for our garage for anything other than blowing stuff away?

Well whats the CFM and the max psi output??

If your dad didnt pay around $2500-3000 for it and its about 3 feet link by 2 feet tall,.. Im guessing he has a "home" compressor that runs nail guns, and inflates tires.

HPA compressors larger than the dimentions above are very expensive because not only to they fill super fast, they have bulk cascade tanks attached to them.

Some HPA systems uses compressors like the "home" ones to drive them as an operation source,.. but not a feed source. These are commonly refered to as "Ram Systems". They are less expensive as the Air-tex ones,.. but in my experience they cost just as much after one year of use as they need constant maintenance. <--- the Nitro Duck Ram was the one I had.

[tacq]

Are you talking about the scuba tank or the the tank adapter?

the tank

[impure]

he has a nice compressor. not a two or three foot tall one but more like five feet and its a big tank. big motor, big tank, lots of air

[LS1 WS6]

His air compressor will only go up to about 150 psi. It will not work, not even come close.

[impure]

ya true i think it actually goes higher but thats ok. i plan on going to the scuba shop and picking me up an 80cu ft. tank and start playing again. i just had my tank filled and plugged it in to my gun and it was leakin like a siv i lost 2k psi just fixing leaks and fixed it today i finally just replaced the o ring on my tank after it was torn apart. well i fired my gun for the first time in a couple of years one shot and it flew like a bullet next shot guess what? i ran out of air in my damn tank! so i am about ready to buy me a scuba. i need it to just give me a couple of good fills really, not to continuously fill bottles and bottles.

[paint magnet]

Couple things:

You don't need the annual visual inspection if you're not going to dive with it. If you have the "not for diving" sticker or have it otherwise marked, you just need the 5 yr. hydro.

There are a few companies that used to make "boosters" that would let you get a higher pressure fill from your tank. I'm unsure of how they worked or if they would be cost-effective, but it might be worth looking into.

Check your local dive shop, if you have one. They may sell used tanks.