Ever have a tank split while filling

It does appear as though it failed safely. Be prepared for lots of questions here.

Age, condition of inside, picture of label, etc.

Glad you’re safe.

Dave

Uff-da! Good catch!

I do not believe I've seen a report like this before. As was suggested, the age and manufacturer of the tank would be useful information. Also if there was any visible damage prior to the event (there appears to be none). Did it seem to be leaking when you shut it down? I'm not suggesting it is usable, just curious if the liner failed first and air was gushing out.

Carbon fiber tanks are really thin aluminum tanks that are covered with carbon fiber. The limited test data I have seen shows large mechanical margins in the carbon fiber. My guess is this tank was built with a weak spot in the carbon fiber where the failure occurred. Perhaps too much resin and not enough fiber. Especially if the liner did not fail first. If the liner failed first, that could damage the carbon fiber. You would presumably know the liner failed because air would be rushing out - the carbon fiber is not expected to be able to stop a leak.

The good thing is this reinforces the possibility that when tanks like this fail it is not a big "explosion" but a more controlled leak event where injury is much less likely. I worry more about aluminum air chambers where there is no overwrap to contain fragments if they fail.

Have you tried Flex Seal?

Well I have read numerous times that this in general is what CF tanks do when they fail. They generally don’t explode. That is the bright side. If it were me I would probably cut the thing in half and inspect the inside. Wonder if there is any evidence of moisture corrosion?

88turbocoupe said:

I'm just going to scratch as a defective tank never filled over 4000 psi

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Are you suggesting here that you plan to continue using the tank? Personally I’d do as trucker said and cut it in half, just to prevent it being used again.

Wow! Did it "ping, pop or tinkle"? Was there any noise at all?

Good catch! You are attentive.

I say the tank needs to be neatly autopsied with a bandsaw. I don't have a big one but can anyone step up here?

Mike

88turbocoupe said:

Was filling my Hatsan 1.6l
Buddy tank and right around 3800-4000 psi I heard a weird aluminum tin can sound
I looked at my tank and noticed the carbon fiber separating
Shut the comp down and immediately opened the valve to dump the tank
This is what I found

View attachment 503140

View attachment 503141

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@88turbocoupe Hell no I've never had that happen. Was it loud enough to hear clearly over your compressor? That's something the concerns me is not being able to hear something like that over a running compressor.

Thank goodness it wasn't catastrophic and that it didn't go unnoticed before it become so.

-Matt

Proudly made in China.

These is the first air bottle failure pics I have seen. Encouraging the way the tank failed, not much drama, a very good thing.

Justaguy said:

Have you tried Flex Seal?

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Are you really serious? DANGEROUS suggestion!

CF bottles & tanks are inherently designed to do this in the case of structural integrity failure INSTEAD of exploding. You acted correctly, now replace bottle! BTW, what brand bottle? Age?

I'm darned certain that the posters tongue was firmly in their cheek with that suggestion of Flex seal. While I am careful handling my old expired SCBA bottle if these bottles failed violently, we would be hearing about the failures. I'm new here and this is the first structural bottle failure I've heard of. I used the arm section of an old survival suit for my bottle, it's snug as a bug in a rug. The thick Neoprene stretches a bit and provides excellent protection for bumps and bruises.
China can and does provide very high quality products, they also produce stuff slightly better than garbage and often from the same factory. My DJI drone is among the highest quality products I have encountered, one important point? It was NOT CHEAP. We see the worst on Ebay Amazon Etc. all about the price.

Gerry52 said:

Are you really serious? DANGEROUS suggestion!

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I laughed when I read his obvious joke,,, as I imagined the knuckled head flex seal guy that slapped a patch on a leaking water bucket, slapping a patch on a leaking pcp bottle and watching the big bubble blow up in size like a chewing gum bubble,,, pop