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Re: Reinventing the CO2 Wheel



> Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 06:09:37 -0000
> From: "D0N Dee" <d0ndee at hotmail_com>
> 
> Chin See Ming wrote:
> <<<Thanks all for the postings.Robert H. and Don Duerte might like to know I 
> got a $266 quote from my local Air Products rep for the Air Products General 
> Purpose 2 stage regulator, E12-215.>>>
> 
> Thanks for the heads-up on this. That price sounds just about right compared 
> w/ the other 2 stage regulators that are priced on that comparison sheet in 
> the article. One thing that I did not put down and that Tim Conwayte pointed 
> out to me is that the regulators made by Air Products, Victor and BOC Gases 
> are made for industries that have very specific and very precise needs. 
> That's why the regulators are very expensive compared to beer tap 
> regulators. In a way, putting beer tap regulators and the other types of 
> regulators side by side is a bit unfair and can be misleading for the 
> following reasons -
> 
[snip]
> 
> <<<The "ultimate" system may well be an Air Products regulator with a Nupro 
> needle valve, but I fear that the price will be daunting.  I figure over 
> $300.>>>
> 
> Hehehehhe... what will this consist of? Nickel-plated, High Purity, 
> Dual-stage, Dual-gauge regulator??   :D That's WAAAAYYYY overkill but I 
> guess it would be fun to have if you have money to burn.
> 

I just thought I would mention that as long as you have liquid in your
CO2 tank, you have two stage regulation -- the first stage is the
vapor pressure of the liquid CO2.  That's why Dave's CO2 system is so
stable until end-of-tank.  And once the liquid is gone, you have used
up most of the CO2 in the tank even though the pressure is still way
up there.  Unless you have a surplus 2-stage regulator laying around
in your junk bin (like I did), it would take a very long time to
recover the cost of a new 2-stage regulator just from saving a few
cubic feet of CO2 at each tank filling.  In other words, get a CO2
tank large enough that you have plenty of time to notice when the
pressure starts dropping.  Then refill the tank before your CO2 system
gets unstable near end-of-tank.  The instability point will vary with
your CO2 system design (just to brag a little, mine becomes unstable
at about 0 :-)

Best regards,
Bob

"A stairway to oblivion is better than no stairway at all"
--Kehlog Albran