where to get co2

Hi again! Where do you buy co2? Is there anything that I can buy that I can plug in and fill the the tanks at the battle zone? How long can a 3.5 oz. co2 bottle last in a fight? p.s. thanks for the list of websites I should go to. They have been a great help! Planning on getting a boat real soon

 

You can get large tanks of CO2 from your local welding supply shop and and regular paintball type fill station and fill tanks where ever and when ever you want, its a lot cheaper than going to paintball shops and getting a smaller (3.5,7,9 oz) tank filled. A 3.5 Oz tank gives somewhere in the 300-400 shot range I think. It really depends on how efficient your system is.

 

I was thinking a 3.5 oz. tank only could shoot about 100 shots, but 3 to 400?! Wow that should last the long time. What an I looking at when it comes to the price of a fill station? Is the fill station like a one size fits all? Or do you get a fill station that has to fit the type of bottle that you have? Because I'm looking at getting a 3.5 oz. Bottle, and a 7.0 oz. Bottle for a battleship and a Battlecruiser.

 

A fill station is $30-$40 or so, the big bulk tanks of CO2 aren't cheap but getting them refilled is a lot more cost effective than getting a smaller bottle filled alot. The fill station will fill any size tank.

 

What?! Thats a lot cheaper then I thought. I was thinking it would cost 1 to $200. Thanks for the help! Now I just need to find a place to do battle

 

The big tanks of CO2 that you hook the fill station to are pretty expensive , you rent/buy them ( I think my 5# tank was ~$75) but when you get them refilled (actually you just trade it in for a full one) you only pay for the CO2 which for mine is like $20. So for $20 I can fill a 3.5 oz bottle 20+ times instead of going to a local paintball shop and paying ~$5 per fill. The upfront cost is larger but its a worthwhile investment especially if you do a lot of battling/gun testing like I do.

 

Try looking on ebay for tanks. I just got mine for $84 with the siphon (dip) tube. That included the shipping. And I know I can get it filled for around $20-$30 locally. The tank that I got was a 20 lb tank.
hope this helps a little.
Kim

 

thanks. I'll have to look. How do you work the fill station? Do you just take the co2 tank out of the boat and fill it up? Do you just hook the tank up, and wait? Or is it really fast? Do you just hook the fill station to the wall, and it's ready to go, or do you have to plug it in and wait for the fill station to make co2? If so, how long do you wait? One more thing, what size tank do you think would work best in a battleship? I am all new to this, and I don't know how to size all the stuff that needs to go in the boat without being able to see the boat in person. THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!

 

Tank comes out of the ship. Regulator stays in the ship. Tank gets screwed into the fill station. Values get opened. 15-30 seconds later, values get closed. dump valve empties CO2 out of the lines and tank gets unscrewed from fill station.
A large battle ship usually runs on a 9oz or larger tank. The 20oz tanks are hard to get into the ships. You can use more tanks if you really want the wieght. BC's run 7oz tanks. CA's run 3.4 or 4 oz tanks.

 

Last time I bought one, already assembled, ready to go, in bubble-pack, at a paintball store: Cost was about US$80. No doubt, one could be assembled from parts for about 1/2 that (granted, it was a very nice one, not bare minimum).
Last time I bought a 50# CO2 tank it cost about $275. Refilling it (actually, swapping it out for another, pre-filled one) cost about $24 each time.
Tanks come in smaller sizes, such as 20# & even 5# (?). Smaller tanks are cheaper to buy & fill, but the larger ones are more cost-effective in the long run, don't have to be filled as often, & can support a lot more users. I consider a 50# tank to be more-or-less "club-sized". It can be a pain for 1 person to lug a full one around.
JM

 

CO2 tanks can also be had off ebay. There are two classes. The nice ones are Aluminum but the steel ones work as well. Some places may not have aluminum ones to swap with. What you really want is a tank with a siphon tube. This means that there is a small tube screwed into the bottom of the tank valve so that when the valve is opened, liquid from the bottom comes out, not gas from the top. The Queens own guys took the simple road of buying a cheap steel tank with no siphon tube and building a holder so that it sits upside down lashed to the side of a trailer.
The way the commercial industry works is that life is easier to just swap out tanks. So you are paying for both the CO2 and the upkeep of the tank. Pressure cylinders with a diameter greater than 2" are required to be tested every five years. (hydrostatic test - exactly the same rules as for scuba or welding gas cylinders)
Some places do a lot of CO2 and are set up to just fill a tank. They may do a while you wait fill or a drop off and pick up deal. This places are cheaper because you keep your tank and have to arrange for hydro.
I've seen steel tanks on ebay for $50 with reasonable shipping costs.

 

ACADEMY DUH.....