"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message
. 3.70...
"Steve B" fired this volley in news:732r18-
:

Running it for very long at all can cause problems from freezing. I've
frozen CO2 regulators (cheap ones) from running almost continuously.


I don't understand that, unless you were running liquid to the regulator.

CO2 is liquified under much less pressure than (say) O2 is compressed
(not liquified) in its cylinder.

A gas cools proportionately to the expansion ratio. CO2 expands much
less than would the O2 because it's at lower pressure in the tank. It
will cool less, as well.

We use lots of CO2-powered confetti equipment, some regulated, some not.
We've _never_ frozen a regulator, even running gas-to-gas continuously
for twenty minutes.

Now... liquid-to-gas... yeah. You'll freeze up in a hurry; just a minute
or two at a couple of cubic feet per minute.

LLoyd

Well, it might be impossible, but I've done it. My regulator was frosty
white with icicles hanging off it, and I had to switch it out to continue
welding. I'm pretty sure it was frozen, but I could be wrong. The room
temperature one I replaced it worked like a charm. I have only frozen a
regulator about three times during HEAVY use, and they were the $25 variety.

Steve