Home Brewed Powertank

Like everybody else, I needed onboard air, and for a number of reasons, a belt-driven/electric compressor just won't work. Enter the Powertank. At nearly $400, it just doesn't fit the college budget. I get crafty and call the local gas folks. Botco hires mental midgets with little or no social skills, so they were jackasses to me on the phone. No business for them. Finally, I arrived at Praxair.

I told Larry about what I wanted to do with CO2 (air tools, inflate tires, etc.), and he suggested the less corrosive alternative, nitrogen; I bought it. I got a 40 cu. ft. bottle of nitrogen at 2000psi and a 200psi Victor regulator all for just under $200. I get home, and unwrap my present to myself, and after assembly, I go to test it out. It took 1000psi of tank pressure to fill only TWO of my BFGs from 10psi to 40psi! Back to Praxair I go.

I told Larry about how nitrogen just wouldn't cut it, and that I wanted to get store credit for a 20lb CO2 tank, and a new regulator. His response was classic. He said, "Uh, we can, like, swap the bottles, and uh, I guess swap you another regulator." By God, that's service.

I'll keep y'all updated on prices and part numbers.

give me that york back then. Why is engine driven out of the question?

space mostly

it should fit, might just take some creative thinking :flipoff2:

Don't do nitrogen, the whole point of CO2 is its easy to get refilled (Acadamy, Oshmans, Home Brew Store, etc.)

Yeah, keep us updated on parts and prices. OBA is one of my next goals, and a CO2 setup looks pretty good to me. That way I can use the little remaining room on my engine to rig up an on board welder similar to what eight is building.

I ended up having to go to Botco for most of the stuff. They carry a much larger inventory than Praxair.

Here are the parts:

(1) 15 lb CO2 bottle, Al - $121.25
(1) filled - $9.50
(1) CO2 regulator with 100 lb spring, pn: 103-100 - $30.92
(2) Milton 1/4" female coupler, pn: MLT716 - $6.47
(2) Milton 1/4" male coupler, pn: MLT727 - $0.98
(1) Milton 1/4" air chuck, pn: MLT690 - $6.30
(1) 200 psi coiled yellow hose - Free, already had one (usually around $5-10)
(1) Amerex fire extinguisher braket, pn: 810HDVB - $34.64

Grand Total for the Home Brew--- $217.51
Powertank retail price -------------- $400.00

The braket was bought at American Fire and Safety in Bryan. It is the exact same bracket that Powertank sells for $50. This combination filled one of my 35" BFGs from 10-40psi in 2:15. Not bad at all.

where are American Fire and Safety in Bryan located exactly?

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Originally posted by Ben97XJ
where are American Fire and Safety in Bryan located exactly?

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On Ross St. in Bryan. I remembered the directions just long enough to forget them. Try Yahoo.

This website has some lower prices for the tanks. Don't know what shipping will cost you though.

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draft...anks/co2.shtml

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Originally posted by LostIt
...Don't know what shipping will cost you though.

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The filled weight on my bottle is 36 lbs. As a safety precaution, bottles are filled with one less pound than rated, so there are 14 lbs of CO2 in the tank. That leaves approximately 22 lbs. shipping weight.

Using the UPS quick cost calculator and the overall dimensions that were provided on the BeverageFactory website, the shipping of a 15lb tank would probably be in the neighborhood of $12-15 for regular UPS ground.

$95 tank + shipping = ~ $107-110

So have you tried running any air tools with it yet? How long do these tanks last? I've heard people say they could fill x number of tires, but I really never heard anyone mention how fast the use of air tools goes through the C02.

num nuts you can't ship a tank full......

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Originally posted by LostIt
So have you tried running any air tools with it yet? How long do these tanks last? I've heard people say they could fill x number of tires, but I really never heard anyone mention how fast the use of air tools goes through the C02.

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I have no idea what the exact numbers are, but based on everything that I have read, my guess would be that a 15 lb tank will fill 35-40 35" tires from 10-35 psi.

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Originally posted by Doug Krebs
num nuts you can't ship a tank full......

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read closer. 36lbs minus 14 lbs CO2 equals 22 lbs shipped....num nuts:flipoff2:

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Originally posted by AgDieseler


I have no idea what the exact numbers are, but based on everything that I have read, my guess would be that a 15 lb tank will fill 35-40 35" tires from 10-35 psi.

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Yeah, like I said, I've heard people state how many tires they thought they could inflate, but no one has really ever said how much use they got from the tank when using air tools. I mean just how much does say, an impact or air rachet use? I've very rarely gotten to use air tools, and I don't think I've ever paid attention to just how much air they took to operate. I will probally go with a 10lb tank because of space considerations, but if running air tools (which I really want to do and would probally use it for the most) burns through the CO2 too fast, then I need to know that so I get the bigger tank.

I remember reading something like you can't use a regular regulator when using air tools because the line will freeze????