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There I was minding my own business tucking into my 6th pint of Exmoor Gold, when the landlady appears with an air cylinder filled with air and with a 250bar guage on it. 'Anyone got a use for this?' she says.

SPSSStP, Exmoor Gold everywhere, 'me Me ME'

So I now have, for nothing, a cylinder rated to 320BAR, with a 250BAR guage fitted. I think it was used to charge airguns. What do I need to use it for tyres? Do I just buy the coily hose and appropriate guage? or do I need to regulate the pressure down via something other than not turning it on much?

Will :)

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There I was minding my own business tucking into my 6th pint of Exmoor Gold, when the landlady appears with an air cylinder filled with air and with a 250bar guage on it. 'Anyone got a use for this?' she says.

SPSSStP, Exmoor Gold everywhere, 'me Me ME'

So I now have, for nothing, a cylinder rated to 320BAR, with a 250BAR guage fitted. I think it was used to charge airguns. What do I need to use it for tyres? Do I just buy the coily hose and appropriate guage? or do I need to regulate the pressure down via something other than not turning it on much?

Will :)

Will

If you don't decide to use it I would be interested in it for charging my airgun.

Cheers

John

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You will need a regulator to take the pressure down to 10 bar or so. If you stick 250 bar in to a coily hose & tyre thingy - it will not like it!

You should ask Nas90 where he got his fittigs from.

Si

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i just scrounged a similar cylinder from a mate who deals in ex-MOD scrap... got a C02 fire extinguisher from a challenger tank!! rated to over 3000psi, its a bit heavy (was going to use a small, pressed steel fire extinguisher) but it'll do the job!!! :D

i won a Rangie air suspension compressor on the 'bay earlier today, so should have reliable and endless on-board air in time for Morocco next month..... :) B) :D

Will, you need a regulator, but not exactly sure what sort, as you adverage compressor regulator probably wouldn't like 250 bar up it!!!!! :rolleyes:

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i just scrounged a similar cylinder from a mate who deals in ex-MOD scrap... got a C02 fire extinguisher from a challenger tank!! rated to over 3000psi, its a bit heavy (was going to use a small, pressed steel fire extinguisher) but it'll do the job!!! :D

i won a Rangie air suspension compressor on the 'bay earlier today, so should have reliable and endless on-board air in time for Morocco next month..... :) B) :D

Will, you need a regulator, but not exactly sure what sort, as you adverage compressor regulator probably wouldn't like 250 bar up it!!!!! :rolleyes:

Sorry guys, but if the cylinder is charged, a word of warning, 250 bar equals 3 thousand psi plus, a dangerous pressure in the wrong hands, you probably all know this, but it had to be said.

one bar equals 14.7 psi so do the maths , it will explode tyres if you want it to.

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Don't get too exited with that Range Rover aircompressor. It won't last long probably. It wasn't made to do anything you see.

Considering it was designed with a 100% duty cycle in mind, has to be ultra reliable as it is ultimately safety related when used to fill, and maintain the 140Psi in the rangie air suspension tank, i cant see why it will die when used to charge a tank half the size of the rangie tank, and be used to put a bit of air in the odd tyre.... :rolleyes:

these compressors are pretty expensive when new, and several forum members have been using the for a good while in on-board air set-ups... but only time will tell....

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Sorry guys, but if the cylinder is charged, a word of warning, 250 bar equals 3 thousand psi plus, a dangerous pressure in the wrong hands, you probably all know this, but it had to be said.

one bar equals 14.7 psi so do the maths , it will explode tyres if you want it to.

mine was full of CO2 when i got it, but emptied it into the atmosphere... its not going to have a maximum of 140psi in it... so should be ok...

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So much carp flies around about Range Rover air suspension systems! :rolleyes::rolleyes:

When a compressor that's been working daily for 15 years packs up, it and the whole system are a pile of carp. Even then it's normally just a worn piston.

Same with the air bags. If after 10 years an air bag goes because it's worn same thing - the whole thing is useless. 60 each corner after 10 years is not bad in my opinion.

BTW Will - I found the cost of the regulator etc to get a tank for on board air wasn't worth it. Better to get a cheap compressor.

Steve :)

Considering it was designed with a 100% duty cycle in mind, has to be ultra reliable as it is ultimately safety related when used to fill, and maintain the 140Psi in the rangie air suspension tank, i cant see why it will die when used to charge a tank half the size of the rangie tank, and be used to put a bit of air in the odd tyre.... :rolleyes:

these compressors are pretty expensive when new, and several forum members have been using the for a good while in on-board air set-ups... but only time will tell....

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Hi Will, both myself and Moglite run simerlar onboard air systems using 10l dive bottles. They're great. Seriously fast for filling tyres, will run a rattle gun and cost about £3 a fill. All you need is a test every couple of years (£25) and all the correct fittings and youy have a really reliable, simple setup.

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This might help

Red Ibex's system

I'm running the same system on MogLite, but with a DIN fitting on the bottle.

What you need for the tank - assuming its similar to a dive bottle, is a "First stage regulator"

Andy, where did you get the clamps you used to hold the dive bottle in place? i need to fix my tank down to stop it twatting me on the back of the head... and those clamps would do the job...

cheers

m@tt.

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Andy, where did you get the clamps you used to hold the dive bottle in place? i need to fix my tank down to stop it twatting me on the back of the head... and those clamps would do the job...

cheers

m@tt.

I got them from our local hydraulic place - Hyphose in Southampton

A couple of quid each, its the stainless ones that are bit more spendy.

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mine was full of CO2 when i got it, but emptied it into the atmosphere... its not going to have a maximum of 140psi in it... so should be ok...

If you hadn't emptied it, you could have used it for airing up a large number of tyres as it was.

For future ref, if you take off the trumpet and 'engineer' a fitting on the end of the metal pipe/hose to fit a tyre valve (best to have one that doesn't lock on to the valve), you can give a quick 'squirt' of co2 into a tyre to pump it up. You MUST turn the extinguisher upside down though or you will put liquid co2 into the tyre! Which is NOT good.

Obviously you can't regulate how much pressure you have put in, so you need to give it a squirt, then check the pressure with a tyre gauge. It only takes a squirt (gentle use of the handle/trigger) to take a tyre from 15 psi to 30psi.

Obviously I would never recommend anyone tries this :D

Regards,

Diff

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Obviously I would never recommend anyone tries this :D

You wouldn't recommend that, because it's a fire extinguisher, right? Not because it's CO2, since the use of CO2 in OBA systems is very common.

By the way, some CO2 regulators have 2 gauges: one for the "out" pressure and another (let's call it "in") for the cylinder pressure. Don't rely only on the "in" to know how much CO2 you have left. The best way to know this is by the cylinder's weight.

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You wouldn't recommend that, because it's a fire extinguisher, right? Not because it's CO2, since the use of CO2 in OBA systems is very common.

Yup, co2 is used in the 'Power Tank' portable tyre inflation system most commonly used in the USA. Apart from the obvious lack of tyre inflation fittings on a co2 fire extinguisher :) the Power Tank has a vapour take off and a regulator.

A co2 fire extinguisher has no regulator, so you have to squeeze the trigger carefully! Also, it has a dip tube so that when used for fighting fires, liquid co2 is discharged. To inflate a tyre, you want the vapour from on top of the liquid, so you need to turn the extinguisher upside down so that the dip tube is no longer below the surface of the liquid co2.

'I wouldn't recommend it', because it isn't the correct use of a fire extinguisher :) (despite the fact that it works well ;) )

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i binned the tap and 'dip tube' arrangement from mine, and screwed a brass reducer into the top, so i end up with a 1/4" BSP fitment on the top...

The cylinder will work fine as an air tank as you suggest with a RR compressor. Without a drain point though, you will need to disconnect and invert it every now and then to make sure you drain any water/condensate out, or it will rust on the inside eventually.

The advantage of co2 is that there is a HUGE amount of capacity in a small tank because the co2 expands massively as it vaporises. This means that one small cylinder will inflate many SETS of tyres before it is empty. The disadvantages are that you have to pay to refill it. A mig welding bottle will work well as you can easily get them refilled/exchanged and they have a vapour take off, though you would need to sort out the correct regulators which all adds to the expense.

Your solution should provide an economic way of getting permanent on board air.

I have a rangie aircon compressor which will be my source of onboard air once I get round to finishing making the brackets for it.

Regards,

Diff

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yeah i know about the lack of drain cock, i did think about taping a hole into the bottom of it, but thought it was shame to start cutting the cylinder about. it will be removed from time to time and the water tipped out.

i did think about swilling a bit of gloss paint around inside it to coat it and try to stop it rusting...

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