Nitrogen

[Mudbug]

One of the guys from work has a Nitrogen tank that he is willing to give me I'm not sure what company the bottle is with but I know I may have to get a contract to fill it ....

I guess what I realy want to know is ....is nitrogen as good or better than air? Will it last longer ? What will the conectors cost so it can be used to fill my gun?

I'm still real new to the performance airgun world but with the opinions from you guys I'm sure to make a educated choice

Thanks for any advice !

[AirGunEric]

I don't believe there is any real advantage to Nitrogen over air- other than perhaps it does not hold water as air does- but maybe someone else has more knowledge of this (?)

[Gippeto]

Ask your friend about the service pressure on that bottle. Most smaller N2 bottles I've seen are 2200psi. If you're friend owned the bottle, you shouldn't need a contract to get it filled...the contract is usually a lease agreement for the bottle. Here you just pay for the contents if you own your own bottle.

The bottle will also have a hydrotest date on it...if it's expired, it'll need to be re done. This is your bill if the bottle is owned.

Bottled nitrogen is dry...no water. Air is mostly nitrogen along with varying percentages of other gases (and usually some moisture). There will be a very slight performance increase with nitrogen...VERY slight.

Cost of fittings/fill apparatus will vary greatly depending upon what you have...and what you want. Let's find out if the bottle is useful first eh?

Al

[Grunt]

Hi Mudbug,

Nitrogen's main advantage would be that it is an inert gas.
So this means no risk of explosion or fire as with HPA since there is no oxygen.
Also as Eric said it is much drier with little moisture. Less corrosion to worry about.
You can also specify extra dry as well.

Getting a contract, regulator and other fittings can be quite expensive.
My Harris regulator was over $450, and some of the adapters $10 to$45 a piece.
Since I do a bit of welding here it is easy for me to justify a little extra expense.

Keep in mind though that the fill pressure will be determined by cylinder size.
Here in Ontario you can only own lower pressure cylinders, like the ones available at TSC stores.
These tend to be around 2000 to 2400 psi and not larger than 80 cubic feet.
So if your buddy has a cylinder to give you it may be one of the lower pressure ones

My HPX tanks that I lease for $75-$95 a year are filled to 4500psi. and hold 13 to 16 cubic metres (up to565 cubic feet).
A fill depending on gas type is between $100 to $175. You can get a lot of airgun reservoir fills from one of these, but it is an expensive set-up.

Another option is that a lot of paintball places now provide high pressure nitrogen since as Eric said it is much
drier with far less water comtamination that most HPA. So this means that you might be able to use your buddy's tank
and have it filled at a paintball range, if it was with in certification. I know people that do this with scuba tanks as well.


The most important thing is to be safe, high pressure gases are dangerous so going to Home Hardware or Crappy Tire to buy
fittings is probably not a good idea. Hydraulic shops are a good place, as are some tractor dealers, especially for the sealing washers for BSPP
threads. Do not use teflon tape on these threads. It is an all too common practice but is the wrong thing to do.
A welding supply dealer is a good choice since they will have access to all the regulator adapters that are necessary.

Hope this helps,

Grunt

[Mudbug]

Thanks for the advice guys :) I have a scuba setup at the moment and it works real nice.....getting the scuba setup all together tested and certified was a bit more $ than I was realy wanting to spend but I'm sure glad I got it !


Nitrogen sounds like it will cost a bunch more but I will for sure look into it starting with if it needs to be tested or not and what pressure it's good for ...

A $450 regulator sounds like a deal breaker though !!! man thats alot of mooola !

[rocker45]

My regulator was 440.00
80.00 per year for bottle rental
80.00 per fill
Nitrogen
I have to much money in my rifles
I use nitrogen so there is no risk of moisture
Paintball sites - who does there pm work on the compressors
I have a couple of AA's and a Condor