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Correct regulator questions..

Weasel

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Don't think this is the right place for this but don't know where to put it so move it wherever. Anyways I'm wokring on getting my ARB hooked up and I need a regulator but really not sure what gonna work for me. Need the pressure around 80-85 so a gauge would be nice and 1/8 NPT in/out ports would be the best but I can make 1/4 NPT work as well. It's going to be in line hence the in out ports.

I found this one one ebay but was told it's a flow regulator not a pressure regualtor. Not sure how one can tell as whats the gauge for if it's flow and not pressure.

Reg 1

I also found this one:

Reg 2 and Reg 3 and they don't seem much different then the above one. So which do I need and how to tell the difference cause as far as I can tell they do the smae thing. The project is using a co2 bottle to power my ARB, but cheaper then Powertanks setup.
 
If you were using a regular compressor the 2nd and 3rd ones are what you need. But since your using co2 you need a completely different beast.

Notice on all of those it shows a maximum pressure of 160 to 250 psi. Your going to have about 10 times that with co2.

Go to a welding supply store and ask them how much a regulator costs. I like the two guages so you can watch the pressure on the supply side and now how much is left. I bet it's going to be about $80 for that. It looks like most of the CO2 tank vendors are using about a 20 cfm flow regulator. That will probably cost you more.

Unless I missunderstood and your needing a second regulator just for the ARB line to drop the normally set 150 coming out of the tank regulator. :confused: In that case one of the second two listed would work. I've had decent luck with AMFLO and they can be had at almost any harware store. A diaphram type regulator.
 
Mod tech sounds good...

The difference between a "flow" regulator and a "pressure" regulator is rather simple - a "flow" regulator is used to prevent putting too much gas through a device. For gaseous fluids, a flow regulator is usually calibrated in either cubic feet per minute (CFM) or litres per minute (LPM.) When you hear a doctor or a medic telling someone to put a patient on, say, "two litres of oxygen," there is a flow regulator on the tank that gets set to deliver two litres of gas per minute. Pressure for that delivery is constant, and should be called out upon the gage.

A pressure regulator does not regulate volume - it regulates pressure. You'll usually find pressure regulators calibrated in pounds per square inch (PSI,) pounds per square foot (psf,) grammes per square centimetre (g/cm2,) kilogrammes per quare centimetre (kg/cm2,) or Pascals/kiloPascals (Pa/kPa.)

If the volume required by a device is not listed, you don't need to worry about it.

Note that both of these can apply - like on pneumatic or hydraulic tools. An air ratchet rated for 90psi/2cfm will want a minimum working pressure of 90psi and needs at least 2 cubic feet/minute of air delivery to function properly. A top end it not listed unless it is important - like electrical devices, a pneumatic device will take what it can use unless you don't give it enough, or FAR too much.

All better now?

5-90
 
Lincoln said:
If you were using a regular compressor the 2nd and 3rd ones are what you need. But since your using co2 you need a completely different beast.

Notice on all of those it shows a maximum pressure of 160 to 250 psi. Your going to have about 10 times that with co2.

Go to a welding supply store and ask them how much a regulator costs. I like the two guages so you can watch the pressure on the supply side and now how much is left. I bet it's going to be about $80 for that. It looks like most of the CO2 tank vendors are using about a 20 cfm flow regulator. That will probably cost you more.

Unless I missunderstood and your needing a second regulator just for the ARB line to drop the normally set 150 coming out of the tank regulator. :confused: In that case one of the second two listed would work. I've had decent luck with AMFLO and they can be had at almost any harware store. A diaphram type regulator.
You don't see Duel gauges normally on a C02 regulator because C02 is a liquid, the pressure will be about the same if it's 1/4 full or 3/4 full. You need to weigh it to tell how much is left
A store that sells beer tap systems will also have what you need.
 
Last edited:
Almost forgot - since you're using a small CO2 tank, you might want to look up "carbonics" in your phone book - they're the people that do soda machines. A lot of soda machines use small CO2 tanks to make carbonated water on-site.

It's also worthwhile to look up paintball suppliers - there are still a few of us diehards out here who use CO2, and need to be able to get parts. Doc Nickel usually has some useful stuff - so does Cooper-T and I&I Sports (www.docnickel.com, www.cooper-t.com, and www.iisports.com, if memory serves.) There are more, but these are the first that spring to mind.

5-90
 
langer1 said:
You don't see Duel gauges normally on a C02 regulator because C02 is a liquid, the pressure will be about the same if it's 1/4 full or 3/4 full. You need to weigh it to tell how much is left

Well that sucks. So your out on the trail and the thing runs out when you don't want it to. Mount it on a scale. :D
 
I'm running straight out of a CO2 bottle(20oz) to my ARB line so I need just to drop the pressure to 80-85psi.

5-90 yes that helps, and so all the regulators I have shown are pressure.

I haven't found any regualtors for CO2 paintball stuff thats adjustable, which is mostly the parts I'm using.
 
If you check with carbonics people, you will probably be able to find more useful sizes of CO2 bottle than you would for paintball (same DoT specs,) but I'd think you're more likely to find more rugged small regulators with a little looking at paintball outfits. Just a thought...

Most welding shops are going to have the regulators for the really big tanks - don't know what good that will do you. In the sizes we're likely to deal with, you'll want CGA320 regulators - which ar the same thing paintballers use...

5-90
 
A small paintball tank is what I want. No bigger. I've already looked at the paintball regulators but not for 70 bucks, low budget is key to this project.
 
Weasel said:
5-90 yes that helps, and so all the regulators I have shown are pressure.

5-90 said:
The difference between a "flow" regulator and a "pressure" regulator is rather simple - a "flow" regulator is used to prevent putting too much gas through a device. For gaseous fluids, a flow regulator is usually calibrated in either cubic feet per minute (CFM) or litres per minute (LPM.) When you hear a doctor or a medic telling someone to put a patient on, say, "two litres of oxygen," there is a flow regulator on the tank that gets set to deliver two litres of gas per minute. Pressure for that delivery is constant, and should be called out upon the gage.

I didn't catch that originally, I just went by looks. I'm positive that the Reg 1 listed above is a flow regulator not pressure.

I didn't see 5-90 mention that the pressure can be affected if the draw is more than the flow regulator will supply. I have used them to extend my air supply by cranking the flow down so running pressure is close to the required minimum. Once the tool is stopped the pressure will equilize between the in and out sides. They are also used to slow air rams down when they are under a light load and still be able to obtain the maximum working pressure. I see flow regulators labeled as "pressure regulators" all the time and it annoys me, I just want to get out my pen and cross that crap out.

5-90 you must need something to do. This is way to much thought for a Saturday afternoon. :D
 
What do you expect? I'm getting all the GenEd stuff out of the way - and Mechanical Engineering should be my fourth degree by the time I've finished school...

Besides, I tend to analyse everything - it's a habit that's saved me bux (including figuring out when I'd be ahead spending more up front, rather than replacing that cheapass thing later. You're not ahead if the cheap part fails on you when you need it...)

I didn't want to get too in-depth for this - I don't know if Weasel's ready for that. I could go on for days about compressed gasses and cryo storage, but that's not going to be up to me...

Besides, I'm sitting here while I've been doing data recovery in DOS - which ALWAYS takes time! (I'm talking about digging out about 10Gb of data here, which isn't done with a sneeze! This is a drive that has had the FAT blow up just enough that Windoze can't handle it, but you can do nearly anything in DOS if you know how...)

5-90
 
Lincoln said:
I didn't see 5-90 mention that the pressure can be affected if the draw is more than the flow regulator will supply. I have used them to extend my air supply by cranking the flow down so running pressure is close to the required minimum. Once the tool is stopped the pressure will equilize between the in and out sides. They are also used to slow air rams down when they are under a light load and still be able to obtain the maximum working pressure. I see flow regulators labeled as "pressure regulators" all the time and it annoys me, I just want to get out my pen and cross that crap out.

ok, so actually the third one is a flow regulator as well and I think the second one is as well. crap, and if they keep labeling flow regulators as pressure regulators then I've never gonna find what I need.

All I'm looking for is a way to run my ARB of the paintball tank. Finding the correct regulator is causing me problems. The ones at the CO2 shops are set a 125 or 150, I need 80 or 85psi. A paintball regulator would work but they are $$.
 
Weasel said:
A small paintball tank is what I want. No bigger. I've already looked at the paintball regulators but not for 70 bucks, low budget is key to this project.

Good luck at finding anything that will take those high inputs for much less. I'm trying to prove myself wrong though.

All of the beverage regs I've found were limited between 50 and 65 psi output.
 
Weasel said:
ok, so actually the third one is a flow regulator as well and I think the second one is as well. crap, and if they keep labeling flow regulators as pressure regulators then I've never gonna find what I need.

All I'm looking for is a way to run my ARB of the paintball tank. Finding the correct regulator is causing me problems. The ones at the CO2 shops are set a 125 or 150, I need 80 or 85psi. A paintball regulator would work but they are $$.

No, the third is a regulator.
"The highly sensitive diaphragm-operated design delivers accurate downstream pressure by eliminating the problems caused by sticking in piston designs utilized by competitors."

How big is a paintball tank? That sounds a little small.

If that's all you want just buy a small compressor and put a small tank on it. Sounds like your doing a lot of work and not getting much. At least you can add some air to the tires with the little compressor.

Just use:
http://www.ckcustoms.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_22&products_id=146
http://www.easystreetair.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=466
http://www.truckspring.com/airsprings/firestone/product/air_tank_1_4.asp

Then add one of the small regulators in your first post. I've been running this setup for 4 years now and haven't regretted it. I did buy a larger 100% duty cycle compressor to speed airing up, but I've been to lazy to put it in.

I know the co2 setup is appealing, but you don't get a whole lot for your effort and $$.
 
I have compressor for the tires. I thought about doing the tank route but then I would have to mount the compressor and hardwire it. Right now it's a protable unit so I would have to mod it some and I may want to upgrade and sell it later. Easier to sell a factory compressor then one that's been worked over.

Gonna run a 20oz tank and it should last a weekend easy. The comp guys are running a similar setup and getting a couple days of comps and pratice in on one tank. Seemed to be an easy, simple and cheap way to go. This is a dedicated ARB only system.
 
Weasel said:
lol, no I had the idea before I found out they were running them..

It might be a decent idea, but I think you would be better off hard mounting the parts for the arb (reg, valve, and little tank) and then just hooking up your portable compressor. There are several ways to execute that. If your compressor doesn't have an auto shutoff wire one in before the plug for the portable compressor. Then just make some kind of hold down to keep the compressor from flopping around.

I normally need more than a days air supply when out running and I surely don't want to have to remember changing the tank out often.
 
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