On the scrounge

[homers brew]

I have a mate who runs a pub - well social club. Today he gave me 15 crates (going back for some more another time) and he had two gas bottles which he said I could have - one CO2 and one mixed, but i'm unsure of the ownership issues. He has no problem giving them me as his gas supplier will not take them away as they say they are not theirs, but they are getting in the way he says. Can I get them filled up somwhere or is someone somewhere not going to be happy about this. Who owns them and how do I find out? Pictures below:

Gas bottles

Beer crates

 

[jamesb]

Well the CO2 cylinder looks like it's owned by a company called gcs. Are there no contact details on the label?

 

[homers brew]

Well the CO2 cylinder looks like it's owned by a company called gcs. Are there no contact details on the label?

Didn't look that closely.

I assume then that they are not like camping gas cylinders where a deposit is payed on them.

 

[jamesb]

Well the CO2 cylinder looks like it's owned by a company called gcs. Are there no contact details on the label?

Didn't look that closely.
I assume then that they are not like camping gas cylinders where a deposit is payed on them.

It depends on the company. BOC and Air Products will certainly charge you rental, if they rent to you at all. The smaller companies vary.

 

[homers brew]

Well the CO2 cylinder looks like it's owned by a company called gcs. Are there no contact details on the label?

Didn't look that closely.
I assume then that they are not like camping gas cylinders where a deposit is payed on them.

It depends on the company. BOC and Air Products will certainly charge you rental, if they rent to you at all. The smaller companies vary.

It doesn't sound worth taking them then - if I can't get them filled.

 

[jamesb]

It doesn't sound worth taking them then - if I can't get them filled.

Why not phone them up and ask if they'll supply gas to you?

 

[homers brew]

It doesn't sound worth taking them then - if I can't get them filled.

Why not phone them up and ask if they'll supply gas to you?

I found them on the web, but it looks like their site is only half finished - there is a link to "cylinder sales" though.

http://www.1greeneye.net/

 

[jamesb]

Try this one: http://www.gcs.eu.com/

 

[homers brew]

Try this one: http://www.gcs.eu.com/

Just found it. Looks like they sell the cylinders.

 

[jamesb]

I wish I hadn't have gone looking now. I found this. Warning: PDF.

 

[Vossy1]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[homers brew]

I wish I hadn't have gone looking now. I found this. Warning: PDF.

Anyone want o buy some gas cylinders - pick up only. :lol:

 

[Muddydisco]

Have always said they should be tested the same as Diving cylinders! Every 2 yrs, it's not the external corrosion thats the problem it's the water and stuff inside the tank thats the problem. Oh an every time it's tested the valves now have to have an overhaul!

 

[EskiBrew]

My word :shock:

I wish I hadn't read that either :? - Ignorance is bliss...

My bottle lives beside my kegerator in the living room - I will probably have a rethink :hmm:

 

[Vossy1]

I had a good chat with a chap at BOC a while back. He told me the reason for the failure is a reation between the water and the C02 making Carbonic acid. The acid sits on top of the liquid C02 and unless the cylinder is moved regularly the area where the acid sits corrodes, and if left long enough the cylinder fails.......not good.

 

[darrenwest1]

if you really want shot if you are local to me ill buy em
i do hydrostatic testing and i am a scuba instructor

 

[Sean_Mc]

I wish I hadn't have gone looking now. I found this. Warning: PDF.

Scared to go in to the shed now.......opps she's nagging again, I'll take my chances in the shed

 

[EskiBrew]

My bottle lives beside my kegerator in the living room - I will probably have a rethink :hmm:

Right - I've given this some thought and I am no longer happy with it being in the house :nono: - I know that the chances of an accident are probably very very small but my son often plays near my kegerator and the idea of the bottle exploding when any of us are in the house just doesn't bear thinking about :shock: - apparently the explosion can demolish buildings

It is now outside in the shed. I have two plans to cope with the problem this causes:

Short term:
I have a nice clean CO2 cylinder which I bought from new (therefore I know the history and know it has been treated well) and I plan to pressurise this to perhaps 100 PSI using a regulator from the full CO2 bottle. I will then take that bottle indoors and attach to the kegerator. Since the bottle is designed to hold several hundred Bar of pressure, limiting it to less than 10 Bar should make the liklihood of a failure vanishingly remote.

Long term:
I plan to move the kegerator to the Kitchen when it is redesigned. I will place it in an area where I can run a CO2 line in from outside to the medium pressure side of the gas management board. Outside I'll make a small brick bunker (like a dog kennel) to house my CO2 bottle with main regulator and also my compressed air cylinder (I have that in my workshop and because of the amount of water that is generated when compressing air, the thought of that exploding while I am in there working has always worried me).

 

[homers brew]

look what you've started jamesb.

 

[jamesb]

look what you've started jamesb.

Sorry, I'm with EB. I've never had it in the house, even before I read that pdf for that very reason. Now I'm planning on taking it out of the brewery too. I've got an old coal bunker it can live in and I'll run a line from there.

I'm also scared of my compressor! I've always kept it the other side of the garage from where I normally work.