CO2 Question?

[needabronco]

Has anyone ever converted a fire fighter oxygen tank into a CO2 tank to use as on board air? I have access to several that are 'retired' and am wondering if they would be useable? What would I need?

 

[73azbronco]

If it's retired then it's probably past it's "life span". Like dive tanks, Hi press cylinders have dates to take them out of service as the metal has reached it's fatigue limits. Give a call to a dive shop see if they have any cheap tanks, maybe even craigslist. I have seen the inside of old dive tanks at their life limit and there is good reason to remove them from service, be careful> YMMV.

 

[sufa114]

those SCBA tanks are used pretty hard, i want to say they hold like 3000psi in them

 

[needabronco]

The ones I can get look like some sort of spun fiberglass or carbon fiber. I was wondering about their fatigue life also, but thought it could be a nice lightweight portable source of air...

 

[bumster]

small nitrogen tank for a mig welder would work well too. retail around 150 for a new one around here

 

[fungus]

You could also look for one of the bottles they use for soda fountains. They typically go pretty cheap. I went the high $$ route and got a Powertank with all the bells and whistles. It's pretty sweet!

 

[Steve]

No reputable fire extinguisher or welding shop - which is where you'd get CO2 refills - will fill an air tank with CO2. Like fungus said get a soft drink CO2 tank if you want to do a PowerTank on the cheap.

 

[KyleQ]

Love my powertank setup - we seat beads, run air tools and it will even fight fires!

 

[broncnaz]

The firefighter tanks are fiberglass wrapped aluminum. I'm not real sure they would be a good canidate for use with C02 Thats even assuming you can get the valves swapped out. Like others said you might have a hard time finding anyplace that would fill them most likely they will need a hydro test probably why the fire department retired them as it may just be cheaper to replace the tank with a new one than to test it. Not real sure how they even hydro test that type of tank maybe they cant.

Liquid CO2 does have some slightly acidic properties and I'm not sure if aluminum would stand up well for that application.

 

[Greg_B]

I have two small aluminum bottles I got from a paint ball guy, 10lbs I think or maybe smaller. The gas company here locally fills them for me at no charge. Not sure why... I just go in and ask if they will fill them and they had them back and say its on the house.

I have had them for about 3 or 4 years. They are attached to the back bar on the roll cage. I have them set up to run power tools although I never have. The only real use I have for them is to run the ARB locker. I wanted clean air and didnt want to mess with a noisy compressor. I believe one tank would last forever on a locker if I could remember to turn off the valve on the tank when I am not using it.

I have never heard that Co2 was corrosive to aluminum. What about people who air up with is and have aluminum wheels? That could be scary.

Greg

 

[bigmuddy]

I have a 20lb C02 tank setup that ran out of gas after I moved. The local guy back home would just swap it out for a new one. Airgas down here won't touch it, and wants to me to buy a new one that I can swap. Frankly I think its a bunch of BS. They won't touch my oxy/act tanks either. Good news is that I may be closer to the old shop later this year (moving) and can get over this hurdle.

Point being is, you may just be better off buying a small C02 bottle from the local gas guy, so you can get it refilled when needed.

Ben

 

[fordtrucks4ever]

A firefighter SCBA tank will work fine. But you will need the corrrect valve for CO2. I have a small aluminum tank for scuba that was converted from a CO2. I did have to make an adapter to use an older style valve from a steel tank, but it passed hydro and visual. All of those tanks have to get hydro'ed every 5 or 10 years. You can change valves of most welding style tanks for whatever use needed. CO2 only fills at a max pressure of 2250 lbs. HPA fills to 3000 plus 10% when new or can still pass testing. I recently had an older oxygen bottle for welding that was manufactured in 1917 and still passed hydro with a 3000 ++. CO2 can be filled in steel or aluminum tanks. All of your fountain drink machines used CO2 in aluminum tanks. A smaller version of that style carbon fiber wrapped tank is used in paintball and fills compressed air or nitrogen(refered to as nitro in the paiontball realm) at 3000 psi.

 

[broncnaz]

Well I'm not sure that its very corrosive to aluminum its just that liquid C02 is slightly acidic supposedly. I would think that once you filled a tire its no longer a liquid its not as acidic. Plus with the thickness of most bottles or alumiunm wheels I really doubt its a big issue. Most Co2 tanks seem to be aluminum so maybe its not really a issue.

 

[Broncobowsher]

The wrapped cylinders are no good. They expire not to be retested. Once they expire they are done. The old steel. SCBA tanks can be pretested forever as long as they keep passing. I also know of several aluminum tanks like powertank that run CO2 just fine.