My turn to ask. Anyone here use CO2 for their ab’ing? Where would be a good place to get a tank? How much might the tank cost as well as the CO2? Do I need some type of permit to get it refilled? What type/kind of regulator will I need? Moisture trap? Now that I have a real ab, I started blasting through propellant cans. Don’t much like that one bit. Any input would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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Don’t know about the crack in the US, but in the UK the easiest route is to go straight to an industrial gas supplier & request a bottle & fill.
If the guy you deal with is half ways reasonable, he wont charge you for the bottle rental, just the gas - if he does look for rental, try another supplier.
You will need a regulator, specifically for a CO2 bottle (fittings arn’t the usually bottle type on CO2), but you will not need a moisture trap. You would be as well to get a regulator with a bottle guage on it, which gives you an estimate of the CO2 remaining. You will have to state clearly that you want gaseous CO2 as opposed to liquid, as liquid CO2 bottles have a dip tube which goes to the bottom of the tank allowing you to take off liquid only.
Your only real concern related to going down this route is the security of the bottle. While it is unlikely, if the bottle were to tip and damage the regulator or bottle valve, you could have a potentially life threatening situation on your hands due to the energy store in the pressurized bottle. Some sort of adequate strapping/security to prevent this is pretty much a necessity.
Echo that on the safety straps/security. Many years ago, when working for a fast food ‘restaurant’ I was taking delivery of a number of CO2 tanks used for soda machines. They were delivered to the basement using a wooden ramp. The guy at the top lost his grip on a tank before we were ready at the bottom. The tank hit the floor and somehow the valve fitting at the top got knocked off. The tank took off, destroyed about 20 boxes of dry goods, then embedded itself about a foot into the basement foundation wall.Nobody was injured, but that was only because the tank missed the both of us at the bottom. Be Careful!
Regards, Stenscience
B-1 Nut has several really useful posts on CO2 tank over at the ARC forum. You can PM him from here.
here.