Calor gas bottle

[drmike]

A local garage used to have a sort of calor gas bottle charged with air that you could use to pump up your tyres. Anyone know what I need to do to make that happen to a bottle I have handy.

To date I've used a diver's bottle but it's gone out of date (they have to be tested every X years) and I suspect it would fail the test and without the stamp no-one should/would refill it. However, I could refill a calor gas bottle at the village garage who have a powerful compressor.

Any advice chaps?

Mike

[Range Rover Blues]

I wouldn't want to do it.

Firstly any gas in there would rot your tyres, secondly filling a pressure vessel is a job for 'proffesionals'

When they are refilled they have to be pressure tested too, it's why it costs so much.

And I don't think it would hold that much air either.

Better spending the money on a compressor, Golynn had a T-Max with him the other weekend, only about £50 notes.  I'm a bit jealous :oops:

[greasemonkey]

HI
you could try pub gas
co2 is a cool gas so you tyres would run colder
and i am sure i have seen a post on another forum
about this
and if you can speak to your local land lord
they can be refilled very easily
in fact they'll swop it so you will always
have an in date cylinder
regards
Steve
visit me @
www.fronteratech.com
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

[Range Rover Blues]

I've heard of using Nitrogen before too, not a bad idea that :)

[drmike]

Hmm, I know getting real pressure is risky which is why the diver's bottle has to be tested but all I want is just enough to reinflate the tyres to 25 psi from 15. My crappy little battery compressor can sort of do it but it huffs and puffs and my air tool compressor doesn't seem to have a big enough reservoir for all 4 tyres which is a bummer.

There are some good battery compressors out there but they do cost and even those aren't very fast. the diver's bottle is excellent although it was 3 quid each refill which did maybe 4 sets of tyres.

Oh well I suppose I can always drive to the event on road tyres and change the wheels when I get there etc.

Mike

[Drift]

This stuff  

Ste

[drmike]

Steve - how much would a refill be as I have just such a bottle lurking? It's got to be a fair amount surely?

I don'y anyone has realised how mean I am!

Mike

[Drift]

Ive used tyre weld on the truck on a few occasions with slow puntures works a treat.
Father inlaw is a tyre fitter and does my tyres for me hates the stuff as its messy, but I just give him another beer    :lol:  :lol:

As said you cant beat the old compresor's though  

[Manicminer]

A mate of mine had an old Calor Gas bottle with a tap on it. He had a valve fitted and would go to a garage/fuel station and fill it with the courtesy inflator on the forecourt to about 60 psi. He used to carry it in the back of his S111.
This would be enough to inflate the tyre from flat to 30psi. You can only use half the air as it will only inflate the tyre until the pressure in the tyre and the bottle is equal.

[Xtremeteam]

Tmax double ended compressor,sub £100 & pumps a 33 from 10 psi tp 34 in about 2 minutes

[Drift]

I use my halfords £24 compresor  :oops:  takes about 5 mins from flat , never let me down though (excuse the pun :lol: )
Ste

[drmike]

Manicminer - that's just what I want to do. What valve would I need? I'm confident I can get all the gas out although it might be exciting!

As for 5 minutes per trye that's 20 minutes for 4 which seems like an awful long tim at the end of the day!

Mike

[Manicminer]

What valve would I need?

It was about 15 years ago. All I can remember is that it had a valve fitted to the neck of the bottle below the tap mechanism. It was probably a hole drilled through and a thread tapped and a metal valve screwed in.

[UKJeeper]

On Board Air. 0 - 32psi in 65 seconds!  8)

[muddymesser]

you can use a air pump at a service station . . . my dad uses a gas bottle under th bonet for his horns . . . its a smallbottle but i've pressurised it to around 120psi and that should be enough t fill a tyre

[drmike]

UJ keeper - is that a product you're referring to?

Mike

[screwy]

I cannot see the point of this? Why do you want o lug a bloody great pressure bottle about to sod about with air pumps in garages, when you can get any of the above named compressors or battery inflators that work fine for less money and no hassle? :?

I recently bought the Halfords Jump-Pack which has a starting battery, compressor, 240v invertor, lights, etc, for £69. The compressor fills all four of my LWB tyres to 25psi no problem. Failing that I just use the garage ones anyway. If you're driving there to fill your gas bottle, then just fill your tyres while your there surely? :roll:

[UKJeeper]

UJ keeper - is that a product you're referring to?

Mike

Nope. On Board Air (OBA) is usually when you either convert your air conditioning pump to work as a compressor, or install some other kind of belt driven/electric, mounted compressor system.

I converted the AC pump on my Jeep. The Sanden compressors fitted to a lot of vehicles (including the ones from Solihull), are good for up to 300psi and 9cfm. Mines limited (by pressure switch) to 100psi as i use it for my ARB's. I also have quick connects fitted front and rear for airing up tyres.

More work to setup than an electric system, but miles better.

[drmike]

The reason I want a bottle of air is when I compete in trials I drop the tyres to 15 psi but on road they need to be 20+. The crappy little compressors take forever to inflate a 750 tyres to 20+ and there are 4 to do. I don't want to spen 50 quid on a bettery pump but I guess I may have to.

I have a compressor at home to pump tyres etc. and I have used the diver's bottle to date which inflates 15 to 25 in 30 seconds tops.

I might try the AC pump route, I hadn't realised that they could pump to such high pressures.

I also have a set of road wheels but it's a lot of hassle to change wheels at the start and end of an event.

Mike

[thermidorthelobster]

I have a Viair pump which used to pump the 101's six 41" tyres up to 45psi without breaking out a sweat, but it was a bit more pricey than 50 quid.  Have you asked a dive centre if they'd fill up your un-certified tank as a favour?

[drmike]

My local dive centres are quite prissy about this and to be fair they probably should be. It's not really fair to ask them to infringe HSE rules.

Looks like it'll be extra effort in changing wheels or extra cash and get a decent pump.

Bother.

Mike

[Xtremeteam]

I have a Viair pump which used to pump the 101's six 41" tyres up to 45psi without breaking out a sweat, but it was a bit more pricey than 50 quid.  Have you asked a dive centre if they'd fill up your un-certified tank as a favour?

or purchase a Tmax double ended one like this one http://www.devon4x4.com/shop.php?mode=productview&product=314&sitelang=&cat=31&subcat=78

which is bloody quick,90 secs a wheel to pump up 33s from 10 psi to 35

[winchman]

www.onboardair.com
I have a converted York comperssor, in the garage going cheap?
Calor gas bottle, dont even think about it, too dangerous.
Ask webber on here he has all the knowlege regarding compressed gasses

[UKJeeper]

www.onboardair.com

Brad has great stuff, for a decent price, LOADS of info on his site, and there is a forum to answer any questions.

A UK parts option is http://www.airlines-pneumatics.co.uk I've quite a bit of stuff from them and it works fine. They even have NPT to BSP/BSPT (USA to UK) fitting convertors, very useful as a lot of the compressors have NPT outlets. I personally haven't had any problems fitting NPT to BSPT as they seem to be thatclose, but some people like to use a convertor.

York compressors are a good option, some say slightly better than Sanden. Apart from Winchmans shelf, they can also be found over here (UK) in older Volvos (IIRC). The real advantage over a Sanden is that they have their own oil sump, whereas Sanden are cooled/lubed by the refridgerant in the A/C. Take away the refridgerant, and you need another oiling option. I use a drip feed oiler on the intake, and a filter downstream. Works fine. They don't need a lot, some people just pour a few drops of 10w/40 in the intake every couple of months and that keeps 'em happy.

If you're not quite ready for belt driven air, those T-Maxes are supposed to be the dogs bits. I was looking at pairing up a couple of them if i hadn't already had A/C installed.

Of course of you really wanted to go nuts with electric air...

http://www.kilbyenterprises.com/trailhead.htm

Thats basically a York bolted to a winch motor!  :shock:

[drmike]

Thnaks guys lots to think about!

Including the cordless battery operated compressors that seem to be drill motors attached to a compressor. One suppliers says his should do my tyres and he's happy for me to test it. Personally I really doubt it will cope - it has a flow of 12 litres / minute so I think it would take ages to pump a tyre up.

Mike