SCBA Tank Valve Change?

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Ezana4CE

Ezana4CE

Member
Jan 15, 2021
11,176
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Texas, United States
I would like to change valve in my Air Venturi 6.8L carbon fiber SCBA tank (310 bar/4500 psi max fill) in order to have better control of the air flow for slower filling of my rifles. 


Over some months I’ve noticed that after I have my SCBA tank filled, I have a problem in controlling the airflow as I fill my guns. It has led to a repeat regulator issue in one rifle and I’m unsure if the issue is with the reg, the speed I’m filling the reservoir, the fill pressure, or a combination of all of these factors. When I last had the regulator serviced I told the airgunsmith all that I’d done leading up to the problem and I was assured that I wasn’t filling the bottle too fast and the failure wasn’t due to anything I’d done. I also recall being told that their shop fills bottles fast when testing airguns before shipping them out. However, I notice that when I top off a gun from say 150 to 225 bar, the carbon fiber bottle can get very warm if filled in 1-2 minutes at room temperature. I’m concerned about the long term effects of the heat generated from fast fills on the orings. I read something earlier about heat causing condensation inside the reservoir and I definitely don’t want that issue. Can some of our experienced members suggest solutions to my fill time issue with my current setup?
 
I cant see anything should be in the way of putting a new valve on that tank, when i got my new carbon tank i had a range of valves to choose from, and the selection was only "smaller" as i could of course not choose < 300 BAR valves.

Telling how fast you should fill a gun nobody can probably tell, but nice and easy is what is recommended, but no one i know off have had a flow gauge in between tank and but to gauge the flow rate.

You could time it and get XX BAR / minute or something but that is also hard to deal with as there are a lot of tank / tube sizes out there.

PS: i tried to fill my cyclone a few days ago, also worked fine but the gun / tank/ tube screamed all the way, so i am now letting it degas itself in the weeks to come, and then i will take it apart and overhaul it or at least the tank / tube.
 
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@plingpling Maybe I overcomplicated the explanation leading to my question. I’m simply looking for a valve that turns smoothly so that I have greater control of the air flow while gradually increasing it while filling my guns. The current valve is stiff and somewhat hard to turn in slight increments. I’ve read about a couple of options, but since I don’t know a lot about valves I’m asking for input from members that do so I can explore more of them. 
 
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This is what I have and it works great !

Screenshot_20211011-135104_Chrome.1633978346.jpg





 
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this setup may not be for everyone, but since i built it i use it 'every' time on 'every' bottle im on .. it gives great control and the whole system doesnt have to be turned off and bled either, the remote valve has a bleeder on it that only bleeds the output side, and technically you could put a female foster directly on it so theres almost zero air loss between fills ie. no hose to bleed, just leave the bottle on and the valve layin on the table ready to go .. anyway its a non-standard option .. the valve i got on ebay for ~40 bucks, and it needs a couple of standard fittings however its built ... took me a few tries to get the fittings to not leak but if i can do it anybody can lol ...

CIMG2052.1633979093.JPG

 
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this setup may not be for everyone, but since i built it i use it 'every' time on 'every' bottle im on .. it gives great control and the whole system doesnt have to be turned off and bled either, the remote valve has a bleeder on it that only bleeds the output side, and technically you could put a female foster directly on it so theres almost zero air loss between fills ie. no hose to bleed, just leave the bottle on and the valve layin on the table ready to go .. anyway its a non-standard option .. the valve i got on ebay for ~40 bucks, and it needs a couple of standard fittings however its built ... took me a few tries to get the fittings to not leak but if i can do it anybody can lol ...

CIMG2052.1633979093.JPG
Click to expand...

@Dizzums I don’t understand how your setup is used without bleeding after a fill. No fill whip? Can you elaborate a little more?
 
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I've got two tanks with the Joe B (Air Tanks for Sale, etc) valve. These come with an integrated slow fill restrictor, but it is in the tank side of the valve and requires taking the valve off the tank to access. I removed them before install because I had some other uses for the tanks the restrictor would not work for. I have also read on here that if you want to use an external regulator to bench tether your gun, the restrictor will prevent that from working right.

So where I am at now...like you I have noticed that filling from a full tank can be touchy even if you are trying really hard, but at the same time I don't want to put the restrictors back in because that limits options and is a big hassle to swap. I am thinking about getting a male foster with check valve and modifying it for use as an external restrictor. The tank valve would no longer be accurate during fills but I could still watch the gun gauge, and that seems like a good trade-off for flexibility. I figured someone would be offering such a thing commercially, but have yet to find one in my searches.
 
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"A permanently restricted valve may carry more negative than positive side effects."

I'd say it depends entirely on intended use. I have a valve with the slo-flo restriction (which can be removed IIRC) and use it to fill several small reservoirs (pp700/HW44) and it seems to serve its purpose (safety) for those situations very well. It's easy to fully fill those small units too quickly even with the slo-flo restriction. Yes, it can be a bit slow on large bottles but that is the tradeoff.
 
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According to the specs, the AV Jubilee valve has a built-in restrictor. Before going any further you should make sure that the restrictor, is in fact installed. I'm not familiar with this valve but it appears that may be in the bottom and require removal of the valve from the bottle. It may also be the case that the restrictor is located in the DIN 300 body of the fill whip. The flow rate of the restrictors can usually be controlled by backing out or screwing in the restrictor. For those that totally failed to get my point from my last post. It is a fraction of the cost to replace a Foster fitting than it is to replace the whole valve, especially if it's replacing the valve with another one that carries the same features. 
 
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