Is nitrogen a viable/practical alternative to compressed air? I have a welding supply shop a few minutes from home, but haven't checked into cost.
Nitrogen vs compressed air
- Thread starter Newtopcp
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While I haven't been able to use it myself nitrogen is a great alternative to compressed air if you have a source. it is supposed to be drier than air which is good for your tanks. Where I live none of the gas supply companies will deal with a private individual. They will only sell to a business.
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Nitrogen is a great substitute for air. But the cost of nitrogen varies wildly form area to area so it's hard to say whether it would be viable or not for that reason.
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N2 makes up close to 80% of the air you breath or common compressed air. I used N2 as a back-up air supply when the paintball shop didn't have enough pressure to fill my tanks before I got a compressor. The welding company I got my tanks from stored the tanks outside so in the winter I could never get a tank with over 5k psi.
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No search. There are any number of threads on the subject. Short answer it works well for some but there a several real disadvantages.
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Race cars at the highest levels use nitrogen in their tires and shocks. This is because nitrogen has virtually no air in it , therefore no moisture at all. The moisture is what causes your tire pressure to rise as it heats up. While this doesn't matter in your daily driver, which you can now get filled with nitrogen at your local major tire supplier - better fuel mileage being the reason, race car tire pressures are set to very exact numbers. Long story short, they do not expand and affect handling. So , the two major advantages to nitrogen for a pcp application are, No moisture in your gun and you can get much higher pressures to store in larger tanks for more fills at your disposal. The only disadvantage I could possibly see are the "O" rings may not be compatible with nitrogen, but that deterioration would take a fair amount of time to occur. It would not be an instant failure, and most likely as long as you don't over pressure you would be safe. If you had your own tank for a couple hundred bucks, most welding suppliers will do a empty for full exchange, as they would for other types of gases. Last, having your own compressor, a good filter and tank long term I think is the most cost effective and reliable way to provide fuel for you fun. I always seem to run out of my welding gases on Saturday right after the supplier closes until Monday. I would go nuts if that happened with my toy. Ha, Good luck whichever way you go.
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Race cars at the highest levels use nitrogen in their tires and shocks. This is because nitrogen has virtually no air in it , therefore no moisture at all. The moisture is what causes your tire pressure to rise as it heats up. While this doesn't matter in your daily driver, which you can now get filled with nitrogen at your local major tire supplier - better fuel mileage being the reason, race car tire pressures are set to very exact numbers. Long story short, they do not expand and affect handling. So , the two major advantages to nitrogen for a pcp application are, No moisture in your gun and you can get much higher pressures to store in larger tanks for more fills at your disposal. The only disadvantage I could possibly see are the "O" rings may not be compatible with nitrogen, but that deterioration would take a fair amount of time to occur. It would not be an instant failure, and most likely as long as you don't over pressure you would be safe. If you had your own tank for a couple hundred bucks, most welding suppliers will do a empty for full exchange, as they would for other types of gases. Last, having your own compressor, a good filter and tank long term I think is the most cost effective and reliable way to provide fuel for you fun. I always seem to run out of my welding gases on Saturday right after the supplier closes until Monday. I would go nuts if that happened with my toy. Ha, Good luck whichever way you go.
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I had a discussion with my buddy about doing this myself. Yes it’s totally ok to use nitrogen to power your airgun. However, when I went to the local welding supply I found out the standard #300steel bottles only fill to around 2260 psi (around 150bar). If I wanted high pressure I would need a 6K bottle and the price was nuts. It was looking pretty good for a minute though.
Ended up getting an inexpensive yong heng compressor off eBay and it has treated me good so far. Maybe a little paranoid but I opted to use two water separator/traps and a desiccant filter.
Ended up getting an inexpensive yong heng compressor off eBay and it has treated me good so far. Maybe a little paranoid but I opted to use two water separator/traps and a desiccant filter.
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Just like your scope is important to your rifle, filters are equally important to your compressor as well as the oil. It is crazy expensive but you can't shortcut on the oil. I think you made a good choice.
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Yes, BUT … its “thicker”, and so flows a little slower through the valve, meaning power will. Be down slightly, but the gun is less apt to leak.
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nitrogen is used in aircraft tire because of no moisture. They require it because FAA and other authorities don't what shop air in aircraft tires because of the moisture in shop air Once airborne, the moisture in the tire freezes and the tire will be out of balance on landing if still frozen. As for race cars, the nitrogen still gets heated up and tire pressure increases. Look at any ideal gas or perfect gas relationship. As for moisture being the reason your tires heat up, don't believe it. Maybe if a lot of water condenses to liquid phase then turns to steam.
In fact, if you look at air density for takeoff or landings, humidity in the air actually decreases the density, requiring more takeoff distance.
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Thanks for all the helpful info! I think I will just get a compressor and deal with any maintenance issues that come up.
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FW-190,Hi, yes heat / friction does raise pressure, just much less with nitrogen. I do not believe the pressure change in a pcp application would be detectable in normal temp changes, so the real point is the lack of moisture to damage your equipment. I would still suggest a good filter and compressor, and proper maint. of your equipment for long term use. But I'm really just another gunner trying to add my two cents. I'm not an expert on air guns, but have some working knowledge how bad air can be. Thanks for the interaction, great shooting to all !
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AGS, thanks for the response. I think I am learning. As I stated before, relative to air guns, pressure is not the question, it is moisture content. I only use racing comparison because this is an area I am familiar with and I try to stay inside my lines so I don't embarrass myself. I would assume that pure air with no moisture would most likely expand at a rate much closer to nitrogen. I have built, driven, and worked on some pretty high level race cars, and this is where my limited chemistry mostly comes from. As long as there is something to put in the tank to make the rifle work, I'm ok. Thanks again.
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I've never used nitrogen because I could not justify the cost in my area. Seems there are definite advantages (dry, large tanks at 6000 psi available) and disadvantages (weight, availability in some places) for nitrogen use. IF there were a reliable nitrogen source close to me I would probably have chosen that source over a compressor. It wasn't possible in my case. Seems to vary greatly by region.
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