Omega tank leaks

[Doug]

I noticed my tank is slowly loosing air and upon closer inspection, it looks like the knot heads at the paintball store dropped it last time they filled it. I emerged it in water and had two leaks and was able to stop leak 2 by tightening the nut slightly (I have no idea what purpose that nut serves). As you can see, some obvious dings on the valve & gauge, and the gauge is a bit cock-eyed now. What are my options to fix this? Thanks

MOD EDIT: moved to the air tanks section

 

[jking]

Well that sucks..." Knot heads" is going way to easy on them. They should have owned up to the mishap.

It's always been a fear of mine to let one of these tanks slip out of my hands or roll off of a table and snapping the valve off. It would definitely be one of those shorts soiling moments.
I can't comment a lot on leak # 1 other than there is a O-ring that does 100% of the sealing there. The fitting itself is just snugged up with a wrench and not overly tightened. It would probably be worth while to bleed the tank down to zero and replace that O-ring. Leak at position #2 is actually a pressure relief device (burst disk) for over pressuring protection. If you look at it closely it is probably stamped 7.5K (7500#) or something similar. Sounds like it was just the threads leaking there. I would definitely replace the gauge since it is softer material and might have been fatigued by the drop.

Hope this helps and sorry for your misfortune.
Jimmy

 

[FunGun]

Jking got it exactly right. Leak #1 can only be fixed by the tank being empty. The pressure in tank will keep your from trying to tighten down the valve when it is full so don't even try. Empty your tank of all air and remove the valve. If it was put in correctly you can simply tap it out with the palm of your hand or tap it lightly with a rubber mallet on the on off handle. IF it was not put in correctly which most of them are put in overtight, you will need to wrench it out. You can simply replace the oring, be sure to apply a very thin film of divers silicone, basically food grade silicone to the oring before reinstalling. This is not one of those cases where more is better. Actually just enough to make the oring shine is all you need. Clean out the grove where the oring seats and replace the valve. Hand tighten only. You can give it just a tap with the rubber mallet but don't over tighten.

As far as the burst disk, which is leak #2 I am surprised you were able to tighten it with the tank full of air. If that fixed it then you should be good to go, but I would take it off (the burst disk) when you have the valve out and replace the burst disk with the same rated disk (MFG rated). Here again apply a very thin film of good grade silicone to the threads before replacing the burst disk nut and you will be good to go! The silicone keeps the threads from seating and any possible galvanic corrosion from bonding your threads.

You can point it out to the owner of the shop and see what they will do, but they are probably going to deny any wrong doing on their part. Sorry to see your dings.

 

[Doug]

Thanks guys, great info. I will do just that and hopefully I can get the O-ring, burst disk and gauge at the local dive shop.

 

[Zoey]

A few words of caution for you:

SCBA manufacturers indicate that when a valve has been removed, the o-ring is replaced and the valve is then hand-tightened until the valve makes contact with the o-ring. The valve is then torqued to a manufacturer specification (typically somewhere around 75ft lbs). Often this torque specification is printed on the side of your tank. SCBA aluminum walls are more thin than a scuba tank, and over torquing may cause damage to the threads, or damage the resin/glass/CF outer shell. Clearly, this could compromise the integrity of your tank and put people at risk.

Make sure that you use the correct o-ring as specified by your tank manufacturer. They are a very specific size. Although captured, using the wrong o-ring may cause it to extrude during filling, which may be extremely dangerous. The o-ring does not get lubricated, however (depending upon the manufacturer) the valve threads do (very light amount). As stated previously, the lubricant should be a silicone grease free of petroleum products.

If it was me, I would replace the pressure gauge. Clearly it has been damaged, and your cylinder contains a lot of pressure. The potential hazard isn't worth the price of a gauge.

 

[Doug]

Ordered a gauge, burst disk and o-ring from AOA delivered for $62.00. Hoping the paint ball shop will give me some free fills for their mistake. Why would I go back there you ask, because it's the only place around capable of a 4500 fill. I will leave the tank in my primal gun gear carrying bag from now on. Only if compressors were more affordable, (wishful thinking).