Posted by: PigTech on May 14, 2003 at 11:15:06 Forum Administrator

: Its a good idea to keep your tank insulated when playing in changing temperatures. All the big brands sell (zip on?) insulators. You should especially use these in tournaments because if your tank is at a higher temp after a game than when you started and someone finds out, you could get into some serious trouble. That's actually a bad idea. Here's why... Liquid CO2 has a boiling point so low it can't exist as liquid unless it is compressed - if it were out in the open instead of in a tank it would *instantly* flash boil into gas. That's why dry ice doesn't melt into a liquid, it just sublimes into vapor. CO2 is stored as a gas over liquid in the tank. As you use up some of the gas, the pressure drops, then the liquid boils. Boiling liquids absorb heat. The result is, the tank chills when you shoot CO2. That's because heat is being absorbed from the metal tank by the boiling liquid inside. The CO2 is warmed up by the tank body getting colder. The tank in turn absorbs heat from sunlight and the air around it. If you insulate the tank, you keep it from absorbing heat from the air and sunlight. If it can't absorb more heat, it will soon not have enough heat to give up to the liquid inside. If the liquid inside can't get warmed back up, it's vapor pressure will drop, and it can't boil anymore, and then the gas pressure in the tank will keep dropping without being replenished by the boiling liquid. The end result is your tank won't be putting out enough pressure for your paintgun to operate properly anymore. That's why it's a bad idea to insulate your CO2 tank. Insulating tank covers came from the idea that the covers would "keep them warm," from people who didn't understand the flow of heat going on in the system, and just knew that when you wrap yourself in a blanket, you feel warmer - but that is because the human body generates it's own heat - a CO2 tank doesn't. See you on the field, -Bill Mills

Follow Ups: Re: Newbie velocity help? Clayphoto 00:09:24 05/15/03 (1) Re: Newbie velocity help? PigTech 11:00:39 05/16/03 (0) Re: Newbie velocity help? c98sniper 23:11:25 05/14/03 (1) Re: Newbie velocity help? PigTech 10:30:54 05/16/03 (0) Post a Followup Show your name as: DefaultRealnameBothNickname E-Mail address (eg: joeschmoe@aol.com): Show your e-mail address? DefaultYesNo Your Password: Don't have a password? CLICK HERE - Forgot your password? CLICK HERE Subject: Subject:Message: : : Its a good idea to keep your tank insulated when playing in changing temperatures. All the big brands sell (zip on?) insulators. You should especially use these in tournaments because if your tank is at a higher temp after a game than when you started and someone finds out, you could get into some serious trouble. : That's actually a bad idea. : Here's why... : Liquid CO2 has a boiling point so low it can't exist as liquid unless it is compressed - if it were out in the open instead of in a tank it would *instantly* flash boil into gas. That's why dry ice doesn't melt into a liquid, it just sublimes into vapor. CO2 is stored as a gas over liquid in the tank. As you use up some of the gas, the pressure drops, then the liquid boils. Boiling liquids absorb heat. The result is, the tank chills when you shoot CO2. That's because heat is being absorbed from the metal tank by the boiling liquid inside. The CO2 is warmed up by the tank body getting colder. The tank in turn absorbs heat from sunlight and the air around it. : If you insulate the tank, you keep it from absorbing heat from the air and sunlight. If it can't absorb more heat, it will soon not have enough heat to give up to the liquid inside. If the liquid inside can't get warmed back up, it's vapor pressure will drop, and it can't boil anymore, and then the gas pressure in the tank will keep dropping without being replenished by the boiling liquid. The end result is your tank won't be putting out enough pressure for your paintgun to operate properly anymore. : That's why it's a bad idea to insulate your CO2 tank. Insulating tank covers came from the idea that the covers would "keep them warm," from people who didn't understand the flow of heat going on in the system, and just knew that when you wrap yourself in a blanket, you feel warmer - but that is because the human body generates it's own heat - a CO2 tank doesn't. : See you on the field, : -Bill Mills [ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ WARPIG Tech Talk - Model 98 / 98 Custom ]