CO2 tank for nitrous?

In reply to davidjs: It was just odd seeing it on tanks being sold for use with kegs.

Doing more digging about I found a place selling refurb and new bottles for co2 and they had on info for some that they would convert them for nitrous. I guess it was not completely unusual an idea.

pressure is pressure. Wether it is air, oxygen, CO2, Nitrous.. 100psi is 100psi. The tank is going to get hot when you fill it and it is going to get very cold when you empty it.

FWIW, I used to have my CO2 tanks re-filled about 70-90 times in a summer. I used to play league paintball, and 30 or 40 games a year was normal, plus practices and games for fun with friends.

I used the same three tanks all 8 years that I played. I would probably stay away from the carbon tanks, I don't know if I would trust them in a NOS application.

I used to have a nitrous refill station when I worked at Motion Dynamics in Austin. I had some tricks I'd do to make sure the bottles would fill up quickly and completely. I'd set the bottles outside on hot days with the valves open. Then after about 30 mins to an hour, I'd close the valve and put them in the freezer. They'd stay there for about an hour or so and then be hooked to the pump and opened. The bottles were basically at a vacuum and would suck the nitrous right out of the big tank and I'd barely have to pump them.

That being said, I would ONLY fill nitrous bottles. The SCUBA tanks, CO2 tanks, and all that crap, I wouldn't touch.

novaderrik wrote:

tuna55 wrote: I have it on reasonably good authority that there were a couple of Pro Stock drivers a few years back who welded caps inside of the roll cage and used the cavity as a nitrous bottle. They then plumbed it through the cage and through the firewall and into the engine without being detected... for a while. Don't do that - it's stupid and deadly. Get a real bottle. hang out and put WTB ads up at your local dragstrip.

i believe that was the Mopar team with Darrell Alderman driving.. sometime in the mid 90's.. they were dominating the season until they had a rather peculiar explosion under the hood scoop and then their shop got broken into and all of their engines destroyed.. i think there was cocaine involved, too, but i might be misremembering.. ok.. a little google time tells me that it was Jerry Eckman that got caught with the nitrous when they had an explosive bottle "malfunction" in the pits.

That was the rumor. The Dodge brothers. Can't fault the NHRA at all, though. Their shop was "broken in to" and "all of their parts were stolen" and they didn't get it all back together until one year EXACTLY to make it back to the track, and yet they never could qualify at the top half of the field again... weird. The NHRA found out they were cheating and found a way to punish them without making the sponsors look like fools. A nice move, actually. Of course, I was trying not to name them because it is just a rumor. They had like 3-4 flame outs on the starting line that are indicative of nitrous issues that they attributed to a ignition failure. Right. Because that happens so often in Pro Stock.

triumph5 wrote: Are co2 tanks designed for the metal fatigue from the expansion and contraction from more than one or two shot life they normally live, as compared to the numerous expansion and contraction they will have as a NOs tank.? I don't think so. BTW, Porsche uses to air pressure test the roll cages on the 935/6s to about 7psi to check for weld integrity.

Co2 cylinders work fine for paintball use, people refill them 2 times a weekend. Steel cylinders are good for 5 years and are DOT approved. The burst disks are good until 3000psi or so. The carbon fiber wrapped tanks cannot be used for nitrous oxide or CO2 though, the interior aluminum liner pulls away from the exterior layer of the tank with the cycle changes of cold/hot. I've used the cylinders with multiple gases, Co2, N2o, etc.

I used to use CO2 cylinders all the time when I was in ag-chem R&D. No problem refilling those babies, as along as they are in their inspection period. The aluminum tanks were better than the steel because they were much lighter and (I think) did not have to be re-inspected as often.