Top tip....dinghy inflating

Csail

Csail

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On the way to flying club i noticed loads of fire extinguishers in the fire section compound so asked if i could have some (out of date C02) Anyway i adapted a tube so they can inflate the dinghy. I guess the local fire station has loads too.
 
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Noooo....
Think it through.....
You would STOP before you overinflate it - wouldn't you?....
 
CO2 is very cold when it comes out of an extingisher, caused by gas expansion. I would be worried it could make the dinghy material brittle and reduce its life. I'm sure I've seen somebody doing this on TV, inflating a LiLo with an extingisher and it burst.
 
Depends on how much heat energy you could get back into the gas between expansion and introduction to the dinghy.
A few feet of tubing should be enough to get the gas up to temperature as long as it doesn't get blasted through the tubing too fast to allow heat transfer.
 
Inflatables use high volume at low pressure, the tubes on mine are hard at 4psi, the floor at 10psi, and the keel at 7psi, those are the manufacturers figures as well by the way, and I achieve that with a two stage electric pump that you can pre-set the pressure at which it switches off. Doing as the OP suggests seems total folly to me, you would have very little control over the inflation, and it would be very easy to over cook it. C-Sail, buy yourself a decent electric pump, it isn't like you are short of a sheckle or two!

Long term there may be a question of whether the Co2 would degrade the material the dinghy is made form? Where's that Vic when you need him? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
CO2 might form carbonic acid in presence of water but given dry CO2 - partial pressure likely to ensure dry, inert gas - good for inflating dinghies.
 
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BOOM !!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

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Why do you think dinghy valves are not screw connections ? They are push in connectors.

Reason is so that if you are over-enthusiastic with any pump hand or electric - the connector will blow out of the valve. If it can do it for that - I'm sure a gas cannister method as csail here suggests will do same as long as hose length is long enough to not have connector iced up.
 
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"Why do you think dinghy valves are not screw connections"

Not sure what you mean here?

Are you saying that all dinghy valves act as safety valves in the case of one trying to over-inflate them?

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the usual hose connector to dinghy valve is a push in tapered tube. It has no locking arrangement like buyonet or screw. If you try to over inflate - the hose connector will blow out of dinghy valve. You would have to physically hold it in to do it.

The Dinghy Valve itself is not the safety mechanism - it's the type of joint hose to valve that is.

Imagine what some people would do if it was a positive locking connection !! Dread to think !

It's quite obvious really when you look and think about it ! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Before the days of H&S we developed a system of using Scuba bottles with a reduction valve for spraying cars. Lots of mates had rally cars in various stages of rebuilding that needed a bit of paint on and no facilities in their lock-ups.
I could do a couple of coats on the bonnet and wings on an Escort with one tank.
I seem to remember it was about 3000psi down to about 80psi
 
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Before the days of H&S we developed a system of using Scuba bottles with a reduction valve for spraying cars. Lots of mates had rally cars in various stages of rebuilding that needed a bit of paint on and no facilities in their lock-ups.
I could do a couple of coats on the bonnet and wings on an Escort with one tank.
I seem to remember it was about 3000psi down to about 80psi

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For air-brush work on models we used various to supply air - large car tyres, fridge compressors .... instead of the awful over shelf cans or the expensive compact compressors.
 
"It's quite obvious really......."
Erm, yes but my former dinghy had a valve system whereby you inserted the hose and twisted it - locking it in place. Presumably this could indeed have led to over-inflation. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
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"It's quite obvious really......."
Erm, yes but my former dinghy had a valve system whereby you inserted the hose and twisted it - locking it in place. Presumably this could indeed have led to over-inflation. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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Interesting as I've never seen one that you could lock in place, so thanks for that ... honest.
 
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