when i called my local welding supplier about getting a co2 bottle to fill my 33" tires and use of air tools he told me to go nitrogen. has anyone else used nitrogen instead? could you let me know how it works? he told me its only about 8 bucks to fill and i can get the bottle for about 30 bucks. you cant beat that price!!
I'm sure some of the aviation folks around here will either correct or support this, but I'm pretty sure the military and airlines use Nitrogen to fill their aircraft tires. It's relatively stable even with varying temperatures, is not flammable, and it's cheap/readily available from the air since it is the major component anyway. The downside might be leakage through the rubber but I can't recall if that was a discussion about Nitrogen or not...
nascar and other types of racing use Nitrogen to fill the tires, not much pressure change with temp changes and in air tools it is a dry gas so the tools work better.
Nitrogen is fine....but a 10# tank of Co2 will fill more because it's a compressed liquid.
So if you had an unlimited supply it would be a toss up...one isn't much better than the other, but when it comes to dragging it around with you in a 4x4, Co2 comes in ahead because you have more potential fillings.
Tozovr is correct. The main difference is that CO2 can be carried as a liquid whreas Nitrogen is carried in a very high pressure container.
The chief reason that Nitrogen is popular among racers is that the gas is run through a series of dryers when it is compressed, so the final product contains virtually zero water vapour. Dry air is important so that the tires behave predicatably as pressures increase.
Not too important for the man on the street, but very important if you are looking for an improvement of a few hundredths of a second.
Tozovr is correct. The main difference is that CO2 can be carried as a liquid whreas Nitrogen is carried in a very high pressure container.
The chief reason that Nitrogen is popular among racers is that the gas is run through a series of dryers when it is compressed, so the final product contains virtually zero water vapour. Dry air is important so that the tires behave predicatably as pressures increase.
Not too important for the man on the street, but very important if you are looking for an improvement of a few hundredths of a second.
I carry a nitrogen tank for airing up until the OBA gets built.
It works good, but as others said, co2 will go farther per tank. In cold winter conditions the nitrogen worked fine to air up three rigs from 8# to 22# with 33's.
Kinda scary is the full tank pressure, 2500#. It could become a rocket if the valve was snapped off, but the tank and every thing else in the rig should be mounted and strapped down anyway.
I'm used to dealing with huge N2 tanks so I was just thinking. Can you get a liquid nitrogen tank (Dewers) small enough to be practical? Why is this never done and CO2 is relatively common?
