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Re: can't turn off co2 -- or Turning to different knobs



You should probably wrap the cylinder in a towel or something and not hold 
the metal parts directly while emptying it. The cylinder will get *very 
cold* while you bleed off the CO2 at a high rate. Just about any gas 
cylinder under high pressure will do this, even little cans of canned air 
like "dust-off" will get painfully cold to the touch if you run them 
all-out for a little while.

You don't want to loose your grip on the cylinder due to cold. I remember 
seeing a big hole in the wall of a welding shop some years ago that was 
patched with new blocks that I asked about. They said one of the oxygen 
cylinders they used (big - 4-5 feet high) got knocked over in such a way as 
to break off the regulator on top and it became a rocket. 3200 PSI on 
those, and it went through the wall and smashed into their dumpster -- 
which it dented and moved. Your CO2 cylinder probably won't ever be that 
powerful, but it's definitely deserving of caution.

         -Bill


>RE how long it takes to empty the tank.  You can remove the
>CO2 line that goes to you tank, open the metering valve,
>turn up the regulator, and let it squeal -- This will
>probably take a few minutes to empty the CO2 tank.  Or you
>can close down the CO2 bottle valve as much as possible and
>slowly remove the regulator.  Hold the CO2 tank firmly and
>then slowly open the CO2 bottle valve.  If the tank
>pressure is still above 800 psi or so, then the outstream
>can be quite forceful --  only open the valve as much as
>you feel comfortable holding the bottle -- you don't want
>it spinning around on the floor like Curly Joe Howard. You
>can empty the tank this way in less than a minute.

*****************************
Waveform Technology
UNIX Systems Administrator