Having trouble with the fill nipple not closing on Etac.
My first ETAC a long one with cant, has served me fine until yesterday. I have two scuba tanks cascaded together with two yokes and a line going from one yoke to the other,
Usually I fill with the first tank, then turn it off and top off with the second tank, then turn it off and bleed the line with one of the bleed valves on the yokes. Then I can remove the AF tank.
Yesterday, I filled my tank, and when I got to the AF tank pressure level, the scuba guage clicked hard and then fell a couple hundred pounds back, then went up to the level of that first scuba tank. I then turned off tank one and switched to the second tank and filled to 2900 which is what I have left, and when I went to bleed it, I noticed more air bleeding out than usual.
To make a long story short, the valve was not closing on the etac. I topped it off again and tapped it with my little brass gunsmithing hammer etac near the fill nipple. That closed the valve and allowed me to bleed it.
Same exact thing happened tonight, the yoke guage dropped a couple hundred pounds when the AF tank and the Scuba tank leveled out, then after filling, the nipple refused to close as I bled the system. Tapping on the etac with a brass hammer closed it after two more fill attempts and about 2000 lbs of air escaping.
Only thing I am doing differently from past fills is it is hot as hell out here, in the 90’s or better. The Etac guage reads high, says 3200 when I had only filled just past 2950, before I go shooting due to this heat raising the pressure.
This is a picture of my fill station.
I know Subssonnic had trouble with his fill nipple, any ideas on what I am doing wrong, or is just the heat, before I have to take Jim away from his busy reg testing?
Now just a thought that hit me, is the valve stem going in and putting pressure on the guage to make it act funny and then hanging up and refusing to close until tapped? Is that why Subssonnic made his little palstic thing for the fill nipple stem?
Thanks,
Roachcreek
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Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
Roach i have seen my pressure go up 400 psi going from the house, 78 to outside , 100 +.
Cool set up you have on your fill station. are those silver colored fittings all high pressure.
My confidence level in Jim was such that I asked him to send me that new nipple and at the same time ordered another ETAC from him. This is my third one and gives me one on each of my AF platforms.
As I posted on the good guy bad guy forum, if GMC did business like Jim, we would still be driving 55 chevy’s that ran perfect and would be happy to have bought them in the first place. Imagine starting up that 55 vette this morning knowing that if anything didn’t work, the dealership would jump on it and have it fixed and back to you in hours.
He is up there with positive experiences from Dillion, and that in my book is just about as far as you can get.
And luckily we have a handful of craftsmen on this site who provide services like that.
Roachcreek
This is why I like to deal with Jim, he is 1 of the best for customer service, he will never let you down.
Keep up the good work Jim.
We love you Jim.
I cannot tell you how happy I am to find the Custom Products nipple.
There will be no more issues with the fill nipple’s backcheck.
I sincerely apologize to all who have had issues, rest assured you will be taken care of.
Jim
I had the same problem before with the Etac, I ended up replaced it a new fill probe that has stop metal integrated on the back of the probe to prevent the nipple pop back inside when re-fill the tank.
I got my fill probe from a local paint ball shop, I could not find it online. This is the quickest way to fix your issue.
Jim actually offered to send the Etac back for replace, but since I could fixed from my end, I did not send mine back to Jim for replacement.
I have been reading this excellent forum for some while. This is good source of info for us Airforce owners around the world (I am in Finland).
I got two ETacs and both have similar fill valve stem opening/closing issue, but after few tank dumps I have learnt how to live with it. Before bleeding the fill hose I must turn the nipple downwards and tap it to help the stem settle in place.
Lubrication does not seem to remove the issue, just help for a while.
Sticking of the stem makes it collect pressure when filling and pop open hard (like pop gun).
I even had incident in my first ETac; when filling the stem shot past the aluminium backstop tube Jim mentiones. Jim sent me new warranty fill nipple and extra nipple caps and furthermore gave discount of my second ETac purchase so I fully agree that he takes good care of his customers.
Own backcheck containment system in the fill nipple is certainly a good improvement.
I always try to fill slowly, but it is difficult to do with the knobs on the scuba tanks, multiplied by inexperience.
I will find out tomorrow if that is the case. And yes Jim I knew you would fix it, just did not want to take you from your work and testing on those regs.
Roachcreek
It may be a symptom of the original back-check containment system I used…a small aluminum tube placed in the male-threaded end of the E-TaC. It is in place to act as a backstop for the plunger.
There is a possibility that that small aluminum tube has deformed after attempts to fill at a high rate (too high of a differential between fill pressure and tank pressure). The DOT recommends a fill rate of 400psi per minute for HPA bottles.
IF you continue to have trouble, or if you remove the fill nipple and the aluminum tube looks like someone mashed it with a hammer, I will replace the fill nipple with one with it’s own backcheck containment system. They are from Custom Products in Mesa, AZ. It’s basically a setscrew installed in the back of the fill nipple that holds the plunger in place. I just found them and have several in stock.
This is a no-cost replacement that I will do for any and all that have issues with the original system.
I will stand behind my products ’til the end, no questions asked.
Jim
That’s how you keep people coming back…stand behind the products you sell…good work Jim…..Greg
Hey Roach,
It may be a symptom of the original back-check containment system I used…a small aluminum tube placed in the male-threaded end of the E-TaC. It is in place to act as a backstop for the plunger.
There is a possibility that that small aluminum tube has deformed after attempts to fill at a high rate (too high of a differential between fill pressure and tank pressure). The DOT recommends a fill rate of 400psi per minute for HPA bottles.
IF you continue to have trouble, or if you remove the fill nipple and the aluminum tube looks like someone mashed it with a hammer, I will replace the fill nipple with one with it’s own backcheck containment system. They are from Custom Products in Mesa, AZ. It’s basically a setscrew installed in the back of the fill nipple that holds the plunger in place. I just found them and have several in stock.
This is a no-cost replacement that I will do for any and all that have issues with the original system.
I will stand behind my products ’til the end, no questions asked.
Jim
Thanks guys, after shooting tomorrow I will lube it.
RC
do what daddy o said and open the bleed valve fast
also on mine i had to move the fill nipple to the other side were the guage was the pin in the nipple moved past were the piece of tube that holds it in and the pin fell into the tank
Daddy o,
Would I use the silicone divers grease?
Roachcreek
take the fill nipple off grease the o ring on the fill nipple same thing happend on my paintball gun
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Randy at RLairguns put that together for me, I sent him pictures of my tanks and the two yokes. He then furnished the hoses and the connections, and yes of course they are High Pressure.
Roachcreek