Reply With Quotesounds like a nitrous trick...heat the bottle= more pressue= more h.p.....keep it cool somehow....we heat the bottles (nos) to get the pressure up..to get it down ...my guess is to keep it cool somehow.
Had the steel 2 1/2 lb cylinder hydro tested for my shifter the other day. New pressure relief valve (3000 psi) replaced. Had it filled with CO2 because that was what it apparently was made for according to the company that filled it. I thought it was compressed air. I have a CO2 regulator I checked the pressure with the other day and it was at 1200psi. Well I was doing some tuning this afternoon in sunny SoCal this afternoon and after sitting in the sun for 30 minutes the relief valve let go. Scared the heck out of me. Any suggestions of how to keep it cool? Alot of the racers use the small spun aluminum cylinders and they are mounted in the open. I could put a towel on it until I launch, but anything can happen at the races and keep you holding on the rope for a long time. Ideas....?
sounds like a nitrous trick...heat the bottle= more pressue= more h.p.....keep it cool somehow....we heat the bottles (nos) to get the pressure up..to get it down ...my guess is to keep it cool somehow.
Strange thing there??? I have run an aluminum cylinder with C02 for years for the air shifter, and two speed. Never have had the burst disc let go. Maybe switch to an aluminum tank??? I'm puzzled??? Anyone else???
Strangest thing: It's 115 at the river all summer long...???
[ March 10, 2003, 10:19 PM: Message edited by: ACCEPTENCE ]
Acceptence,
Do you have a gauge to tell you what pressure your cylinder is at? How do you know when you are low?
Fired Up:
Acceptence,
Do you have a gauge to tell you what pressure your cylinder is at? How do you know when you are low? Nope no guage on the bottle. I have a twenty pound Co2 steel tank that I use to refill the aluminum bottle. It gets a refill after two of three passes. It has worked so far but a bottle pressure guage would be a good plan.
Good luck, Greg
Your problem is that the company that refilled your cylinder put too much CO2 in it.
I am in the Fire Extinguisher business and i run in to that often. CO2 is stored as a liquid in the cylinder as long as it is under pressure, it is released from the cylinder as a gas. The reason you use a liquid like that is it will last lots longer than a high pressure gas. The co2 will maintain a constant pressure of between 900 and 1000 psi at 70 degrees. Wether you have 5 lbs of product or 5 ozs in the cylinder the pressure will stay the same.
You should have a regulator that has bottle pressure and output pressure also. Makes it easier to monitor if you are losing the ability to shift.
At the races i always carry a large 20 lb cylinder to equalize pressure between it and the smaller shift bottles. Lots of my racing buddies know I carry it and come around to get their shift bottles filled.
Big Boy,
Thanks for your insight. Here is some more info that may help us figure out what happened. After having the bottle hydro'd we weighed it. 4 lbs even,empty. After filling it with (Liquid) CO2 it weighed 6lbs. I am assuming the rating of a 2 1/2 lb bottle is the amount of product it can hold. Also, my bottle is painted BLACK. The filling cylinders at the business were painted YELLOW and stored outside in direct sunlight. Alot more heat can be absorbed by being black I am sure, but the boat ran in TE this way for many years. I put my CO2 regulator on it originally and at 30lbs coming out was not enough to activate the shifter. So I went back to the original hook up, direct...no regulator. Thanks for your help. Hope it doesn't rain this weekend.
Fired Up
On my drag hydro i have my regulator set at about 100 psi output pressure. It operates the pnuematic cylinder on my Casale unit and also shifts the Lenco 2 spd.
I dont think 30 psi is enough to operate that equipment properly. But not sure of that, always used 100 psi. However i wouldnt feel safe operating it without a regulator of some type.
I agree. I may get a bigger regulator than the one I have. It only goes to 30 psi. After speaking to the air/gas company that filled it he said that the safety discs can get old and fail at a lower pressure because of constant expansion/contraction. I'm getting the safety disc replaced Friday AM along with a new paint job.....getting rid of the black. Thanks for your help and feedback!! Don't want this to happen again...especially mid track!
FYI, I talked to a guy at Lenco, can't remember who but he said air pressure for the servos should be 150 psi for proper actuation.
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