Fireguy0306

Guys, i have access to some carbon fiber 4500psi air tanks, as well as a way to fill them for free.

If i get a regulator as well as the needed hoses, regular air should be fine, right?

It doesn't need to be CO2, i think.

And with 4500psi in the tank that should last a nice long time.


And yes i know, it's a bomb, blah blah. If i can wear one on my back into a burning building i can strap it safely in the back w/o worrying.

RedneckJeep

If you've already made up your mind, why ask us?

PirateKitty

From what I read he's not looking for a safety lecture speech. He just wants to know if it will work with what he's proposing.

RedneckJeep

I didn't give him a safety lecture speech. I see no reason why it wouldn't work. He pretty much answered his own question.

derff96963

I don't see why it won't work either. Just make sure if using regular air to purge all the water out every so often if not using a dry source to fill them.

My only thought was I would assume since you can get them for free they are beyond their service life for the fire dept. At which point it could be dangerous since sooner or later the carbon fiber will break down and Pressure vessels have dates codes and are only good for so many years. Steel and aluminum tanks need pressure tested and recertified to be refilled after that date code. Carbon fiber I would be willing to bet cannot be recertified do to the nature of the material.

Most likely it will fail at some point when being filled. Just take the precautions.

sn4cktime

You could get them hydrostatically tested at a welding supply store as long as they're DOT stamped, and then you could probably fill a little tank like that with CO2 for $10-15. THAT would fill more tires. It's not the PSI in a tank that's going to fill a bunch of tires, it's actual volume, which they measure by weight like a propane tank. I've got a 20lb CO2 tank, and it comes through the regulator at 150 psi, but it's the flow rate (how much volume / a given time) that fills all four of my tires in a few minutes. So just get a high flow regulator to go with them and you're set.

BTW a standard welding regulator tends NOT to be high flow OR high pressure. PowerTank makes a good regulator kit as do some other CO2 for vehicle companies.

somewhereinla

I am going to assume you work for a fire dept. I know the tank you are talking about as this is the tank the Long Beach F.D uses for their Scuba Diver search and recovery / homeland security team (I have trained with them). First of all those tanks are extremely expensive and the regulators are very expensive as well ( paid for by our taxes by the way ), to me it's a waste of live saving equipment that's certainly not meant to be used to fill tires . I would really be curious to know how you have access to a carbon fiber tank???

Fireguy0306

Well we have the standard FD "30 minute" Scott Cylinders, we are upgrading many of them to 45 minute. The bottle is out of hydro date, and the department doesn't feel like dealing with it, so i was offered to take on of them. Unfortunatly i can't aquire any more then a single tank or i'd be practicly giving these away.

But i was offered as long as it's hydro'd i can fill it whenever i wish, that and it helps being an officer in the dept.

I just wanted to see if you guys thought a 4500psi normal air tank is cool, make sure i wasn't missing anything.

RedneckJeep

Do you plan on filling it with that much air???

somewhereinla

So are you getting the regulator as well?