Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Anyone tried it or looked at it?

Richard J Kinch wrote:

Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Anyone tried it or looked at it?

I've noticed it in passing, but not investigated very far. I did notice
that they sold the tanks as well.

Richard J Kinch wrote:

Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Anyone tried it or looked at it?

One other note: I'd be concerned about using CO2 in my air tools with
the greater cooling effect than air, unknown effect on tool lubrication
and potential for accidentally feeding liquid. The solution is easy
however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2. It's
cheaper as well.

however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2. It's
cheaper as well.

Make sure they don't give you 3000 psi though!

Pete C. writes:

The solution is easy
however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2.

You can't get much compressed air in a paintball tank, compared to the
expanded volume of CO2.

Depending on the delivery rate, the output CO2 gas should not be that cold.
The tubing coil will warm it very effectively at low delivery rates. The
tank is small enough that ambient heat will warm it directly.

Richard J Kinch wrote:
Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Anyone tried it or looked at it?

There's actually a product made for beer that uses one of these from
Williams brewing:

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/COMPA...STEM_P1796.cfm

This is more pricey by far, but includes a keg and other stuff. The
regulator (which is basically the main thing you need other than a tank
and assorted hoses) runs around $85.00. I couldn't see what the range
was on the Lowes regulator -- beer is usually dispensed at around 12PSI.

Might even be cheaper to get a bev regulator and DIY your own adapter
(assuming you need one) for a paintball tank, but I don't know.

I think the only other problem is that iirc paintball fills tend to be
expensive for the amount of gas you get.


--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)

Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html

Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!

Newshound wrote:

however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2. It's
cheaper as well.

Make sure they don't give you 3000 psi though!

I'd hope anyone at a SCUBA shop doing fills would understand tank
ratings, particularly if they have purchased the adapters to do
paintball tanks. Of course you could also get a SCUBA tank and regulator
with the appropriate QC adapter and have a nice large regulated air
source.

Richard J Kinch wrote:

Pete C. writes:

The solution is easy
however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2.

You can't get much compressed air in a paintball tank, compared to the
expanded volume of CO2.

Depending on the delivery rate, the output CO2 gas should not be that cold.
The tubing coil will warm it very effectively at low delivery rates. The
tank is small enough that ambient heat will warm it directly.

Put a high speed cutoff wheel saw on it (or similar high consumption
tool) on it and watch it freeze the regulator.

"Pete C." wrote in message
...
Richard J Kinch wrote:

Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:


http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Anyone tried it or looked at it?

One other note: I'd be concerned about using CO2 in my air tools
with
the greater cooling effect than air, unknown effect on tool
lubrication
and potential for accidentally feeding liquid. The solution is easy
however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2. It's
cheaper as well.

But, it's next to useless. The amount of air you can store at CO2
pressures is very small. CO2 is stored as a liquid. The volume
produced is way higher than air at the same pressure. Just like water
produces way more volume in steam when you boil it.

Bob

Pete C. writes:

Put a high speed cutoff wheel saw on it (or similar high consumption
tool) on it and watch it freeze the regulator.

Yeah, but it isn't really expected to handle that. More for nail guns that
are just using an occasional puff.

Also the CO2 gas supply for drinks should not be industrial grade possibly
with oil and other contaminants, the gas should be identified for drink
dispensers and be oil free. I used to buy nitrogen for a film processing
machine, it had to be laboratory grade certified as oil free.

"The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty"
wrote in message ...
Richard J Kinch wrote:
Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:


http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Anyone tried it or looked at it?

There's actually a product made for beer that uses one of these from
Williams brewing:

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/COMPA...STEM_P1796.cfm

This is more pricey by far, but includes a keg and other stuff. The
regulator (which is basically the main thing you need other than a tank
and assorted hoses) runs around $85.00. I couldn't see what the range was
on the Lowes regulator -- beer is usually dispensed at around 12PSI.

Might even be cheaper to get a bev regulator and DIY your own adapter
(assuming you need one) for a paintball tank, but I don't know.

I think the only other problem is that iirc paintball fills tend to be
expensive for the amount of gas you get.


--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)

Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html

Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!

On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:50:05 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:

Newshound wrote:

however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2. It's
cheaper as well.

Make sure they don't give you 3000 psi though!

I'd hope anyone at a SCUBA shop doing fills would understand tank
ratings, particularly if they have purchased the adapters to do
paintball tanks. Of course you could also get a SCUBA tank and regulator
with the appropriate QC adapter and have a nice large regulated air
source.

I'm just going to hire a SCUBA diver to through Pepsi at my paintball
adversaries.

"Pete C." wrote in
:

Richard J Kinch wrote:

Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...oductId=166441
-61735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Anyone tried it or looked at it?

I've noticed it in passing, but not investigated very far. I did
notice that they sold the tanks as well.

you can get paintball tanks cheaper at WalMart.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

On Jun 18, 2:21 pm, "Pete C." wrote:
Richard J Kinch wrote:


I've noticed it in passing, but not investigated very far. I did notice
that they sold the tanks as well.

Yeah I saw these yesterday at Lowes. The "Rhino Power" tanks(9oz or
20oz) are by Blue Rhino, the same folks that do the propane tank
exchanges. It looks like they are setting up the same system at Lowes
where you return the tank for exchange. However it is so new that no
one at customer service could manage to perform the proper incantation
for the point of sale computer to divulge the actual cost, after the
return credit, of the co2 cylinder. I figured I'd wait a couple weeks
and go ask again.

Here is Blue Rhinos page http://www.bluerhino.com/rhinopower/index.html/

and an alternative to the Kobalt regulator.
http://www.supplierpipeline.com/jacp...r=y&jacp ac=y

On Jun 18, 3:03 pm, "EXT" wrote:
Also the CO2 gas supply for drinks should not be industrial grade possibly
with oil and other contaminants, the gas should be identified for drink
dispensers and be oil free. I used to buy nitrogen for a film processing
machine, it had to be laboratory grade certified as oil free.


I was thinking about shooting an email to Blue Rhino and seeing if
their CO2 is food grade or not.

On Jun 18, 2:44 pm, The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty
wrote:
Might even be cheaper to get a bev regulator and DIY your own adapter
(assuming you need one) for a paintball tank, but I don't know.

I think the only other problem is that iirc paintball fills tend to be
expensive for the amount of gas you get.


I've seen plans arround the net for that very thing and also for a
filling settup that uses a 20Lb CO2 tank mounted upside down to
dispense liquid to fill the paintball cylinder. I'm not sure I have a
pair big enough to do that myself but the plans are "out there".

"Bob F" wrote: (clip)Just like water produces way more volume in steam
when you boil it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hey, why not just fill the tank with water and throw it in a bonfire? Watt
do you say to that? G

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Bob F" wrote: (clip)Just like water produces way more volume in
steam when you boil it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hey, why not just fill the tank with water and throw it in a
bonfire? Watt do you say to that? G

The water might be hard on the tools. And they might get really hot.
G

"Bob F" wrote in message
. ..

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"Bob F" wrote: (clip)Just like water produces way more volume in
steam when you boil it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hey, why not just fill the tank with water and throw it in a
bonfire? Watt do you say to that? G

The water might be hard on the tools. And they might get really hot.
G

Have we just invented the steam engine?

Pete C. wrote:

One other note: I'd be concerned about using CO2 in my air tools with
the greater cooling effect than air, unknown effect on tool lubrication
and potential for accidentally feeding liquid. The solution is easy
however, just get air fills from a SCUBA shop instead of CO2. It's
cheaper as well.

And it comes at pressures much higher than a paintball CO2 tank is
safe with.

CO2 at room temperature is in the 850 psi range, though it can get way
higher on an overfilled tank.

Paintball High Pressure Air tankks (HPA) are a whole different kettle
of fish, both in pressure capacity and price as well. Both are much
higher than for CO2 tanks.
HPA tanks will happily take a 4500 psi fill, if you bought the good
ones. CO2 tank burst disks are rated at 3000 psi.

Filling a CO2 tank to it's rated pressure with air would get you about
the same number of shots (nails, staples) as you would get from a CO2
fill without any liguid CO2. Not really worth the effort if you have to
run to the fill station more times than you have to reload the nailer.

By the time the CO2 has travelled through the reg and hoses, (where
the reg limits pressure to 100 psi or so) you can be pretty sure that
liquid CO2 is not an issue. Hoses would blow if the liquid got that far.
At least the ones between the reg and the tool, wher e you can bet they
are not selling you a 3000 psi rated hose to feed a 100 psi rated nailer
or stapler.

So. Air from the Scuba shop is about second in the list of bad ideas,
right after using pure oxygen. :-)

Cheers
Trevor Jones

Pete C. wrote:



Put a high speed cutoff wheel saw on it (or similar high consumption
tool) on it and watch it freeze the regulator.

That would be kind of dumb. As well as self limiting.

Read the instructions on the reg.

Misuse it at your own peril.

And wanna bet there is like to be a flow rate fuse or restrictor plate
in the system to limit the CFM draw?

Cheers
Trevor Jones

The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty wrote:


http://www.williamsbrewing.com/COMPA...STEM_P1796.cfm

This is more pricey by far, but includes a keg and other stuff. The
regulator (which is basically the main thing you need other than a tank
and assorted hoses) runs around $85.00. I couldn't see what the range
was on the Lowes regulator -- beer is usually dispensed at around 12PSI.

Might even be cheaper to get a bev regulator and DIY your own adapter
(assuming you need one) for a paintball tank, but I don't know.

I think the only other problem is that iirc paintball fills tend to be
expensive for the amount of gas you get.



That's kinda a neat little set-up!

A friend of mine had two draft taps on the front of his fridge. He
dissected a soda fountain dispenser to get the hardware, and ran the
tank and reg right beside the fridge. Soda kegs hold pretty close to the
amount of brew you get from a U-brew kit. :-)

I have been looking at making a paintball tank adapter for my MIG
welder. 20 oz of CO2 at the local supplier is about $10, and a fill for
a baby bottle from the welding supply place is around $50, last I checked.
For the amount of use I get out of the welder, it makes more sense to
use what is cheap and available, even at a slightly higher cost for the
consumables, I don't have the need for a large enough tank to get the
prices down.

When I was checking, I could buy CO2 for a bit over a buck a pound, to
fill a 20 pound tank. Most of the paintball places were charging 50
cents an ounce or a bit more to fill tanks. shrug No one ever starved
to death buying low and selling high. That's retail.

Cheers
Trevor Jones

EXT writes:

Also the CO2 gas supply for drinks should not be industrial grade
possibly with oil and other contaminants, the gas should be identified
for drink dispensers and be oil free.

This is a myth.

"Industrial" grades are actually *cleaner* than beverage grade. Welding
processes cannot tolerate contamination.

CO2 tanks deliver vapor over liquid, which purifies further by distillation
and purging.

Trevor Jones writes:

By the time the CO2 has travelled through the reg and hoses, (where
the reg limits pressure to 100 psi or so) you can be pretty sure that
liquid CO2 is not an issue.

It will certainly spit CO2 liquid eventually if heat is not supplied to
make up the heat of vaporization.

Hoses would blow if the liquid got that far.

Let's hope so, rather than some metal tool.

Is there some other type of overpressure relief on the low side of the
regulator? Because if the regulator fails open, you're gonna get 1000 psi
into your hoses.

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
EXT writes:

Also the CO2 gas supply for drinks should not be industrial grade
possibly with oil and other contaminants, the gas should be identified
for drink dispensers and be oil free.

This is a myth.

"Industrial" grades are actually *cleaner* than beverage grade. Welding
processes cannot tolerate contamination.

CO2 tanks deliver vapor over liquid, which purifies further by
distillation
and purging.

I wondered if anyone was going to suggest the do it yourself route. Here is
a link for just that purpose if you're a DIY type.
http://www.schwedhelm.net/brew/biggasser.html

And I copied and saved some comments (I think from an old thread) about
installing the regulator;

"For me, this was quite an educational process, I didn't understand that
there was any difference between a primary and secondary regulator. I
thought one was just down stream of the other. I didn't realize they were
rated for different pressures.

As the gas is going directly into the regulator, it must be rated high
enough to handle the pressure. The typical secondary regulator is only
rated for 100-250 psi max. CO2 tanks put out 800+psi. The damned thing
could have blown on me.

The next thing is right-hand or left-hand threads. Virtually all paintball
equipment is right-hand thread. It looks as though primary regulators are
mixed between RH and LH.

So, you want a regulator rated for well in excess of 800 psi (the one
mentioned above is rated for 3,000 psi) and that has right-handed threads.
The only thing this one seems to be missing is a check valve, which are
easily accessible and installed. Beer here, Mike. After looking around on
their site some more, in the replacement gauge
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draft...lacement.shtml
it has a RH high pressure gauge listed for Norgren and Chudnow brands (the
one I ordered was a Norgren) and LH for Micromatic, TapRite, NADS, and
Cornelius brands.
I saw that part of the site, and I almost ordered the same regulator, but if
you could confirm that the part where the HP nipple, which goes to the CO2
tank, is indeed right-handed, when you receive the regulator, then I would
appreciate it. Well, I got it today and the threads are indeed right handed.
I had no problem removing the tank connector and installing the paintball
tank setup. http://www.schwedhelm.net/brew/biggasser.html Now I just need to
get the tank filled to try it. Also there was a thread about the regulator a
while back. The regulator I used was the economy regulator for $20 at:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draft...tors/co2.shtml

Good luck
Mark R

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
Lowes now sells a portable CO2 regulator for paintball tanks:


http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...735-J-6901-100

For $90 (plus a paintball tank you have to supply?) you get
regulated CO2 on a 10-foot hose with quick-connect fitting.
Meant for running air tools from your belt, but looks like
it would work fine for beverage applications.

Seems to include the tank.

How many CF does it store?
How much does a refill cost?

Those are both kinda important.