Pressurised Co2

3 Questions...

1) How dangerous is the Co2 cannister? Can it explode? I am in a flat and scared something might happen :dontknow:

2) Is there a way to minimize the danger?

3) Does anyone stock the regulators in Durban...

TIA

 

Any pressurized canister can explode but the chance is not that great if you purchase a new or well looked after cylinder and have it serviced when required. Betterweather sells a pressure adjustable regulator online with delivery countrywide.

 

This is what happened to mine.







I think it could have been caused by the sun. Not too sure. But from now on I transport it on the back of the bakkie and not front.

The refill company did offer to fix it.

It was a while ago.

 

Yoh! Thats hectic. Was it in the car long, or was that just from transporting it?

 

It was in the car in the morning. For the record this does not usually happen.

 

Always keep cylinders upright, do not drop them, protect the valves from damage, when in use or transport secure them so they will not fall over, protect from heat, do not transport by air, ( I think you can do this under certain conditions, e.g. the valve has to be removed) Always have filled by an authorized facility, do not overfill, stay within the specs of the cannister. It is a pressurized gas, therefore there is some inherent risk. You can google for general safety regulations for transportation, storage and use of pressurized gas cylinders.

CO2 is a non flammable gas, and would probably be one of many gasses used in typical households, e.g aerosols, pesticides, airfresheners, deoderants, household cleaners, lighters, cooking gas etc. many of these use flammable propellants such as butane.

If you take basic care, you and your neighbours will be safe.

 

@Gt78 Crap that's bad

I see there is a lot I still net to learn about aquariums and all these type of things

 

Make sure it is serviced when due. Although they are safe I always handle them with utmost caution, but that might just be because I am so scared of any pressurized thing

 

It was caused by a leaking valve body or seat, or a leak at the thread where it is screwed into the cylinder, or a valve not being properly closed after refilling, which allowed the vapour to vent.

CO2 is stored as a compressed liquid, i.e. at ambient temperature it is a liquid under pressure (63.5 bar at 25 deg C).

When a vessel containing pressurised liquid is allowed to vent, it will cause evaporation from the liquid to match the vapour pressure to the temperature of the liquid, and the energy to do so is removed from the liquid as heat. If the pressure is allowed to drop to atmospheric, the liquid will cool down to its boiling point. In the case of CO2, the boiling point is lower than the melting point, and the liquid freezes to form dry ice. Nevertheless, evaporation (or rather, sublimation) continues and the temperature drops until it reaches the nominal boiling point. In your case it is impossible to say where it dropped to, but suffice to say it was well below 0 deg C, and that would correspond to a pressure well below 30 bar.

EDIT: I should add that you are not necessarily incorrect in saying that the sun caused it. When a cylinder is filled close to the top with liquid at a cooler temperature and then allowed to heat up, the cylinder can experience a massive pressure rise, which in turn could damage a valve. Once leaking, the vessel will rapidly cool down as explained above. If that was the case here, count yourself exceedingly fortunate that the valve decided to pop rather than the cylinder. Most of the cases of overfilling I've seen had less happy endings, and in a few cases resulted in people being hospitalised and carrying lifelong scars. What I can suggest is that you do your own weighing of the cylinder after filling, to make sure that the maximum filling weight is not exceeded. Trust, but verify, as they say. Same goes for LPG btw. LPG cylinders are worse, as some of them are not roll-cast, but have a seam in the middle where two domes were welded together. When an LPG cylinder bursts this seam, the results can be spectacular, and devastating.

 

@dorff, thanks for this information.
I guess I have to reconsider my tendency of strapping a refilled 5kg CO2 fire extinguisher onto the back of my bike's seat and use my bakkie in future.
I am a real biker (got 9) and hardly ever use my cars, but the bikes are fast enough as is, don't need a turbo boost to land in hospital.
And as my CO2 canister stands next to my 6 ft tank, I guess I'll build an enclosure around it.

 

- and that liquid is a good reason to get a gate valve fitted and not keep using the trigger valve that typically has a feed tube almost all the way to the bottom of the canister so that you get liquid CO2 when you pull the trigger trying to extinguish a fire. My biggest concern when getting things refilled is bumping the valve while driving, I use a carpet and tie downs - make a canister and carpet sausage roll then secure it in the back of the van.

Later Ferdie

 

+1 on @dorff's answer