Cornelius Keg Pressure Pot

[ToddK]

Kegconnection.com has a pretty good price on a Cornelius keg, dual regulator and 5 lb CO2 bottle for $144, including shipping. I ordered this, plus an extra set of o-rings. It took a full week to get the package, but it was well worth the wait.

The opening is 3 3/4" by 3.1". The dual regulator goes to 60 psi (equivalent of 133 feet). I put a ziplock bag with the corners cut off over both the canister & light head to protect against any scuffing as they go through the lid. For the price, it is a really nice, fully setup system for testing dive lights!

The CO2 tank can only be filled with CO2 due to the gas connector on the tank. Filling the 5 lb bottle cost $15. For the price of the system and the gas fill, it is a really nice, fully setup system for testing dive lights!

 

[350xfire]

Very cool... Can't you ditch the fittings on the keg and use an Al80 to pressure?

 

[ToddK]

Very cool... Can't you ditch the fittings on the keg and use an Al80 to pressure?

I think you absolutely could. I like the dual guage regulator because you can adjust the output pressure with a screwdriver. I haven't tried, but it looks like you could unscrew the CO2 tank connector from the regulator, and replace it with a 1/"4 male NPT to Quick Disconnect fitting from Scubatools. Then the setup would be AL80 to scuba regulator, to the dual gauge regulator, to the keg. The advantage of this setup is you'd save the $70 cost of the CO2 tank.

The other mod I'm thinking about is replace the 0-60psi gauge with a 0-100 psi variant.

 

[fstbttms]

For the price of the system and the gas fill, it is a really nice, fully setup system for testing dive lights!

I guess that's one way to go. Me- I like to fill 'em with beer.

 

[Tug]

I guess that's one way to go. Me- I like to fill 'em with beer.

same here, at first when I saw the cornelius keg title I thought I was on a homebrew forum.... that said, it's just time for a beer from my kegs

 

[ToddK]

Well...I never said what the test fluid was. J/K.

 

[fstbttms]

it's just time for a beer from my kegs

I'll join you. Cheers!

 

[oxyhacker]

The soda industry abandoned Corney kegs wholesale a few years back, surplusing tens of thousands of them so you can buy new ones for a fraction of their original cost, and used ones for hardly anything. While homebrewing shops have them pretty cheap you can usually find them for even less on ebay, but its worth checking local scrap yards first since they often will turn up in their SS pile where they can be had for a few pennies a lb. I keep thinking I should stock up on them since they have so many uses and one of these days the glut will end and they will shoot up in price.

Using a C02 rig to test divelights seems an unecessary complication. I often use just a bicycle pump on mine, when I am testing with it full of water, and a shop compressor or even one of those little 12V tire pumps works fine too. Using leftover scuba air isn't a bad idea but you want to be sure you have some overpressure protection on somewhere between the tank and the keg since 3000 psi could blow it apart (the kegs usually have it already) creating a shrapnel risk in the process. I have an old low pressure two gauge regulator from a shop compressor attached to the LP port of an old scuba 1st stage which I sometimes use to pressurize the test pot, and also to fill tires, clean computers (scuba air is super clean and dry, great for blowing dust out of electronics) and other jobs where I need portable or very clean dry air.

 

[fstbttms]

The soda industry abandoned Corney kegs wholesale a few years back, surplusing tens of thousands of them so you can buy new ones for a fraction of their original cost, and used ones for hardly anything. While homebrewing shops have them pretty cheap you can usually find them for even less on ebay, but its worth checking local scrap yards first since they often will turn up in their SS pile where they can be had for a few pennies a lb. I keep thinking I should stock up on them since they have so many uses and one of these days the glut will end and they will shoot up in price.

We are already there, my friend. There is no glut, they are expensive and seeing as the Chinese are buying them up by the shipload for the scrap stainless, they will become scarcer and scarcer, sooner rather than later.

 

[Tug]

We are already there, my friend. There is no glut, they are expensive and seeing as the Chinese are buying them up by the shipload for the scrap stainless, they will become scarcer and scarcer, sooner rather than later.

that's for sure, I really should buy up a bunch now.... I'm already at 5 or 6 and it seems like I always need more

are those magnets holding up your CO2 manifold? if so, how do they work?