why are tanks filled in water?

[Black-Gorrilla]

i've worked at a paintball store, and we use to fill tanks to 4500-5000psi.. and not keep them in water while we did it...
so why are they filled under water? to keep them cool? to see if leaks occur?
if it is to keep them cool... would that not be useless reason withing a couple of fills??

thanks.

[DirtyWaterIL]

it is so you can fill the tank faster without it heating up too much

[the gooch]

From my understanding it is to cool the tanks. I have also heard that some people think it will help with shrapnel should a tank explode in to pieces (highly unlikely I would think).

[Black-Gorrilla]

extremely unlikely on that shrapnel idea...
but what about when shops fill a ton of tanks late on a Saturday... do the constantly add cold water? or whatever happens happens and the water doesn't really heat up too badly?
cause i know those little paintball tanks got pretty hot!!

[texdiveguy]

To simply make a mess....no meaningful reason for the practice....in my area I know of only one shop that does it.

[ScubaToys Larry]

They should not be filled in water. Luxfer has on their page somewhere, a note about that. That is an attempt to try to keep them cool so folks can "slam" them - but luxfer says a tank should never be filled faster than 300 psi per minute. If we just have one tank to fill, we'll still hook up several so they can all fill together and keep the fill rate down - and we don't put them in water.

If you fill at the proper rate, aluminum tanks don't heat up much... steel ones still do - so you have to take them slower still.

[ScubaToys Larry]

Originally Posted by the gooch

From my understanding it is to cool the tanks. I have also heard that some people think it will help with shrapnel should a tank explode in to pieces (highly unlikely I would think).

Yea.. doesn't help much.



"Gee. How come you guys won't fill my old US Divers tank made from T5351 aluminum? I had a Vis+!"

[the gooch]

Holy $h**

[DirtyWaterIL]

where are those pics from? the first scubatoys shop? jk

[Black-Gorrilla]

any casualties in that incident?