Home General Training Discussions

CO2 cartridge woes

I'm not sure whether I'm just an idiot and suddenly started doing something wrong, have a bad inflator, or just bad luck.  I've had the same CO2 inflator for a few years now, and never had a problem with it.

Then at Quassy, I went to use it (on my second flat of the day, which occurred about a mile after my first flat), and it blew most of the CO2 back into the atmosphere instead of into the tube.  At the time I suspected a frozen nozzle or something.

Fast forward to this evening, and I decided that I should probably test it out to make sure everything is all set before IMLP.  I've now gone through three cartridges, and again - the majority of gas blows back at me instead of into the tubes.

The inflator is a Genuine Innovations, but without a control valve.  Basically just screw on the cartridge to break the seal, and then back off a tad to start inflating.  I did notice this evening a couple times that when the cartridge was fully screwed in, it would hiss lightly as it vented CO2 back at me.  But it was a very slow 'leak'.

Any thoughts/experiences as to what it might be?  There's no gasket or anything inside the inflator where the cartridge screws in (not sure if there is supposed to be one - never checked).  The cartridges I'm using are generic ones I got from Amazon, so perhaps that has something to do with it.  During one test inflation (totally failed as it never even really sealed well once screwed into the inflator), I did see a little rock of dry ice where the inflator would attach to the tube nozzle - but then again on that one it was spewing cold CO2 all over the place, so not surprising it found some humidity to deposit.

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.