[rhodesia]

i bought 3 used pure energy tanks (68ci 3000 psi) that were 4 years old and were sitting in an attic for at least 2 years with the tanks filled with 2000 psi during those 2 years. I played with these 3 tanks on 3 markers (Two A-5's and a Custom 98) . On all 3 markers the paintballs would break very often.
I tried 6 different brands, which i've played for years with and the same thing happens. I would have to drop my air pressure to 240-250 just so i can shoot 40 balls per break.
Is it possible that the regulator has become faulty because of constant pressure for 2 years, that it causes an overpressure of say 1000 psi to enter my markers and cause the paintballs to explode?

[stinkfingr]

How old is the paint you were using ? If the tanks were two years in the attic, how about the rest ?

If the air in the tank would have been a problem, then the burst disk would have gone, or they would have slowly leaked out. The fact that they held pressure, is a testament that they are in good working order. As far as sending spikes, you stated that you had to turn your pressure down to 250 or less to prevent breaks. Do your tippmanns have third party regs on them, or are you using the standard pressure allen screw adjustment ? Either way, the "spike" would also have to defeat your secondary pressure regulation restriction... allen screw or regulator. And if it were to do that, you would have some other things happening, like blowing out seals, o-rings, a blowback type of gun when it shoots that much pressure would be waaay louder than they normally are... like scary loud.

Did any of those other things happen, like blown out o-rings or extremely loud shots ?

[rhodesia]

klaatu, on 20 April 2012 - 07:02 PM, said:

How old is the paint you were using ? If the tanks were two years in the attic, how about the rest ?

If the air in the tank would have been a problem, then the burst disk would have gone, or they would have slowly leaked out. The fact that they held pressure, is a testament that they are in good working order. As far as sending spikes, you stated that you had to turn your pressure down to 250 or less to prevent breaks. Do your tippmanns have third party regs on them, or are you using the standard pressure allen screw adjustment ? Either way, the "spike" would also have to defeat your secondary pressure regulation restriction... allen screw or regulator. And if it were to do that, you would have some other things happening, like blowing out seals, o-rings, a blowback type of gun when it shoots that much pressure would be waaay louder than they normally are... like scary loud.

Did any of those other things happen, like blown out o-rings or extremely loud shots ?

1) The paint is brand new from different paintball fields.
2) The burst disk would only have gone if the pressure was above 1800 psi . Right? What If it was say, 1200 psi? Wouldn't that cause a problem?
3) No 3rd party regs or any mods on all Tippmans. Just stock allen screw. And if allen screw was all the way in , is it that reliable to be able to hold down the spike of say 1000 psi?
4) Did not sound any louder than usual. And maybe no O-rings were blown because the spike was just over 850, that the tippmann parts had the tolerances not to blow apart, but for the paintball not to be able to take it.

Dont know what else it could be.

[slinkyaroo]

How cold was it and what kind of weather?

[rhodesia]

slinkyaroo, on 22 April 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

How cold was it and what kind of weather?

Have played in about 6 different games with weather ranging from 10 C to 25 C. (50 F to 77 F)

My question is : Is it possible for a Regulator to malfunction and "pump" out more than 850 psi ?
What instrument can i use to measure the pressure from my tank , to my marker?
If you say a regulator, then what kind? Where does it attach? Any brand in particular ?

[Meline]

rhodesia, on 23 April 2012 - 08:10 AM, said:

slinkyaroo, on 22 April 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

How cold was it and what kind of weather?

Have played in about 6 different games with weather ranging from 10 C to 25 C. (50 F to 77 F)

My question is : Is it possible for a Regulator to malfunction and "pump" out more than 850 psi ?
What instrument can i use to measure the pressure from my tank , to my marker?
If you say a regulator, then what kind? Where does it attach? Any brand in particular ?

1. Yes it is. All it takes is for teh piston to stick and it wil go hot.
2. Get a pressure gauge. If it were me,and I wanted to check the output pressure, I would remove the 90* elbow off the ASA and screw the gauge in there, then I would screw in the tank and see what it reads.
3. If it is the HPA reg, some regs like Ninja you can rebuild, other you can't. If the tank still had a long service life I would send it in to Crossfire and have them replace the reg. If your tanks are 3 year rehydros and they are at least 4 years old then you have 11 years of service life left in them.

This post has been edited by Meline: 23 April 2012 - 04:13 PM

[Krazy8]

Regs very rarely go bad. And then typically it is a creeping that starts to show prior to outright failure.

While yes it is possible for you to get a pressure spike...the Tippmans are designed for that and regularlyoperate at the 1000+PS I range without breaking paint.

Get yourself a 1200 PS I gauge and check the regs as meline said. You will need to watch the pressure during use as well as sitting over a bit of time. So you should figure out a way to rig it up inline with the air system that will allow you to cycle the tun and watch the gauge.

Have you used the guns after the breaks started to occure with other hpa tanks? What about co2?

[stinkfingr]

you know what ? i have yet to hear anybody ask where is the paint being broken at ?

the barrel tip ?
the marker to barrel junction ?
at the detent ?
in the middle of the barrel ?
right at where the bolt might chop it coming out of the hopper ?

When you start breaking the paint, have you broken the marker down to determine the point of origin ? that will go a LONG way in determining what action to take.

[rhodesia]

klaatu, on 25 April 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

you know what ? i have yet to hear anybody ask where is the paint being broken at ?

the barrel tip ?
the marker to barrel junction ?
at the detent ?
in the middle of the barrel ?
right at where the bolt might chop it coming out of the hopper ?

When you start breaking the paint, have you broken the marker down to determine the point of origin ? that will go a LONG way in determining what action to take.

3 different markers were used. definitely not a ball chop as all hoppers were clean. All broken somewhere in barrel