Sports that include physical activity and bodily movement like baseball, basketball, cricket, etc. require skills and techniques to understand the signals of the activity, but sports like paintball which contains the use of equipment and gadgets also need an understanding of the tools which are being used in that game.
Information like, how to handle them, how to operate them, what to do in specific situations etc. To serve this purpose, you are required to be attentive to your brain and body at the same time for excellency. The most important skill you need to have is the knowledge of how to get your equipment to work to its full potential in the first place.
For instance, in paintball, equipment like paintball guns, paintballs, facemasks, etc. all have their own functioning, conditions, and demands that need to be fulfilled in order for the person handling them to make them function according to their liking. Every piece of equipment has provisions and requirements that make them of use to us, to begin with.
As you all must know, in the game of paintball, the rules are that you have to shoot your opponent with a paintball in order to get them out of the game and eliminate them. Doing this gives you get an advantage that brings you close to victory, for that to happen, your paintball gun must have its tank filled. If you are in the middle of the field and in the unfortunate circumstance of your paintball gun’s air tank running out, you must fill it in order to continue, or else you can get eliminated very fast.
The question which arises is, how to actually do that. How to fill your paintball air tank while in the field. Have no worries because we are here with some tips and easy steps for filling your paintball tank with an air compressor.
HOW TO FILL A PAINTBALL TANK WITH AN AIR COMPRESSOR
Before moving on and learning the steps of filling the paintball air tank with an air compressor, you should learn about the different types of air tanks present. It can play a big role in helping you to make sure you can buy or rent the air compressor you think is the most sufficient according to your tank. For this, you will need to understand your equipment and what it needs and requires.
TYPES OF AIR TANKS
It is necessary to know about the type of gear you have. Knowing it can actually help you and allow you to use it to its full potential. If we focus on the types of air tanks, you need to know which type of air tank your paintball gun has. There are three types of paintball air tanks present
- PURE NITROGEN
- C02
- HPA
PURE NITROGEN AIR TANKS
This is a very rare kind of paintball air tank. It can be a difficult task to re-fill them when they are out of fuel. They along with their tools are not even present in some paintball arenas or paintball fields. If you are a beginner or a person who does not play paintball often, this tank might not be for you as it can be very hard to manage overall. My advice is that you should opt for either the CO2 air tank or the HPA air tank.
HPA AIR TANKS
HPA tanks are also known as High Pressured Air tanks. They are the air tanks that contain the most amount of pressurized oxygen present in tanks. The biggest High-Pressure Air tanks are nearly around 5000 PSIs. These air tanks are the most used and most commonly found paintball air tanks. They are the most popular among people, from professional players to new players as it helps you shoot high-powered paintball shots toward your opponent on the field.
CO2 AIR TANKS
CO2 Air tanks, as the name implies, are the ones that contain pressured Carbon dioxide instead of oxygen in them. They are different from HPA or Pure nitrogen as it contains liquid filling in them, unlike gas filling. When it is released, it releases in the form of gas when you pull the trigger of your paintball gun.
WHICH TYPE OF PAINTBALL AIR TANK IS ACTUALLY THE BEST ONE?
The question that most of us must be wondering right now is, which paintball tank is actually the best one?
The pure nitrogen air tank is not favored by a lot of people. Most of the time they are used by people who know their way around this sport. Newcomers or casual players don’t opt for this type of paintball air tank. This eliminated the pure nitrogen air tank as a candidate for this question.
If you look over the statistics, people tend to be more attracted to the HPA (high-powered air tanks ). Most people use HPA air tanks instead of CO2 air tanks but still, it is a close ratio. Let us look at the pros and cons of these air tanks.
Carbon dioxide air tanks are good on the pocket. They are way cheaper than high-powered air tanks and are also considered environmentally friendly. We humans naturally find the object which gives us pros and does not necessarily ask for much, as our main attraction. but is the carbon dioxide really worth it in the long run?
I personally don’t think so. High-powered air tanks perform the task better and it is way more efficient. Carbon dioxide is always dependent on the temperature which can get annoying quickly. For example: if the external temperature is too hot, then it can easily damage the liquid present inside which will ultimately affect the performance and the paintball gun.
If the temperature gets too cold then the carbon dioxide will shrink and will not let the participants shoot paintballs to a great degree. Apart from that, in carbon dioxide air tanks, the liquid changes itself to the gas every time the trigger is pulled. This clearly implies that you can not shoot paintballs one after the other in this type of air tank. I think it is safe to say that a carbon dioxide air tank is at a great disadvantage if its opponent is skilled and has a high-powered air tank ( HPA ).
After learning about which air tank you may possess, you must have a comparatively clear goal and a transparent image of what are you looking to do. Taking another step forward, in order to fill the paintball air tank, we will need some tools and the help of external objects. Confusion can arise when we wonder about the tools we would need for this purpose. Your confusion won’t last very long because I am here with an answer to that as well! You can also read our best paintball tanks with their pros and cons.
WHAT SHOULD WE USE TO FILL THE PAINTBALL AIR TANK?
There are special tank compressors present that are used to fill the paintball air tank. For this, we can go two ways. You can either buy special air tank compressors. They can be easily found online or even in stores that are dedicated to such gadgets. Or you can find yourself an air compressor and fill your air tank from a paintball shop.
There are always shops present at the paintball fields and arenas and take a small amount of money to provide you with this service. If you are opting for the first option, my advice is to be 100% sure of it. Only buy the special air compressors if you are sincerely committed to this game, or if you play this game time and again to get enough use out of it and get your money’s worth.
Air compressors can cost you a lot of money and leave a big dent in your wallet, but if you are someone who plays paintball frequently, then buying them would be a very clever investment in the long run.
STEP BY STEP BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO FILL YOUR PAINTBALL AIR TANK WITH AN AIR COMPRESSOR
You now have your air compressor, moving on to the next step you will need to know how to operate it and get it to fill the paintball’s air tank. For that we have here, a step-by-step breakdown of what to do :
DETERMINING THE PSI AMOUNT OF YOUR AIR TAN
PSI or Pounds Per Square Inch can be used for the measurement of the number of modules supplied. Our paintball air tank specifies the number of pounds per square or PSI inch it can support. Mostly, the paintball air tanks support a maximum amount of 4500 Pounds Per Square Inch or PSI. In this step, we need to keep in mind that more is not always the merrier.
Trying to fill more than the given capacity can very easily prove itself to be a bad decision. Doing that can cause minor or sometimes major malfunctions and even damage your equipment. Moreover, It can also negatively come in the way of the functioning of the paintball equipment and cost you your victory. All in all, don’t go beyond the said amount.
Although, if you are in possession of a CO2 air compressor, then it is ideal to store it in cold temperatures first like refrigerators, etc. It helps with the stability of the internal temperature of the air compressor. This way you can be sure that the air compressor is filled with air fully and completely.
TO ATTACH A “ FILL NIPPLE
you must wonder, what does attaching a file nipple mean? Let’s see. For this step, you will need to search for an O-shaped ring. It should be present in the attachment that is connected to the air tank. This O-shaped ring helps to stop the air from breaking free when it is attached to the tank. If you are unable to find the O-shaped ring, then unfortunately the paintball air tank can not be filled.
If you can not find the ring, then the air compressor might start releasing the air directly and it also stops preventing the air to escape. This can be dangerous. It is also very out of the ordinary. You should look for a professional or a supervisor in case it happens. In spite of that, if the O-shaped ring is present, then drag the attachment collar backward, it will reveal the central needle. Put it in the tank past its filling nipple. You might need to fidget with the air hose a bit in order to make sure that it is stable and locked shut.
FILLING THE PAINTBALL TALK STEADILY
After you are completely satisfied with the process of attachment, let go of the air inside your tank slowly. Your compressor may have a lever or buttons. People usually prefer the air compressor that consists of a lever, if your compressor has that then you need to push it. If the air compressor has buttons, then carefully press the correct buttons accordingly. Be attentive to the buttons you push. Whatever the air compressor may consist of ( lever or buttons ), don’t do rash and impulsive actions. Prevent completely pushing the lever and also prevent holding down the button for an unnecessary amount of time. We will have to work with patience because of the requirement. We need to fill the air tank slowly instead of in a quick swift motion, or else it will damage our paintball tank.
When the process of filling starts, the pressure gauge moves toward the roof. Always know what is the Pound Per Square Inch amount of your air tank and keep that in your mind throughout the process. You need to keep that between 3000 PSI to 4500 PSI.
OBSERVING BOTH OF THE GAUGES
There will be two gauges present. You will have to observe them closely throughout the filling process. The first gauge will be present on the paintball gun and the second gauge will be present on the air compressor. Observing them will give you an idea of their ultimate functionality. If they are moving in the same rhythm, it means that they are working correctly. If they are not, then they are not working like they are supposed.
STOPPING A HOT FILL
If you think this process can be done quickly, then you are wrong. Doing it in a fast manner can cause destruction, which is also known as a “hot-fill “. It happens when the lever of the air compressor is pushed too deeply or when the buttons of the air compressor have been pressed continuously, having patience is a must for filling an air tank from the air compressor.
It does fill up the tank with air but the air becomes hot immediately after disconnection. The gauge instead of rising up to the roof, drops don’t matter if you are using it or not. If you do this task with no patience, then you are risking your air tank getting empty after every short period of time. It can be annoying as the process of filling it up again can be lengthy.
RELEASE THE PRESSURE
Releasing the pressure might seem like an obvious step but mostly it is forgotten, especially by the new players. Even after your air tank is filled, you must have some amount of air left in the air compressor. That is not supposed to be left there. It should be drained out with the help of a pressure-releasing valve present at the air compressor.
You must push on that button to let the extra air out from the air compressor. If you don’t release the pressure then it can severely harm your air tank. This process might make a loud sound which u may not be a big fan of, don’t let it stop you from releasing the pressure.
DETACH THE HOSE
After you are satisfied with the release of pressure and are 100 % sure that there is no air left in the air compressor. Move on by taking off the hose from the fill nipple. Now you need to repeat everything you did from the bottom up. Start from the collar and do everything in a reverse pattern.
When you are done with that task then congratulations! you are done with the filling up of the paintball air tank using an air compressor.
Paintball is a very fun and adventurous game that is meant to be enjoyed by your family and friends but in order to accomplish that you do need to know a bit about it. Like how to re-fill an air tank with the help of an air compressor which is exactly what we talked about today in this article.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ( FAQs )
CAN YOU SWITCH BETWEEN TNKS AND COMPRESSORS?
No, you cannot switch between tanks and compressors. High-powered air tanks are meant to be used with High powered air compressors. They are designed that way and manufactured for their specified tanks and compressors. The same goes for carbon dioxide tanks and compressors. Your paintball gun specifies which type of air tank and/or compressor it is.
CAN YOU FILL AN AIR TANK WITH AN AIR COMPRESSOR AT HOME?
Yes, you can, by following the same steps as mentioned above. But for that, you should have an air compressor present at home. Which can be a foul investment if you are not a rapid player of paintball.
IS IT SAFE TO FILL AN AIR TANK BY YOURSELF?
Yes, it Is perfectly safe to fill a paintball air tank yourself. It is not a dangerous task and also doe not require dangerous pieces of equipment. The most it can harm is your paintball gun. It will not have any negative effects on you and your health so rest assured