Best place to buy CO2?

Zilla wrote:
Where's the most economical place to buy
CO2 cartridges in the US?

--
- Zilla
Cary, NC
(Remove XSPAM)

Ok Wally mart or K-mart it is. Thanks to all who responded.

--
- Zilla
Cary, NC
(Remove XSPAM)

Jacobe Hazzard wrote:

Chris Phillipo wrote:

In article ,
says...

Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why the little
canisters use CO2 instead of just compressed air? (Sounds like the
intro to
a joke about small fires.)

And have any of the techno-nazis out there tried using helium
instead, to
save a few more grams?

Dave Hayes




The reason for using CO2 is that you can store more liquid CO2 in a
container than you can compressed gas. You would need a container
that can withstand 4 or 5 times as much pressure in order to hold the
equivalent amount of compressed air.


I don't know if this is an issue, but I would think that the free oxygen
content of air would (does) degrade the rubber of the tube more quickly
than inert CO2, and a lighter gas like helium which has smaller
molecules would cause a swifter loss of pressure.

I don't know to what extent either of these things has an effect, but I
do seem to recall that helium balloons deflate faster than ones filled
with air.

You're on the right track here. Pure gaseous helium would deflate a
tube faster due to the small diameter of the atom. Going out on a limb
here (since I am five plus years detached from university) I would have
to say the arguments for other gases might not apply.

Pure compressed oxygen would contain elemental gaseous oxygen (O2) which
is much, much larger than He. But regular compressed air is a mix of
common gases CO2, N2O, NO2, N2 (elemental nitrogen) and O2 in various
concentrations found in room air. It would be hard to figure out which
gases would be the least likely to leak out of a tube without getting
down to the "microns."

Shawn wrote:

Dave Hayes wrote:

"Ride-A-Lot" wrote in message
...

Zilla wrote:

Where's the most economical place to buy
CO2 cartridges in the US?


I've bought bulk no-name carts from Pricepoint, but they are not as good
as name brand ones. They don't seem to have the same charge. To be
honest, you're not going to save much on that item. Even the most
expensive LBS in my area (caters to the Hummer crowd ) was only .50
more than the best price I found on the net for Innovations refills.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws



Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why the little
canisters use CO2 instead of just compressed air? (Sounds like the
intro to
a joke about small fires.)

And have any of the techno-nazis out there tried using helium instead, to
save a few more grams?

Dave Hayes


The "more gas/volume" argument sounds reasonable. Think about it, you
can get dry ice at Walmart (solid CO2), but liquid nitrogen (79% of air)
has to be stored in a special cryotank, and is a lot colder. CO2 is
just easier and cheaper to deal with.
Helium was used by the National Team road geeks back in the early '80s
in their time trial tires. Don't know if they still do that.

Shawn

If I recall correctly, room air is not made up of 79% liquid nitrogen
[N2 (l)] but "elemental" nitrogen [N2 (g)] which is indeed a gas at STP
or standard temperature and pressure. This makes it react naturally
with other gaseous elements creating all of the naturally occurring
gases found in room air.

Similarly, I think all of the elements in Period 2 in Groups 13-17 exist
in diatomic elemental form, i.e. B2, C2, N2, O2, F2 and are gases at
STP. Hey, I think B2 might actually be a solid at STP but don't hold me
to that. Remember neon, Ne in group 18 is excluded because it is a
halogen gas. All halogen gases in their elemental form are monatomic
because they are generally non-reactive.

David wrote:
Shawn wrote:

Dave Hayes wrote:

"Ride-A-Lot" wrote in message
...

Zilla wrote:

Where's the most economical place to buy
CO2 cartridges in the US?


I've bought bulk no-name carts from Pricepoint, but they are not as
good
as name brand ones. They don't seem to have the same charge. To be
honest, you're not going to save much on that item. Even the most
expensive LBS in my area (caters to the Hummer crowd ) was only .50
more than the best price I found on the net for Innovations refills.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws




Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why the little
canisters use CO2 instead of just compressed air? (Sounds like the
intro to
a joke about small fires.)

And have any of the techno-nazis out there tried using helium
instead, to
save a few more grams?

Dave Hayes


The "more gas/volume" argument sounds reasonable. Think about it, you
can get dry ice at Walmart (solid CO2), but liquid nitrogen (79% of
air) has to be stored in a special cryotank, and is a lot colder. CO2
is just easier and cheaper to deal with.
Helium was used by the National Team road geeks back in the early '80s
in their time trial tires. Don't know if they still do that.

Shawn


If I recall correctly, room air is not made up of 79% liquid nitrogen
[N2 (l)] but "elemental" nitrogen [N2 (g)] which is indeed a gas at STP
or standard temperature and pressure. This makes it react naturally
with other gaseous elements creating all of the naturally occurring
gases found in room air.

Thank you Dr. Science. Right, the atmosphere isn't 79% liquid nitrogen
(my bad). Nor is in elemental nitrogen N. It is about 79% gaseous N2,
a molecule of two nitrogen atoms, and nearly inert (non-reactive-till
you get it real hot, or feed it to nitrogen fixing bacteria).
It doesn't do much and it doesn't "react naturally with other gaseous
elements...". Most of the rest of what we breath is O2 (about 20%).
The last 1% is water, CO2, Argon and Mike Vendeman generated smog :-)

Similarly, I think all of the elements in Period 2 in Groups 13-17 exist
in diatomic elemental form, i.e. B2, C2, N2, O2, F2 and are gases at
STP. Hey, I think B2 might actually be a solid at STP but don't hold me
to that. Remember neon, Ne in group 18 is excluded because it is a
halogen gas. All halogen gases in their elemental form are monatomic
because they are generally non-reactive.

Yeah sure, go take a long drag off the chlorine tank at the local pool
and tell us how you feel in the morning. :-)
Halogens are nasty and reactive, I think you meant noble gases.

Shawn

Any dept. store that sell air guns. So I'm guessing any Walmart, at
least in the red states.
--
_________________________
Chris Phillipo - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
http://www.ramsays-online.com

Justo for the record...The Blue candidate was the self proclaimed hunter (or
gun advocate).

Goodoz

"Chris Phillipo" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
says...
Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why the little
canisters use CO2 instead of just compressed air? (Sounds like the intro
to
a joke about small fires.)

And have any of the techno-nazis out there tried using helium instead,
to
save a few more grams?

Dave Hayes



The reason for using CO2 is that you can store more liquid CO2 in a
container than you can compressed gas. You would need a container that
can withstand 4 or 5 times as much pressure in order to hold the
equivalent amount of compressed air.

You're part way there - compressed CO2 is a solid - 'dry ice'.



Shaun aRe

"Shawn" wrote in message
...
David wrote:
Shawn wrote:

Dave Hayes wrote:

"Ride-A-Lot" wrote in message
...

Zilla wrote:

Where's the most economical place to buy
CO2 cartridges in the US?


I've bought bulk no-name carts from Pricepoint, but they are not as
good
as name brand ones. They don't seem to have the same charge. To be
honest, you're not going to save much on that item. Even the most
expensive LBS in my area (caters to the Hummer crowd ) was only .50
more than the best price I found on the net for Innovations refills.

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws




Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why the
little
canisters use CO2 instead of just compressed air? (Sounds like the
intro to
a joke about small fires.)

And have any of the techno-nazis out there tried using helium
instead, to
save a few more grams?

Dave Hayes


The "more gas/volume" argument sounds reasonable. Think about it, you
can get dry ice at Walmart (solid CO2), but liquid nitrogen (79% of
air) has to be stored in a special cryotank, and is a lot colder. CO2
is just easier and cheaper to deal with.
Helium was used by the National Team road geeks back in the early '80s
in their time trial tires. Don't know if they still do that.

Shawn


If I recall correctly, room air is not made up of 79% liquid nitrogen
[N2 (l)] but "elemental" nitrogen [N2 (g)] which is indeed a gas at STP
or standard temperature and pressure. This makes it react naturally
with other gaseous elements creating all of the naturally occurring
gases found in room air.

Thank you Dr. Science. Right, the atmosphere isn't 79% liquid nitrogen
(my bad). Nor is in elemental nitrogen N. It is about 79% gaseous N2,
a molecule of two nitrogen atoms, and nearly inert (non-reactive-till
you get it real hot, or feed it to nitrogen fixing bacteria).
It doesn't do much and it doesn't "react naturally with other gaseous
elements...". Most of the rest of what we breath is O2 (about 20%).
The last 1% is water, CO2, Argon and Mike Vendeman generated smog :-)

Similarly, I think all of the elements in Period 2 in Groups 13-17 exist
in diatomic elemental form, i.e. B2, C2, N2, O2, F2 and are gases at
STP. Hey, I think B2 might actually be a solid at STP but don't hold me
to that. Remember neon, Ne in group 18 is excluded because it is a
halogen gas. All halogen gases in their elemental form are monatomic
because they are generally non-reactive.

Yeah sure, go take a long drag off the chlorine tank at the local pool
and tell us how you feel in the morning. :-)
Halogens are nasty and reactive, I think you meant noble gases.

Indeed this is what I was going to say too - the halogens are all _very_
highly reactive, oxidising gasses!




Shaun aRe

Shaun wrote:
"Chris Phillipo" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
says...
Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why the
little canisters use CO2 instead of just compressed air? (Sounds
like the intro to a joke about small fires.)

And have any of the techno-nazis out there tried using helium
instead, to save a few more grams?

Dave Hayes



The reason for using CO2 is that you can store more liquid CO2 in a
container than you can compressed gas. You would need a container
that can withstand 4 or 5 times as much pressure in order to hold the
equivalent amount of compressed air.

You're part way there - compressed CO2 is a solid - 'dry ice'.



Shaun aRe

Got my Co2 at Wally-mart today, 15-pack for $8. better than
$12 for 3 of them at the LBS!

--
- Zilla
Cary, NC
(Remove XSPAM)

"Chris Phillipo" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
says...
The reason for using CO2 is that you can store more liquid CO2 in a
container than you can compressed gas. You would need a container
that
can withstand 4 or 5 times as much pressure in order to hold the
equivalent amount of compressed air.

You're part way there - compressed CO2 is a solid - 'dry ice'.



Shaun aRe




Dry ice is not compressed CO2, you don't need to carry it around in a
1800psi rated cylinder. Dry ice is made by releasing compressed
(liquid) CO2 into a room temperature and pressure mold.

Far as I was aware, that's how it was, when 'packed' into the cylinders? I
thought C02 had no liquid state, I thought it just 'sublimed'?!?!?


Cheers,

Shaun aRe

Far as I was aware, that's how it was, when 'packed' into the cylinders? I
thought C02 had no liquid state, I thought it just 'sublimed'?!?!?


Cheers,

Shaun aRe



CO2 can exist in an aqueous state with water but it is no longer pure.
Not sure if CO2 behaves quite the same as I2 but then again I am a few
years detached from university.

Dave