CO2 tank

[SmoothScales]

I saw this at harbor freight for under 30$. Any ideas how difficult it would be setting up the line to use in a CO2 chamber?

http://m.harborfreight.com/5-gal-por...not%20provided


Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[PitOnTheProwl]

That is an air tank.
Not CO2 approved and no one would fill it.

[distaff]

I've never done it, but those little paint ball canisters sound like the way to go.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If you want to go with a bigger tank than a paintball cylinder here is what I recommend, go to a Airgas location and get a tank and regulator, the regulator will be yours the tank will be exchanged every time you go which is very important as CO2 tanks need to be re-certified every so often until it can't be anymore.

Your tank will be filled up by professional which is also very important.

You can also buy a tank what you are looking for is a tank like this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088P10OO?tag=amzn-buynow-20

An air tank not and SHOULD not be used for CO2.

Personally I prefer exchanging my empty tank for a filled up one it makes more sense, it's just like you going to exchange a propane tank.

[SmoothScales]

Thanks for the reaponses! I wasn't aware there was a difference between the canisters.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[Doggtyred]

Thanks for the reaponses! I wasn't aware there was a difference between the canisters.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

There are tremendous differences. The harbor freight air tank is intended for a maximum working pressure of 125 PSI (likely burst pressure of around 200 psi). It is a consumer grade tank intended to be filled by the end user by a consumer grade air compressor/compressed air source using a Schrader valve. They are made of welded heavy gauge sheet metal.

Dealing with purified gases is a whole different ballgame. There are a few players in the industry who sell to individuals (gas producers) who sell via intermediaries (vendors). For the quantities you will be dealing with, you can RENT a single tank from a gas vendor (think: welding gas shop) and exchange it each time you need a refill. As mentioned before, you will need to own your own regulator and hoses. The tanks you will be using are thick, cast/machined steel or aluminum and deal with pressures in the 2000 psi range. This is classified as a hazardous material simply by the stored potential energy alone, and in the case of gases other than breathing air, the gas itself may have hazardous properties. In the case of CO2 it would be an asphyxiant (which, by the way, is your intended use in this case).

The way the industry prevents accidents involving mixups of gas types (like, say, hooking up a nitrogen tank or CO2 tank to a hospital oxygen line) is to use different fittings for different gas types. There is a difference in the size of the fitting, the thread pitch, the thread direction, the regulator nipple size or a combination of all of the above to result in different classes of gas storage having different connections from each other. These specs are regulated by a private industry group called the Compressed Gas Association, and their information is proprietary and private. You want to have a copy? you buy a not-so-cheap membership. From a practical standpoint you are reliant on the expertise of the vendor for supply and equipment. Attention to detail is important, as even different pressure classes within the same class of gas can have different fittings (for instance, breathing air at 4500 psi has different length fittings than breathing air at 2200 psi)

So its not rocket science, but there is a reason to all this madness. You can use CO2 safely provided you know the rules, understand your own needs, use only the gas necessary (and by that I mean giving enough gas to do the job in the asphyxiation chamber without displacing lots of oxygen in the rest of your snake room. It is clear from your initial post that while well intentioned, you dont have much knowledge on this subject, and more importantly "you dont know what you dont know". Definitely read up, network with others who are doing this, get pictures of their setup. Identify and talk to a local welding gas vendor near you (or beverage gas vendor) and get set up with a tank, a high pressure regulator that drops the tank pressure to a working pressure of around 50 PSI, and then a low pressure regulator/flow meter (or pushbutton valve) that gives you a slow steady stream of gas. Use low pressure gas tubing to then take gas flow to your asphyxiation chamber. Do the math to know how much gas to need (tank volume, gas flow rate, duration of flow at that rate, time to asphyxiation at those numbers (5 minutes once breathing stops should be more than enough)