chimmike

I was thinking today at work.........I saw the used fire extinguisher used as a co2 tank.

Why not use that galvanized steel piping from home depot, with the screw ends......you could line a few of them up underneath the truck with a splitter block into one line for refilling the tires. I know the capacity wouldnt' be that great, but you could fit in 200psi easily into each one, providing some good working pressure for refilling tires. Use an adjustable valve much like on tool compressors.......

good idea/bad idea?

Robinhood150

You saw a fire extinguisher used as a CO2 tank?

linuxrunner

you forgot scary... even fire extinguishers have to be hydro tested to ensure that there are no week spots that might make it go kaboom. A pipe with screw on ends although likely designed and fully capable of holding compressed air, is not something i would look into... i would however like to know more about this fire extinguisher co2 tank.

bigredj87

What about those cheap helium tanks from costco? they look like small propane cylinders. Or an old propane cylinder thats been throughly purged?

chimmike

when you look at piping at home depot, they are rated for fluid PSI. Even PVC piping is capable of holding anywhere from 300psi on up to who knows what. Assuming you take proper care with the steel pipe and screw caps by using a resin glue or welding the caps on, those things will be nearly indestructable. Mounted properly, even on the floor of the rear area, they'll be no more dangerous than any other form of tank holding a compressed gas.

So I am not quite sure why this would be dangerous.

I'd actually like to find out just how capable a few of these would be, figure 3' lengths with 150-200psi per, what volume would be held and how effective it would be at reinflating.

Otherwise, I'd just go buy one of those refillable tanks from Home Depot or Sears or something and make a bolt in removable bracket.

Robinhood150

I still want to know where you saw a fire extinguisher tank used for CO2.

chimmike

it's in the FAQ's....read 'em? lol.

Robinhood150

You mean this one: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f129/do-yourself-onboard-air-75748/
The one that I wrote?

If so, that's definitely NOT CO2 and it's no where near the pressures used in CO2 tanks. No welding shop in the world would fill that tank with CO2. It would be a bomb waiting to go off.

linuxrunner

What i am saying is that fill plants cannot fill a cylinder that is not hydro tested so it will be difficult to fill it with co2, now if he is just going to fill with compressed air, than he could fill it himself.

mikehinthehouse

chimike.. Ive seen some tube bumpers before with air nipples for inflating and deflating tires... I think it would work... now keep in mind that is down here n the south where there are no rocks to crawl on...but i guess that there are none in fla either! how about that game last night... ??

chimmike

yah I would definitely not be using co2, I'd just be using compressed air.

SoiledGreen98

I think its a good idea. You can tuck them up next to the body and they'd be completely out of the way. In fact, that's a great idea and i think I'll start working on that too. I'd weld the caps on though.

glenyoshida

Interesting idea. I crunched a few numbers and it doesn't look like you would end up saving much money if any in the long run. I think CO2 or compressors are probably going to be your best bet. A 20oz cylinder is going to hold enough to fill about two 31x10.5r15 tires if you don't air down past say 13psi. Each one of your tires holds about 6.4 cu ft of air at 30 psi.

I'm not sure what size pipe you are taking about but if you tried a 2inch diameter pipe 5 feet long it would need to be brought to 880 psi to hold the same amount of air as one tire. If you doubled the volume of the pipe then you would need half that or 440 psi. Paintball markers use the 20z tanks and can be found for about 22 bucks including shipping. If you are thinking about just putting the CO2 in the pipe then make sure you put in a safety valve or burst disk. If you don't the CO2 can reach a sick level of pressure and rupture the tank. On a 100 degree day it's not uncommon to have a full CO2 tank exceed 1400 psi. The inside of a car can easily reach 120 degrees which would put the tank at 1900 psi. To reference the force of quadruple digit pressures, dry ice bombs usually rupture 2 liter bottles at about 150 - 300 psi depending on the bottle mfg.

There's always the $30 portable air compressor. It takes patience but it's cheap and safe. Heck you could buy two compressors for the same price it would take fill up all four tires using CO2. You also don?t have to refill the tanks and it's not like you can run out of compressor. By the way this thread got me thinking about how much weight filling tires this size with CO2 would add and it turns out it?s only about 2 oz per tire.

Smiling_Jim

trying to use pipe for air fills.

You can get a 10 lbs CO2 for $100-$140.

A reg for $30. Hose and nozzle for $15.

My 10 lbs tank fills my 36" IROKS 3 times before a refill.

Plus if you are going on an expedition trip, you can carry air tools for repairing stuff.

tc

CO2 is compressed to liquid to dramatically increase the storage capacity, but increases the pressure, and the severity of anything going wrong.

Compressed air is quite a bit safer, I don't think the PVC pipe storage tanks would be a problem, but I would go with like 4", not smaller. Tires take A TON of air to fill.

My bumper is sealed as an air tank, and doesn't even fill one tire.

slosurfer

I have seen fire extinguishers used as co2 bottles. They are co2 fire extinguishers. Generally they are the old steel ones and you can get them at fire extinguisher stores; they sometimes have them laying around. Of course you have to get them tested before you get them filled, but I have seen them and seen writeups for them on the web. I personally don't think they are worth it because they are the really heavy steel ones. they weigh almost twice as much as the aluminum ones.

slosurfer

found this in our tech section:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f129/home-grown-c02-tanks-setup-75329/

reggie 00

http://www.offroadairstore.com/servl...3ASPORT+Series

They got decent enough prices here. also they have the parts and pieces to make your own.

linuxrunner

With compressed air the pipe idea would work, but you would need lots of pipe to fill all four tires... Is there any way to get air compressors that are belt driven for late 80's Toyota trucks/4runners?

Smiling_Jim

His Air Bumper does not fill ONE tire.

When CO2 converts from liguid to gas you get a HUGE efficiency advantage.

My CO2 tank fills 12 36" IROKS !!!

Don't waste your time and $$ with pipe air tanks...