Here is a link of a thread in the Drag racing section of a guy who has lost his life because of a nitrous bottle exploding.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...-mod-race.html

 

This may sound like a dumb question... but don't the burst disk keep this sort of thing from happening?

 

The burst disc is designed to let go at a certain pressure and the integrity of the bottle was lower than that hence for it to explode.

 

ahh I see... Did not know a bottle could loose enough structural integrity that it could let go before the burst disk... Damn that makes me kind of nervous thinkin about having a bottle in a street car all the time!

 

Dave @nitrous outlet posted awhile back about a buddy that lost his leg. When the bottle exploded it blew the windows out of the shop to.
Check you bottles
Never heat a bottle with a propane torch it weakens the bottle.

 

That is another reason I think I am going to buy my bottles brand new so I know that I am the only one who has owned them and a torch never has touched them.

 

I think burst discs are usually rated at 3k PSI, once a bottle loses it's integrity it can go way lower than that. Burst disc's can weaken over time also, a lot of heating & cooling cycles on a burst disc from things like heating & cooling the bottle a lot by leaving a full bottle in the car & it pressuring up & down from the sun, can weaken them. I've seen 2 burst disc's go while filling bottles & that was filling them safely, letting the nitrous transfer on it's own & when it stopped transferring without the pump the pump was turned on to get the last 1-2#'s in the bottle.

Dumbasses with torches scare me & it really pisses me off when they show people on Pinks & **** like that using a torch to heat them. That's like advocating the use of torches.

I'm not saying the guy got hurt because he was one of the people that use torches, but maybe someone else had previously used torches. That's why they make water boxes, pressure controlled heater blankets & Nano.

 

+1
i don't buy used bottles anymore for that reason. then again, it couldn't hurt to hydrotest them if you have the time and don't mind spending a few bucks.

 

The bottle in question was carbon fiber which are still made of aluminum (thinner than std bottle)
and wrapped in carbon fiber. Not sure if the construction was to blame but I'll stick
with the regular aluminum type.

 

The carbon fiber bottles are pretty strong. I use one for paintball that holds 5000 psi and they are all pretty much made the same. I have a feeling if people check their bottles they are made by luxfer. I am not sure about nitrous bottles but all tanks used for paintball whether co2 or compressed air, aluminum or carbon are required to be hydro tested every 3 years.

 

yeah I was at Z-max heating my bottles with a MAPP gas torch when this happened. Think I may go nano!

 

The bottle itself did not explode. There was an unfortunate chain of events that led to a bottle valve rupturing. This is fact.

 

I might also add, that the cylinder, threads or valve did not fail. The information will be available soon.

 

Torching a bottle is absolutely ******* stupid, and I can't stand to see anyone do it. There is a reason why the DOT specifies any compressed gas cylinder exposed to greater than 125F surface temperature must be taken out of service.

Paintball cylinders are usually stamped DOT-3HT and require 3 year hydro test.

My nitrous cylinder, and I believe every other one (not counting CF) I've seen is DOT-3AA which is 5 years typically, though at work we have some (not nitrous) that have a slightly different marking denoting 10 year retest.

 

Carbon bottles 3year recertification. Aluminum 5year. Heating with a torch FTL. Heating with a torch hot spots the bottle changing the structural integrity of the bottle. Basically can create a weak spot in the aluminum.

 

i always put a wet sham-me (how ever you spell it)
over my bottle when i leave my vette in direct sunlight for hours.

 

now i gotta know what happened to that bottle valve... subscribing
i had a defective custom line blow apart right next to my head once. luckily bottle pressure was only 600psi and i was positioned so that i could immediately pull away from it.

shamme works for me.. or shammy. sure as hell like it better than chamois.

 

I didn't read the other thread but the bottle didn't explode. It had nothing to do with the bottle being a carbon one. The bottle had an un-approved valve on it with fittings that shouldn't have been used, but Mike bought the bottles like that. The bottles were in an approved heater also. He made a mistake by accident and something unfortunate happened.

 

I have heated bottles with a torch and its a dangerous pain in the *** but the pre NANO way of getting bottles up to pressure( blankets or small electric heat pads) wasn't quick enough to be used in the staging lanes as bottle warmers are slower than a herd of turtles. Keep the torch moving and warm it evenly. I have heated many and never had an issue but now that NANO systems are more functional than the old pusher systems that Compucar used to use in the early 90's it is the best option out there. but in an urgent situation I WILL HEAT A BOTTLE WITH A TORCH WITHOUT DELAY.If this stuff were totally safe we'd be using HANS devices and soft walls.

 

After reading the threads on this...it made me realize something. Something that has been a semi-recent development in most newer style bottle valves. They have several ports in the neck...either for pressure gauges, pressure sensors, or add ons like NANO or Nitrogen Push systems. These ports typically have fittings sticking out due to the configuration...some quite far. Damage to these fittings could also create a very dangerous situation. I noticed on some valves those ports are very very small...presumably to restrict flow...but others are fairly large...and open to the neck. Busting one of these fittings could be very very dangerous if the bottle is not secured.

Be sure you use quality fittings, gauges, sensors and check valves if they are put into these valve neck ports!!!!!!!!

I will no longer use aluminum fittings in these ports (which I have done in the past)...and I will also ensure that any NPT fitting screwed into the neck ports are engaged with as many threads as possible and protruding as little as possible. I supposes I will be using all steel fittings for this type of thing in the future.

Now I am not sure if this is what happened...but its probably worth mentioning.

Terrible tragedy! Be careful out there!