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Fire fighters or those who know about fire extinguishers

cybrfire

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I have access to a whole pile of empty fire extinguishers. Are they usable for any kind of quick air tank? Co2 and so on. Does anybody know what kind of pressure they can handle? They are like the fire extinguishers that hang on a wall. Not as heavy as the SCBA tanks.
 
they can hold pressure. they are suposed to be hydrostatically tested every so many years. that is the ones that are refillable. some are made to be thrown away after 1 use.

really it depends on which ext. u got as to weather u can use it as a co2 tank.


sorry for the vague answer,
 
any tips on which ones to look for. Most of these are yellow in color. I don't know if that matters or not.
 
Heck i have a couple here, i was wondering, i have heard they can be refilled if i take them to the fire station??

Any body ever heard of this deal?
 
I've heard of that as well. I bet though if they figure out that you are filling your tires with the C02 they won't fill them for very long. Can't say as I blame them. Around here the local paint ball type folks could fill them for me.
 
Well i wasn't really referring to using them for that purpose, /forums/images/graemlins/doah.gif i'd kinda like to have one in my truck. /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
 
i work for the memphis fire dept. i know we will not refill them. it is a huge liability deal if we fill it u get hurt cause it does not work right & we get sued. there are also many styles so it would be hard to have everything on hand to re-fill all types. the type we have on our pumper uses a seperate canister that screws on the side to hold the propellant for the ext.

if it is refillable it should have a plate on it that tells the specs on how much dry powder & pressure to fill it to.

also the heavier the tank is the better it would work for what u want.
 
The only kind you can refill with the kind of pressure you need for an air tank are the heavy CO2 extinguishers. Dont put much pressure in the dry chemical kind. They can rupture and may injure you bad. Dry chemical extingushers operate on low pressures. If I rember right they are pressure tested to 350 PSI. A normal charge for a 5 pound dry chem is 190 psi of nitrogen.
You can have them refilled by any fire extinguisher service company.
 
It seems to me that these would make a great onboard air supply for trail use...could hold enough air to pump a few tires back up after rock crawlin' without having to install the onboard compressor...

Bryan /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
It seems to me that these would make a great onboard air supply for trail use...could hold enough air to pump a few tires back up after rock crawlin' without having to install the onboard compressor...

Bryan /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems to me that a cheap 5 gallon portable air tank sold at your local walmart would be cheaper and safer /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

You can pick one up for $25-30 new (maybe $5-15 used) and refill them for free at most gas stations.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It seems to me that these would make a great onboard air supply for trail use...could hold enough air to pump a few tires back up after rock crawlin' without having to install the onboard compressor...

Bryan /forums/images/graemlins/k5.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems to me that a cheap 5 gallon portable air tank sold at your local walmart would be cheaper and safer /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

You can pick one up for $25-30 new (maybe $5-15 used) and refill them for free at most gas stations.

[/ QUOTE ]

Problem with them is they aren't going to fill your tires even once probably, unless it is hooked to an onboard compressor. That's why I was interested in C02 and the fire extinguishers capability to hold pressure. C02 stored in a liquid expands many times giving you the ability to deflate and inflate your tires "x" amount of times before refills.
 
have you looked at your local pop or beer distributors? i am not sure what the inital cost is, but it costs 15 bucks for a refill, i dont know how they measure tanks but it is ~32 tall and 8" diameter.
 
If it's a CO2 extinguisher go for it. Otherwise look for another type of tank. I'd try one a home first to make sure the flow rate & pressure will work for a tire.
 

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