Paintball gas tank storage - safety issue?

[Auggie]

I've had a 20oz CO2 canister in my desk for the last 2 years - since the summer of 04. I had it filled up just minutes before heading home from the paintball facility because I thought it would be cool to be able to shoot it out of my window back at school... long story short, it got put in a drawer and pretty much forgotten about.

The kind that I have is this: 20oz CO2 cannister

Now... is it safe to store fully charged like that? Is it bad on the brass? Is there a chance for a catestrophic failure? What about the next time I screw it into to receiver of the paintball gun? Is there a good way to safely release the air pressure?

 

[I Saw OJ]

You should get a pressure check on it. Even if it was sitting with no pressure after that long you should still get a pressure check.

 

[Auggie]

I think the easiest thing to do would be to screw it back into the marker and blow out all the air via trigger pulls - is there any reason this wouldn't be safe? (assuming that nobody else is around, i'm pointing the marker into a dumpster outside my apartment, wearing eye protection, etc.)

 

[cirthix]

should be fine

 

[misle]

Should be fine, but I would take it to a local paintball shop and have then test it.

 

[Umberger]

It's fine. Don't worry about it.

 

[Brackis]

It should be fine, but a 20oz co2 tank costs more to legally test for quality than it would cost to buy a new one so don't even cross that bridge.

 

[homestarmy]

I say set it up on a fence and shoot it with a real gun to make sure that it is safely holding its pressure .

 

[TackleDummy]

Paintball CO2 tanks have burst disks. The burst disk will break at a predetermined psi which is below the psi at which the integrity of the tank will be compromised. When the burst disk breaks all the CO2 is released from the tank.

After your tank has been properly filled the only way I can think of to increase the psi and cause the burst disk to break would be to heat up the tank (and you're an idiot if you try it).

So...if the tank still has CO2 in it, it should be fine to use. Once it's empty you might not be able to get it refilled depending on it's age though.

 

[FoBoT]

no problem, no worries

 

[Auggie]

Awesome - thanks for the help.

 

[jagec]

Just use it. Pressure vessels are overengineered by a large margin.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Just try it and if it's empty, that means it burst at one point over the summer and all the co2 leaked out.