SCUBA Tank Vented - grrrrrrrr....

[rsterne]

I was topping up my 80 CF SCuba tank today with my ShoeBox compressor and went in the house for dinner with the tank at about 2800 psi.... It takes an hour to do 150 psi, and I was back outside 45 minutes later.... Looked at the gauge on the fill yoke and it was at ZERO.... The outside of the tank was covered in condensation so I suspected it blew the yoke O-ring.... Took off the fill clamp and it looked fine.... Then I noticed a puddle on the floor beside the tank....

My fill line from the ShoeBox to the SCUBA tank has a 5000 psi glycerine filled gauge on it.... YUP!.... the puddle was glycerine and the safety plug in the back of the gauge was long gone and the gauge was empty and the needle was stuck at 1000 psi.... Goodbye gauge and goodbye a full tank of air....   

If I had been in the shop at the time the gauge blew it would have scared the heck out of me.... but I probably would have been able to shut the tank valve before I lost all the air.... On the other hand, no telling where that rubber safety plug from the gauge went.... It could have hit me had I been there I suppose....

Anyway, now my poor ShoeBox has to fill my SCUBA tank from empty.... 20 hours and counting....   

Bob

[KenH]

Oh wow!  That is scary!!!  A safety device that failed?

Good luck, Ken

[rsterne]

The back of the gauge had a rubber? plug in it so that if the bouron tube (that operates the gauge) springs a leak (which it did) that instead of building up pressure and blowing up the gauge housing the plug blows out and all the gylcerine (there to dampen the needle) leaks out....

Judging by the fact that the glycerine was in a puddle and not sprayed all over the shop I'm guessing it wasn't a very exciting failure.... just freakin' annoying 'cause I lost 80 CF of air!....

Bob

[RatRacer]

Sounds like it would have been more like a 80CF queef.

Sent you an email Bob.

[amb5500c]

What a stroke of bad luck. Hope you get back up and running soon.
Richard

[Rico14]

Save yourself some time and less wear on the shoebox. Take it to a dive shop to fill it, then all you have to do is top it off after that

[rsterne]

That would work if there was a dive shop within 2 hours of here.... but there isn't....

Bob

[JTank70]

I guess I had no Idea that it took such a long time for a shoebox to fill a tank.
I haven't read much about them yet obviously.  I still use a hand pump for now on the disco.

Sorry for your aggravation Bob.
Are the gauges hard to find/replace?

JT

[CharlieDaTuna]

Sorry to here it Bob... If you have a hand pump it might be quicker to get it partially up with that and then as the pressure is up somewhat, let the shoebox take over.

CDT

[only1harry]

That stinks Bob.  I think everything considered, you had a "minor" failure.  It have been worse.  The gauge is always the weak link in most setups.  The stainless fittings and hoses rarely fail.  Even the best gauges can break, but generaly the more $ you spend on a good gauge, the longer you will enjoy a trouble-free operation. 

Good thing you have a couple of Springers you can shoot until you get the SCUBA filled    

Wow 20hrs to fill to 3k psi?  I wonder how long it would take for an 88cf 4500 tank with the ShoeBox.  Speaking of which, I have to take my tanks to the Dive shop.  $7 for 4,500, and $5 for the 3K tank.  That's not bad twice/year.  It's about the price of lunch for 1 without the tip or tax.  It's hassle-free and worth it to me.

[Smaug]

Can you start the fill with a regular shop-type compressor rated for 120-150 psi, then go from there?

Let us know what you end up doing.

@ KenH: The safety feature WORKED. It is just sometimes messy when they do. If it didn't work, it could have been more exciting.

[jonnnyboy]

I'm glad you are okay, Bob.  Things could have turned out very differently.  There are lots of times that I have to remind myself that I am working with high pressure air when I am filling my airgun.  Those safety components are there for a reason and I am glad they are.  

OK, Bob here is what you should do!  Take the 20 hours and try to accomplish at least one of your wife's little "honey-do" activities and when the 20 hours is up, you will feel good about getting back to shooting and ignoring her list of things for you to do!!  LOL

Again, I'm glad you're okay bro.

joe

[Jay]

Glad you an your shop are O.K. Bob, hey if no scuba shop's near by have you looked for a paint ball store?

[rsterne]

@CDT.... I'm not even going to CONSIDER the thought of filling a SCUBA tank with a hand pump... guns are enough work....

@johnnyboy.... My honeydo list is actually caught right up at the moment....

@Jay.... You're kidding, right?.... We live 2 hours from the closest city (Penticton, Pop. 40,000), which has 1 paintball store and 1 dive shop.... I guess I'm lucky it has a dive shop, the only reason is it's on Okanagan Lake which is about 80 miles long... I love living in the sticks, but it does have it's downside when you want anything at all specialized....

After thinking about the failure, it probably wasn't very exciting after all.... The glycerine was in a puddle on the floor directly under the gauge.... it wasn't sprayed all over the place.... I'm guessing the rubber? safety plug just popped out and the glycerine ran out as the tank vented through the bourdon tube (which I assumed cracked)....

The ShoeBox puts out about 4 CF per hour, although some seem to be a bit more.... The rate doesn't seem to depend on the pressure they are working against, which is counter-intuitive.... The pressure in my 80 CF SCUBA tank goes up by 150 psi per hour.... I also have a 90 ci 4500 psi buddy bottle (works out to 16 CF) and that takes just over 4 hours from empty....

My ShoeBox currently has about 60 hours on it.... I was initially using a "bio-based" white lithium grease that gummed it up and actually siezed it and blew the fuse.... Once I identified the problem and cleaned off the gunk, I change over to a Texaco "Molytex" product that has a similar flash point to the white lithium grease that Tom recommends, and in fact I'm kind of acting as a "ginuea pig" in that respect.... It's actually a lithium based grease with about 3% Moly in it.... When I shut the ShoeBox down overnight I turned off the tank valve but left the hoses and ShoeBox pressurized all night and it didn't lose any pressure at all.... so I guess things are A-OK so far.... The tank is now at 1000+ psi and everything is just ticking along nicely....

Bob

[Jay]

LOL, I alway's forget where you live at Bob, one of my trade's is as a driver an I have been up in your area before, beautiful to say the least but your right you guy's make the Dakota's look like New York city.

[rsterne]

It's my time for problems, it seems.... The small oil-free compressor that I had running my ShoeBox quit today.... This is the second piece of junk I've had from Canadian Tire, and this time it's wayyyyyyy past their 30 day warranty.... I needed a regulator for my main compressor and this one fit.... plus I'm setting up the tank as an intermediate between my shop compressor and the ShoeBox.... I'm putting my filter/oil trap between the shop compressor and the small tank, and then a dessicant filter between that and the ShoeBox.... so it will end up being a better setup anyway....

The SCUBA tank is at 1600 psi and things are still chugging away....

Bob

[rsterne]

Well after a partial clean and rebuild of my ShoeBox my SCUBA tank is once again full.... The compressor began shutting off at 2600 psi and I pulled apart and cleaned up the lower cylinder.... The O-rings were in decent shape, so I swapped them around, re-lubed them, and put it back together and it's once again working great.... The first maintenance was after 70-75 hours of use....

Bob

[only1harry]

Wow 2hrs away from the nearest dive shop..  I 'd probably have 2 ShoeBox compressors then   Glad you got it working well again.  I 'd freak out if I were left without air for 2min, hehehe