20lb Powertank - Where to fill around Prescott Valley, AZ?

CodyLX450

Adventurer
So my 20lb powertank came in on Friday.

Where do the Northern AZ guys bring their tanks to be filled up here?

The place I bought my welding equipment said "We dont fill them here, leave your tank with us...we'll send it down to be filled in Phoenix and you can rent an exchange tank.....yours should be back up here in about a week"

I'm not too keen on sending a $500 shiny bottle off to some tank yard somewhere to hope I ever see it again....

Almost every number I can find on Yellowpages.com for a Fire Extinguisher shop or Paintball shop seems to be disconnected...

Can someone suggest a place that still exists?
 

crawler#976

Expedition Leader
Hey Cody,

I don't know of any up here - that's why I used a standard 20Lb CO2 tank. It was a straight up swap at Yavapai Welding - the old empty tank and $18.00 for a full one.

Mark
 

CodyLX450

Adventurer
So far.....most numbers I find are disconnected relating to paintball, fire extinguisher service, or specialty gases.

The paintball places I have found do not do higher than 20 OUNCE tanks...and they couldn't recommend anyone.

The Coca-Cola bottling place doesnt seem to be open on the weekends....so I'll try them again on Monday.

Same thing with Praxair, but from what Ive seen on google searches, they seem to be a tank exchange only place as well....

D'oh!
 

Mitchss

Observer
I always take mine to a fire extinguisher service. They always just fill my bottle while I wait. Takes about 10 minutes. There is bound to be one around you somewhere as businesses have to have their extinguishers tested every year or so.
 

CodyLX450

Adventurer
I found a place out in Prescott......CINTAS or something out by the airpark.

$23 to fill up the 20lb tank.

Now I know CO2 is super cold to be in liquid form in the tank...

But Powertank raves about their high flow regulator that doesn't freeze up like other regulators....

I used the tank for a minute to loosen lugnuts and air up (and explode a hole in the sidewall of) a tire on a friend's Sunfire coupe that was flat.

I noticed the regulator area was all white and frosted up.

Is that normal....or is this high flow regulator not supposed to have that happen?
 

slooowr6

Explorer
Mine is not from PowerTank but it frost up after long use. Make sure your friend check tire pressure after a week. My tire fill with CO2 does not hold air long.
 

crawler#976

Expedition Leader
That's normal for a high flow regulator. Be careful of the first couple feet of hose - it can get pretty brittle when it frosts up.

When the monsoon season starts and the humidity is higher, I've had the regulator turn into a solid block of white frost.
 

TheRoadie

Explorer
By freezing up, they mean that the internals of the regulator might jam if they weren't designed well for getting cold. That could cut the flow, or allow the pressure to go too high on the output - either would be bad.

There's no way to avoid the outside of the mechanism getting frosty - the CO2 liquid inside is at room temperature (after it's been sitting for long enough), and physics demands the temp of the output gas goes down proportionate to the pressure drop. (PV=nRT)

A high flow regulator lets more CO2 flow out in a given time, so it absorbs more heat (generates more "cold" is another way to look at it) than a lower flow regulator, so it might frost up more acutely. But the critical thing is that the internals don't jam from the cold. You can ignore external frost, except for risk to the hose, as crawler#976 said.
 

adventureduo

Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
Yep, when im draining my tank like a madman with air tools my Powertank gets frosty too. No big deal. Like Roadie said, they're talking about the internals freezing up.
 

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