Running Liquid?

Jaron · #1 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 01:30 AM

So I was just poking around Doc's Machine and found a rather interesting article on purposefully running a paintball marker off liquid CO2. I thought surely the man was whacked ( I mean he'd have to be for some of the stuff that makes it into The Whiteboard. ) At first I had to ask why I would want to. But the more I read the more I saw that it would be a perfectly viable option if you had the hardware that could withstand it. Basically, CO2 is a liquid under two conditions: low temperature and/or high pressure. Yes, we know this, big deal. Well, the big deal is that this idea actually uses the lower temperatures in winter to the players' advantage. Since you can't always control the temperature to make sure you have sufficient gas pressure in the CO2, instead you let it stay cold and control the pressure instead.

To start, you want to make sure your entire air system is filled with liquid CO2, this usually means getting a siphoned tank. Next, make sure you have as short a line from the tank to the firing chamber as possible ( no remotes, no expansion chambers, definitely no regulators. ) So what happens is that liquid CO2 is right up against the valve when it opens to fire. That means it only has about 14.7 psi against it instead of the 600+ psi that can be inside. The pressure in the lines will push a little liquid past the valve where it will effectively flash into gas, firing the paintball. Adjusting velocity may be a bit problematic, but nothing a spring kit / RVA can't fix.

Now granted it's pretty harsh on some internals to run liquid CO2. The explosive evaporation will drive the hammer back harder than usual and the extreme cold may burst a few O-rings, but a Tippmann CVX valve can withstand the punishment. If you're serious about playing in the cold, this is one way, however unorthodox, to do so.

~~pizzaluvr~~ · #2 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 01:38 AM

I know you can run Blazers on liquid CO2 without any permanent harm unless you use it every time you play. According to CP, who I'd say is pretty trusty.

Rifle · #3 (**permalink**) 07-28-2007, 10:49 AM

There's always to good old 68 special too. They used a syphon tank to get to the juice.

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