Nitrogen/HPA

[DWI]

Ok so has anybody run nitrogen through their markers here in Australia? If so any reviews/tank specs/fill set ups/inroads in to getting Nitrogen into/possible/accessible for Australia? I mean I know that most of us are struggling with HPA as it is, just wondering?

[BalaMatt]

Air is mostly nitrogen. To my knowledge, there is negligible/zero performance difference. I believe it comes done to this. If there is a cheap available supply of nitrogen, then use it. Otherwise stick to HPA.

Feel free to correct me if anyone knows otherwise.

[DWI]

yeah Im wondering whether or not you can run it in the same tank. Cost of Nitrogen/HPA, we dont have a compressor at the local feild so I was wondering storage issues, whether I could run it in my scuba. the usual. Thanks matt

[rubixcube]

Basically treat it just like HPA, since air is 78% Nitrogen. You would use the same tank as you would for HPA. Getting N2 in Australia is no big deal, just contact your local BOC dealer, and they should be able to give you a quote. As far as a fill station, a scuba one may work, but I would recommend you take your marker's tank down, and see if BOC has something.

[DWI]

yeah BOC just wont play with us (paintballers) here locally with HPA. And I wanted to ask the basics, until I understood enough to go into BOC and ask for a tankfull/fill set up.
Thanks Rubix

[HeDsHoTz]

As far as I know, SAPPA run Nitro banks for their fills with no issues at all.

JSC (Ed) would be the guy on here to talk to if you wanted to know more.

[JSC_Liason_neo]

Yes Sappa uses Nitro Banks
From what i know they are not BOC, We have a friend whom can get it for us.
We have been using Nitro banks for over 2years.
I think sappa are the only group running a bank system as everyone else has compressors
We rent 12 or 6 packs and we regulator them down to 3000 and that ensures we have constant pressure for the day. we have a bunch of custom made hose and afew push button fillstations

Im not fully up with our system but SappaPresident can fill you in on more info

[L_U_X_I_E]

nitrogen is cleaner and dryer then air but the difference may not be noticable
air is roughly 78% nitrogen anyway
ive looked at work and boc bottles can go to 4500psi but they only fill them to 16.9 mpa which equals 2400 psi
they maybe able to go higher pressure but that you will need to check.

[DWI]

Thanks heaps to everyone! I know Boc can do the pressures, its just "will" they seriously LUXIE, Boc are no fun here!!. Thanks JSC for the info, Im wondering the difference between HPA and nitro banks because we dont have a compressor either. Thanks heaps again

[JSC_Liason_neo]

I know when I have been to Paintball Pete's fields he uses BOC bottles,
It all depends on your use, are u a field or do u need it for events? it can add up if your renting bottles

[DWI]

well Im just a walk on mate, but the local field is looking to put on a scenario its in the scenario bushball threads (wil71m made the thread) and Im just looking at options for HPA/Nitro. And also, I was wondering if there was a significant difference between HPA/Nitro to warrant giving Nitro a run. looks like not a hell of a lot of upsides to it so far.

[SAPPA President]

Hi Guys,

SAPPA has used nitrogen for quite some time now. As JSC has said we have a sponsor that helps out which makes things easier.

Air is a mixture of 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, and approximately 1% other trace gases. The compressed air we use in paintball is normally breathable air so has a minimum amount of foreign contaminants that meet diving regulations.

The Nitrogen we use is Industrial Nitrogen which is some 99.9% pure it comes in 300bar (4350psi) cylinders in banks of 6 or 12. We regulate this down to 3000psi so that anyone with a 3000psi rated tank can fill safely and to ensure we have sufficient gas for the whole day. Plus it's easy to supply 3000 psi all day rather than start off high and drop continuously during the day.

SAPPA have considered the Bottle versus Compressor situation over many years. The up front cost of a Compressor rated for a tournament (at least 10CFM @ 45000psi with 3 bank bottles) is very high and the maintenance cost for this are yearly with expensive repairs if things go wrong. If maintenance is not kept up: 6 monthly oil changes, 12 monthly service and filter replacements then the air generated is likely to be contaminated and cause issues with peoples markers.

So for now, the Nitrogen we use is the best approach for our series.

PS: With the bank bottles there is no noise :D too

Hope that helps

[DWI]

Your a legend Sappa President. the noise and power factor have been a consistent worry. thanks heaps

[uptheguts]

If BOC wont help, talk to Heatcraft. They can supply Nitrogen. You will have to set up a account with them though as u pay a daily rental on the bottle. I know they are filled up past the 4k psi mark.

[Sundra]

The only thing we found when we were going to SAPPA was we had to adjust our velocities every round as we all were about 30 fps out, whether that was the switch from air to nitrogen or maybe different sea levels im not exactly sure but after adjusting the fps it shoots fine.

[HeDsHoTz]

I was chrony cop for the first part of the last round of SAPPA, and did notice a lot of people had to adjust their velocities down after chronying hot.

I've never filled my tank with nitro so I can't attest or deny, but the chrony doesn't lie.

[SAPPA President]

Just a quick note

All SAPPA events have a chrono on at 290fps

Just adds an extra safety margin in lieu of chronoing off

[DWI]

yeah, so a possible spike with the nitro switch??? that could be interesting. I dont know if Ill switch to running nitro, purely because cost will no doubt be an issue, and you cant get nitro everywhere, and HPA is running good thru the gats as is...... might still be an option for the air bank though. cheers all