What scuba tank?

[Misfire]

Hi is it best just to goto a dive shop and buy a tank and if so then what size should I get or is it best to just fill up at locations instead?  Recently bought an mtw

[Tommikka]

8 hours ago, Misfire said:

Hi is it best just to goto a dive shop and buy a tank and if so then what size should I get or is it best to just fill up at locations instead?  Recently bought an mtw

Fills on sites are best

 

Scuba cylinders are a compromise for playing with air when air fills are not available 

 

 

[Krisz]

Any HPA tank does the job. The biggest difference is weight and size. Carbon tanks are lighter but they cost a lot more. The bigger the tank capacity the more you can shoot with one refill. Obviously your PSI is gonna matter a lot, too, plus some hpa engines are less air efficient than others.

 

Personally I'd absolutely avoid refilling from site compressors because they can get contaminated very easily and you don't want to have dirt in your tank.

Cheaper tanks have 5 years expiry from manufacturing after that you need hydro test.

Edited Saturday at 10:21 by Krisz

[Tommikka]

3 hours ago, Krisz said:

Any HPA tank does the job. The biggest difference is weight and size. Carbon tanks are lighter

 

 

Note that carbon fibre wrapped cylinders are lighter on a ‘like for like’ basis

 

The fallacy when I began in paintball was that new players were told to buy carbon fibre because it was lighter - but were told that in comparison of a standard 48ci aluminium cylinder vs a ‘standard’ 68ci carbon fibre cylinder - I weighed them and my £30 48 aluminium weighed the same as my £150 68 fibre 

 

A carbon fibre wrapped cylinder is made of aluminium, just thinner aluminium with extra reinforcement 

There are other designs which allow for ‘ultra light’ cylinders which do have a clear weight difference (typically these have an internal air bladder, very thin aluminium and reinforcing fibre wrap ….. and will cost closer to £200 

 

There are many other benefits to a fibre wrapped cylinder.  But you only get extra pressure if fills are provided at 4500psi, whereas most sites will have 3000psi fill systems, so the only extra capacity comes if you have a larger cylinder 

(I in fact have most recently opted for a smaller 4500psi cylinder at 30ci)

 

 

In Airsoft you should be able to confidently play with a 3000psi 48ci or even smaller 3000psj 13ci - provided the site provides air fills 

 

 

3000psi and 4500psi are the holding pressure of the cylinder, it will then have an output regulator in the hundreds of PSI (maybe 650 to 800 psi) an Airsoft RIF operating at a much lower pressure which is managed by a subsequent regulator pressure drop 

 

Hydro testing of cylinders has a number of lifespans.  A typical aluminium cylinder is marked with a 5 year span (but in the UK typically has a legal life of 10 years). They can then be tested every 5 years forever - but due to their purchase price aren’t really worth the cost 

 

Fibre wraps usually have a maximum 15 year life - with 5 year test cycles 

(There are now approved fibre design types that can have an unlimited lifetime - but most manufacturers are marking them with an expiry date still 

 

 

 

For general air safety with dos and donts keep an eye out for the UKPSF HPA1.  I will have probably put up links in more than one of the HPA threads 

[Tommikka]

See here for images of the UKPSF HPA1