Anybody recharge their own accumulators?

[nxy]

Every couple of years I take 6 powershift accumulators (3 case magnums) to my local dealer to be pressure checked and recharged. He has a standard fee for this (off the top of my head 20 to 30 euros) plus 15 minutes labour for each one. I can't help but think that for the 200 euros or so I pay I could buy the gear myself or come up with a bodge to do the same job. Nitrogen gas is easy enough to come by and is cheap so does anybody do this themselves and is there an easy/cheap way of doing it? Please don't tell me you use compressed air!

 

[Phil P]

What ever you do don't use compressed air, this will heat up as the accumulator comes under pressure and will melt the diagram. Think Diesel engine compression ignition!
There are kits available on the internet this is the first one that came up and is the same as I use to use when I worked at the local dealer.

 

[nxy]

I am sure it is possible to buy the proper kit at a price. I was thinking more about a disposable 2 litre Nitrogen bottle for £ 25 and a pressure regulator of the type used on disposable mig welding bottles which costs about another £25 after that it is just the same as blowing up a tyre surely?

https://weldingsuperstore.co.uk/nitrogen-n2-disposable-gas-cylinder.html

https://weldingsuperstore.co.uk/oxy...-use-with-disposable-argon-co2-cylinders.html

Can it real be that simple or am I fooling myself?

 

[Landy Nick]

What pressures are the accumulators charged upto. I cannot see a 2ltr lasting more then a few squirts.

 

[cosmagedon]

I am sure it is possible to buy the proper kit at a price. I was thinking more about a disposable 2 litre Nitrogen bottle for £ 25 and a pressure regulator of the type used on disposable mig welding bottles which costs about another £25 after that it is just the same as blowing up a tyre surely?

https://weldingsuperstore.co.uk/nitrogen-n2-disposable-gas-cylinder.html

https://weldingsuperstore.co.uk/oxy...-use-with-disposable-argon-co2-cylinders.html

Can it real be that simple or am I fooling myself?

I do all our accumulators here, you have to buy the kit to be able to attach the hose to the accumulators and open/close them under pressure. That kit in the above post is good value if its got all the adaptors you need, soon pay for its self

 

[Gapples]

15 minutes each ? You can recharge all 6 in about 5 minutes.
To be honest if good customers brought in their accumulators we'd recharge them as a service, no cost.
Most would call us out though so got whatever costs were involved, labour, travel & a bit sundry charge for the gas.

But yes, it is that easy to do with the equipment.

 

[nxy]

What pressures are the accumulators charged upto. I cannot see a 2ltr lasting more then a few squirts.

10 bar. The accumulators are half a litre. The bottles are 2.2 litres at 100 bar.

According to some back of an envelope calculations a bottle contains 250 g of gas.

An accumulator if completely empty needs 6 g of gas, so a bottle would do 40 fills. I think?

 

[nxy]

15 minutes each ? You can recharge all 6 in about 5 minutes.
To be honest if good customers brought in their accumulators we'd recharge them as a service, no cost.
Most would call us out though so got whatever costs were involved, labour, travel & a bit sundry charge for the gas.

But yes, it is that easy to do with the equipment.

You have clearly never experienced french customer service.
Even the french say that in france the customer is king and you know had the french deal with them.

 

[nxy]

I do all our accumulators here, you have to buy the kit to be able to attach the hose to the accumulators and open/close them under pressure. That kit in the above post is good value if its got all the adaptors you need, soon pay for its self

On the magnum they are just tyre type valves so what adaptors would I need?

 

[cosmagedon]

On the magnum they are just tyre type valves so what adaptors would I need?

That will be a VG8 fitting.

 

[Landy Nick]

10 bar. The accumulators are half a litre. The bottles are 2.2 litres at 100 bar.

According to some back of an envelope calculations a bottle contains 250 g of gas.

An accumulator if completely empty needs 6 g of gas, so a bottle would do 40 fills. I think?

Not as much pressure as I thought. So a 2ltr cylinder should last a few charges. Reason I said what pressure, as I'm used to charging accumulators from 1500 to 3000 psi.

To save cost on buying specific charging kit. A set of gauges from an oxy bottle could be adapted with a few fittings.

 

[nxy]

Not as much pressure as I thought. So a 2ltr cylinder should last a few charges. Reason I said what pressure, as I'm used to charging accumulators from 1500 to 3000 psi.

To save cost on buying specific charging kit. A set of gauges from an oxy bottle could be adapted with a few fittings.

My thoughts exactly this is not rocket science. If I can get 40 fills for £50 it must be worth a go.

 

[MickW]

FFS do it properly the kit is only £329 it will cost you far more when you have buggered up an accumulator.
Why do we have to do everything at the lowest cost regardless of safety or the finished job, by the time you've faffed about you could have earned the extra money.
Rant over, I'll go.

 

[nxy]

FFS do it properly the kit is only £329 it will cost you far more when you have buggered up an accumulator.
Why do we have to do everything at the lowest cost regardless of safety or the finished job, by the time you've faffed about you could have earned the extra money.
Rant over, I'll go.

You clearly have a very different attitude to £300 to me. Plus the cost would not stop there as I don't know if the proper kit will hook up to a disposable bottle, so there is a bottle of gas to organize possibly rent etc Can't see what the difference is between the regulator in the kit and one used for welding equipment , 10 bar is 150 psi so no greater pressure than say a workshop compressor. The gas is inert and not halmful to me or the environment. Where is the problem?

 

[capfits]

You clearly have a very different attitude to £300 to me. Plus the cost would not stop there as I don't know if the proper kit will hook up to a disposable bottle, so there is a bottle of gas to organize possibly rent etc Can't see what the difference is between the regulator in the kit and one used for welding equipment , 10 bar is 150 psi so no greater pressure than say a workshop compressor. The gas is inert and not halmful to me or the environment. Where is the problem?

Aye the gas is inert the pressure ain't!
Number of poor souls have not had the chance to tell what pressure can do the human body, and plenty carry the scars.

 

[MickW]

I believe that the pressure is different dependant on the temperature and I thought that the two accumulators worked at slighty different pressures, however I'm not 100% sure of this as its from some time ago.
If you stuff up the diafram or cause other issues it will cost more that the little bit extra between buying a botch kit and the proper kit.
If you own three magnums your not farming on a tiny scale so I imagine for less money that it takes to fill all three with fuel you have the proper kit for this job and future jobs, it's only my opinion and it's not my £300 odd quid.

 

[nxy]

Aye the gas is inert the pressure ain't!
Number of poor souls have not had the chance to tell what pressure can do the human body, and plenty carry the scars.

Yes pressure is dangerous but why is nitrogen any more dangerous than argon or CO2 etc? If the pressure is regulated it is safe. I am not talking about bodging a regulator onto a bottle, simply using a bottle with a proper regulator on it and a regulator designed for that type of bottle. Still can't see why the purpose made kit is any better in this respect.

 

[nxy]

I believe that the pressure is different dependant on the temperature and I thought that the two accumulators worked at slighty different pressures, however I'm not 100% sure of this as its from some time ago.
If you stuff up the diafram or cause other issues it will cost more that the little bit extra between buying a botch kit and the proper kit.
If you own three magnums your not farming on a tiny scale so I imagine for less money that it takes to fill all three with fuel you have the proper kit for this job and future jobs, it's only my opinion and it's not my £300 odd quid.

Yes pressure is set according to temperature but I think is the same in both unless someone knows better?

 

[Gapples]

From the 7100 series training manual.

 

[nxy]

View attachment 576754

From the 7100 series training manual.

Thanks for that. Mine are all 7200 series but I believe the pressures are similar.