Many regulators seem to come fitted with optional flow restrictors to prevent this - Best Fittings have some here
I've had a 12ltr & 3ltr divers bottles for some years now, no problem controlling the refill rate and producing a nice slow refill.
A friend has just given me brand new 4ltr bottle. No matter how slowly I open the fill valve on the bottle, the pressure of the air transferred into the rifle goes immediately to over 200 bar in an instant.
I have asked what I believe is a knowledgeable technician in the trade, and he has told that this is an unavoidable problem with modern valves/regulators, and has been a problem for some years now. He can only suggest that I transfer the valve/regulator from one of my older bottles.
I find it hard to believe that modern refill valves/regulators are seemingly so unsuitable to provide a controlled refill of a PCP air tank.
Can anybody enlighten me please?
Many regulators seem to come fitted with optional flow restrictors to prevent this - Best Fittings have some here
In the big scheme of things the airgun filling market is so pathetically small that there's little if any serious profit in it for the big valve manufacturers.
In all probability the valve on the new bottle was never designed for the purpose it's now being asked to perform.
Even what we call the surface valve has no form of "regulator" to control output pressure, save the hand turning the handle, you could buy & fit a proper "regulator" and set that to your required max fill, or you fit a MDE jubilee valve with it's restricted flow rate.
Last edited by angrybear; 15-12-2017 at 10:42 AM. Reason: better wording on re-reading
MDE valves here http://www.midlanddiving.com/airgun-...ilee-gun-valve
trade only i think.
you may need to visit a gun shops listed for airgun charging parts unless they are stocked by the dive shops too.
your nearest dealers near Sidcup is
SADDLERY & GUN ROOM
8.6 miles 368 MAIN ROAD
WESTERHAM HILL
KENT, TN16 2HN
Amphibian Sports
8.7 miles 44A Chapel Road
West Norwood
London, SE27 0UR
DIVE FORCE MARINE
15.5 miles 10 CHEAPSIDE
NORTH CIRCULAR ROAD
LONDON, N13 5ED
AQUANAUT SCUBA & SNORKELLING CENTRE
16.8 miles 34 COOMBE ROAD
KINGSTON UPON THAMES, SURREY KT2 7AG
Mike's Waterfront Warehouse
17.1 miles 113 Power Road
Chiswick
London, W4 5PY
Diversity
22.2 miles 157 HIGH STREET
POTTERS BAR, HERTS EN6 5BB
CROXLEY DIVERS
28.2 miles 125 NEW ROAD
CROXLEY GREEN
HERTS WD3 3EN not open anymore as by advised by Newpaul .(thanks Paul)
C & H WESTON, GUNSMITHS
43.2 miles 12 EAST STREET
BRIGHTON, BN1 1HP
Oceanview Diving Services Ltd
45.7 miles 160 South Street
Lancing
West Sussex, BN15 8AU
SCUBA DUCKS DIVE CENTRE
49.1 miles 34 EDISON ROAD
AYLESBURY, HP19 8TE
Last edited by bighit; 15-12-2017 at 03:58 PM.
My new 7ltre bottle appears to do the same as the op's, but I think that in part (in my case), it's just the way the system works. By this I mean that as the pressure gauge is fitted on the valve side of the outlet fitting (which I believe is where the flow restrictor is fitted), like you, when I open the valve the pressure rises quickly to 200 Bar +, but if I then turn it off the Gauge reading reduces slowly and then stops at the gun Cylinder pressure. However, by being ultra careful I can just about get the Gauge reading to rise slowly which is less disconcerting, but in my case I think that whilst it looks alarming it's not causing any problems.
I'd appreciate other input to the op's comments, and to mine above if they are pertinent.
Vic Thompson.
Last edited by Vic Thompson; 17-12-2017 at 02:19 PM.
HW77K .22, HW100KT .22, HW95K .22. AA TX200 MK3 .22. AA S410 MK3 .177. HW80 .25 HW30S .22. Pistols: Walther CP88 .177, Hatsan Mod25 Supercharger .22, HW45 Silver Star .177, Webley Alecto .177, SMK Victory CP2 .22
I would follow the advice and link given in post #2, just contact best Fittings. They can supply fittings from MDE and others, and you will find they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.
Hello, well this is my honest opinion, I have had the same problem with MDE valves, to make the story short, sent a new one back, came back as being OK. Found it to be uncontrollable. To be safe bought another, it was the same and I threw it in the bin. Started a long thread some time ago, sorry cant remember exactly when.
Did some reading about alternatives and bought a Beaver valve which I found to be great. You can turn the tap on (and not be too fussy how much) and the pressure will rise quickly but AS soon as it reaches the air pressure in the gun it will stop and then will fill very slowly, it is completely controllable.
I have no connection with Beaver just very satisfied.
Cheers.
Geoff.
Hydrotech valves, bottles and fittings dont have this issue, flow restrictor in the hose is removable if desired but if left in makes for a very controllable set up, also their cylinders are 300 bar which gets you more gun fills per cylinder recharge (provided your local dive shop fills to 300 bar)
Firstly, I should explain that this is my first post on this Forum, and I am both surprised and impressed at the number of immediate and helpful responses.
Whilst several replies seem to confirm my original concern, and I did walk this through with an experienced technician who gave me the comments about modern valves, I think I may have been a bit premature in my report.
I need to do more cbecking, but I now realise that the rifle air bottles I was trying to refill, where the pressure had immediately jumped, were actually already filled to 200 bar.
I fired off a few shots, dropping tbe pressure to 160 bar. I then refilled this rifle bottle with no problems.
I now have 4 PCP rifles with full air tanks. Once I have fired off enough air to allow me to refill the rifle air bottles, I will check the refill process more realistically.
Again, thanks for all the helpful advice.
I have one of the older MDE valves having bought this direct from MDE along with a 7ltr bottle, purchased directly from MDE in approximately 2000, the same year I bought my first FX2000 in .22, the only caliber available at the time, and this valve allows me to infinitely vary the fill pressure.
What you will find is that on opening the pressure will instantly increase as that's just filling the hose which is probably less than 1cc of volume, then the rifle valve will open & the pressure drops back to equalise with the rifle contents & the fill takes place gradually increasing to the pressure you want, then you close the valve.