# Ran out of CO2, didn't get a tank dump (thankfully)



## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Pretty sure there was a leak in my system. 6 months on a 5 pound CO2 cylinder and earlier this week I noticed my drop checker was solid blue. When I opened the needle valve under the tank, my bubble counter wasn't bubbling. Pulling the cylinder out from under the tank and checking the high-pressure regulator gauges, I found I had completely emptied the cylinder.

I'm worried I may have ruined the diaphragms of my high-pressure regulator due to tank dump. Going to refill my cylinder this weekend and see how the HPR gauges do with a full cylinder.

Has anybody had any experience with tank dump? Let me know!

Thanks.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

What type of reg do you have? That's the one thing I checked into when I got mine, which is a Victor.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

I am waiting quite nervously for one myself.I have paintball CO2 and its been running for about two months now.Pressure still reads pretty good and it goes at about 1 BPS.So I am waiting,lol.Lets hope when it runs out,it just runs out.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I have run out a paintball tank a couple of times and a 5lb bottle out once. No tank dump, no damage. I knew they were coming - the emptying and watched it. I check all my bottles almost everyday. On paintball tanks, once the pressure starts to go down mine would be gone in a maybe 2 days. The other tank dropped some and still had a good while left to go before it emptied out. Not sure why everyone gets so worried about it? I think the chances of a catastrophe are minimal.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

jrman83 said:


> Not sure why everyone gets so worried about it? I think the chances of a catastrophe are minimal.


It all depends on the regulator. Tank dumps can be bad on two fronts; first, of course, is it can over gas your tank and kill the critters. Second is that it can damage the regulator.

This is normally associated with your older models as well as new cheaply manufactured ones as well.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

TBH, that is the first I'd heard about damage. When I think about it, it doesn't make sense to me how it could occur. What is the difference within the regulator of taking it on or off? Seems to be similar action of the loss and resupply of gas to the gauges/regulator. Maybe there is more to it than that?

My paintball regulator was a Red Sea. I was surprised that a dump didn't occur, being one of the lower quality ones out there. I also have to admit the reg on my 5lb is an aquariumplants.com custom reg - guaranteed against tank dump.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I'm not sure how it works either. Must be some type of pressure mechanism inside the reg. When they reach "x" psi, it opens fully to gas off the tank. And TBH...I don't even know why you would want that to be that way. I'm sure it has to be (at the time) some type of safety thing. Maybe it's too much constant pressure released which damages the diaphram? I don't know...beyond my knowledge limits.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

From my understanding of tank dump, when the CO2 tank is pressurized some of the CO2 liquefies and hangs out in the bottom of the tank. As the tank discharges, the CO2 vaporizes again. When all of the CO2 liquid has vaporized, the tank pressure starts to drop at an irregular rate. When this instability happens, the regulator might fail and "dump" all of the CO2 into your tank. I've heard horror stories of anoxia, but what I'm worried about is my HPR.

High pressure regulators use a diaphragm with O-rings to regulate the pressure and get readouts on the gauges. Cheaper models are prone to the diaphragm failing during tank dump.

My HPR is a keg tap regulator (dual-gauge) that I paid about $60 for at my local home brewing store. I have run it out once before on a keg with no damage, but I never completely emptied it since the keg was still pressurized (the tank had about 50 psi left).

Ben - glad to hear you've never experienced it. I haven't either, but I wasn't watching my CO2 levels like you do so I might have missed it. Tomorrow I'm going to go refill my tank and see if there was any damage to the diaphragm that way. I'll let you know what I find out.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Status update:

Saturday I recharged my CO2 cylinder. Hooked it up - all is well. No damage to the regulator.

Sad part is, the excess light and no CO2 for 5 days caused an algae outbreak


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

My tanks would be a mess if I let them go for 5 days without CO2....can take weeks to get back to where they were.


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