Size for tethered tank

[bigHUN]

I picked up couple scba tanks from a fire station auction sale many summers ago.
I have no idea what the size of these tanks, I know only 144cc, if I tanslate the math these would be 14 Liter, but have no idea how many minutes of breathing air.
Takes me a bit longer to refill 200 to 300 bars. But a lot of shooting tethered.

 

[SteveJewels]

Thanks @bigHUN, very helpful and actually on topic.

Thank you @Humdinger posted a very helpful table and @TN_Yankee posted a link to a thread that, between the two, pretty much cover the topic of understand how the different size ratings systems relate.

A 30 minute SCBA tank is 4.5 liters, 275 ci's, and 49.4 cubic feet of air at 4500 PSI which is 32.9 at 3000 PSI.

I see quite a few references to repurposing SCBA tanks. Are people using expired (> 15 years from the date of manufacture) SCBA tanks? Is this (potentially) an issue at a registered match?

Expired 30 minute SCBA tanks are inexpensive, a great size, perhaps larger than necessary for tethered shooting, and probably safer than some of the Chinese stuff.

 

[igolfat8]

@SteveJewels,

N50 rules forbids tanks on the bench top. However, the gun can be tethered as long as the tank is beside, behind or under the bench. You only need your gun to shoot 25-40 shots to complete one card and then you can fill your gun afterwards. Most N50 shooters, at our club, do not tether but fill between cards.

There is nothing in the N50 rules about using tanks that are out of hydro. Safety gurus would say it’s a big no no however, I suspect many many many shooters are using out of date tanks. The risk is all on you. I am a retired volunteer fire fighter and have never personally ever heard of a tank at our near it’s out of service date failing. Firemen, in general, are NOT gentle handling tanks and they get thrown on, off, in and out of cases and trucks VERY rapidly and the tanks are robustly built to take it. We used Scott and MSA brand tanks at our department. If I were to buy a used tank those two brands would be at the top of my list. The downside to using an out of hydro tank is finding any station or dive shop that will fill it so that task is on you.

 

[Healthservices]

The other problem with very large tanks is how long it takes to fill them esp at home with the less expensive compressors. Especially how much time the little compressor labors between 3800 and 4500. That's really hard on those compressors.


Allen

 

[DesertSilver]

Just remember, a 45min scba tank holds the equivalent of 66 cuft of air at sea level. In other words if you use the air in a 45min tank to fill a balloon it would displace 66 cuft.

 

[Raydee38]

I personally like the smaller 3l scba tanks for ease of transport and fast filling.