N2 from HF $200

[Danglerb]

Saw this today, N2 tire filling setup from HF
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=97061

[grillmasterp]

Just buy a nitrogen tank from www.beveragefactory.com and add a regulator, hose & inflator. I wouldn't put much faith in a HF regulator to begin with.
Instead of buying a tank- you can put down a deposit & swap them out instead of refilling at your local gas place.

I have a Co2 setup for offroading and also will be setting up an N2 rig for refilling shocks.

$105 for a 33 Cu tank
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/tanks/nitrogen/I33-580.shtml
Their shipping is very reasonable- I've ordered tanks from them before.

[eschoendorff]

The air you breathe is something like 70% N2 already.....

[Slim-Pickins']

Nitrogen in tires is a gimmick ... certainly NOT worth spending $200 at Harbor Freight.

[jimvannoy]

I would never bother with paying to put nitrogen in my tires. Waste of money.

[l_bilyk]

The air you breathe is something like 70% N2 already.....

78%
20% oxygen
2% everything else

[dirty old man]

For those of you who think it's a waste, are you basing this off of daily driving?

If you auto-x or attend HPDEs, nitrogen is quite nice.

[Danglerb]

HF also has a $1000 N2 generator thingy.

Benefits of N2 thrashed in old thread, nothing special for a daily driver, worth it in competition. Many see one of these small tanks as the handiest way to adjust pressures.

Any special requirement for N2 gas cylinder? My thought is it shouldn't be hard to find something used and cheap. Besides if you need gas, you need to get a tank that suits whoever you buy gas from.

[scotte]

better yet i have these special nails you put in front of your tires and drive over them because of the special nail only oxygen will leak out leaving you w/ just nitrogen


the bidding starts at $10 for a pack of four :bounce:

[Franz©]

My ol buddy who is a recently retired Chief Maintainence Pilot informs me N2 is essential in tires that will have to function returning from altitude. It seems the ice chunk that forms in the low side of the tire up in the wild blue yonder doesn't quickly return to liquid state as the big aluminum bird returns to earth. Aparently that chunk of ice can cause quite a bit of vibration, and even damage the expensive alloy wheel.

Naturally when the Inflate your tire with nitrogen for only 5 bucks more trend started them fellows over at the maintainence hangar just had to investigate for themselves. They even went as far as conducting valid tests. One of their very first observations was not one of the passenger car tires they tested ever gained enough altitude to form ice.

Another thing they determined real quick was that the manual on aircraft tire inflation (they got a lot of books) said in BOLD print the tire MUST contain minimally 98% pure nitrogen for positive effect. That wasn't much of a problem for them because they have expensive machines for tire inflating, and a passenger vehicle easily fit into the tire area of the hangar. The problem was when the vacuum pump went to sucking the air out that was left in the tire as it was mounted on the rim, the tires collapsed off the rim. Being that they are fairly bright fellows, they figured out that was because passenger vehicle rims are quite a bit different from aircraft rims.

Rventually they figured they got the passenger tires up around 95% N2 by volume, and conducted extensive tests. They have a lot of testing experience.

The conclusion was N2 inflated passenger car tires -v- air containing passenger car tires displayed no different performence over a 60 day timeframe. Their main conclusion was that the majority of increased performence came from the ongoing maintainence of proper inflation. They also concluded that the guys who were employing the N2 inflation in racing tires on their race cars were too nuts to know much anyhow, because anybody who drives that fast on the ground without the ability to pull up is flat nuts.

[Junkman]

Reminds me of the people that buy bottled water at $16.00 a gallon.....:lol_hitti

[Fedwrench]

Nitrogen works well for all of those peolple that never check their tire pressure. The pressure won't change with temperature variations and their TPMS light won't come unless they have a puncture.

[scotte]

next thing somebody will offer is a nitrogen tire flush where they install a second valve stem 180 deg from the first and suck out the air as they are filling it w/ nitrogen

[Slim-Pickins']

For those of you who think it's a waste, are you basing this off of daily driving?
yes.


If you auto-x or attend HPDEs, nitrogen is quite nice.
Raced competitively with IKF, WKA, IMSA and SCCA for a number of years and we DID use Nitrogen in race applications.

[Danglerb]

Tire pressure is suspension tuning, if that doesn't matter to you, you aren't driving fast enough. N2 allows much tighter pressure control.

[Willy Victor]

I flew in a lot of A/C in the Navy and we never put Nitrogen in the tires. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.


Willy

[Ryan]

Please excuse "slim pickens" - he is not the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact, he's a fraud... Banned.

[Uncle Buck]

Please excuse "slim pickens" - he is not the sharpest tool in the shed. In fact, he's a fraud... Banned.

I wonder who we might have known Slim as in a former lifr? BTW.................... I use compressed air in all my tires and it works great for those that have not tried it.................perhaps I will patent my idea and sell it! You guys know what PT. Barnem said don't you? :lol_hitti

[Danglerb]

http://www.getnitrogen.org/

[tpolley]

what about using nitrogen for powering air tools?

[Kurn]

Next thing ya know they'll be extolling the virtues of the "Amish Heater".

[ImportTuner]

what about using nitrogen for powering air tools?

Wow, a year old thread; why would you want to power air tools with nitrogen? :headscrat

[Uncle Buck]

Wow, a year old thread; why would you want to power air tools with nitrogen? :headscrat

Better still, who was Slim Pickins? And, why was he banned?

[tpolley]

Wow, a year old thread; why would you want to power air tools with nitrogen? :headscrat

my neighbor's a plumer and on his pluming truck he says he has a nitrogen tank that he uses to power air tools when he can't use an air compressor. unless i mis-understood or was mis-informed. this is 3rd or 4th party information.
also, i saw at sears a little tank the size of a paintball gun co2 tank that you hang from your belt and you can power an air nail gun or stapler. i don't know what gas they were using.

[Diesel-Mech]

IIRC the real Nascar thunderguns are ran off of Nitrogen.

[Danglerb]

N2 is dry, what I am seeing recently on the race cars in the shop is a vacuum evac and N2 fill, for the serious guys anyway.

I'm not all that good at keeping air in my tires, so N2 would be a big step for me.

[snorky18]

I am overhauling an old air/oil shock of a 90s model kawasaki zx750, and was recently told by the head suspension guy from the local BMW service department to make sure I inflate it with Nitrogen instead of regular air, otherwise I may pop the air bladder. Can't remember why, perhaps the heat from friction?

I thought he was just trying to sell me some beachfront property in Florida, but then he told me they don't have nitrogen there at the shop, but he has some at home, if I would bring the shock in and leave it with him one night he would bring it back the next day filled with Nitrogen. No charge.

[beelsr]

N2 is great for powering air tools where you don't/can't have electricity or a generator; like in the woods or off-road...


Wow, a year old thread; why would you want to power air tools with nitrogen? :headscrat

[cweagle]

There are only two things that I can see really being important in this whole 'nitrogen vs. air' in any particular application. The first, I suspect, predominates: bottled nitrogen is totally dry (assuming the gas supplier didn't screw up). So in the airplane tires, there's no water vapor to freeze to one side. If the tires were filled with a regular air compressor, you'd have to make sure there was a good drier in service. It's easier to simply spec 'nitrogen' than 'air dry to such-and-such specs'. Nitrogen's easy to get and cheap too.

The other thing that might make some kind of difference in certain applications is that pure nitrogen removes the presence of an oxidizer - that is, oxygen - from the system. While it's true that nitrogen is not an inert gas, it is generally less reactive than oxygen (most things are less reactive than oxygen!). Certain rubbers and oils could benefit from this under some unusual conditions.

The thing I don't buy - though I'm speaking from theory, not practice - is the 'better stability of pressure' argument. The weight of the molecules are similar: N2 is 28, O2 is 32. This implies that leakage rates should be similar; one will fit through most of the holes the other would. Their expansion rates would be similar as well, since their densities are similar. Remember as well that only a fraction of the air in your tires (etc) is not nitrogen already - this would decrease any legit benefits of pure N2 over regular old air.

Personally, I think nitrogen filling for automotive tires (in any application) is a bad scam. But that's my opinion; I just wanted to present some relevant facts to support it. I'd be interested to know if I missed anything.