This happened

[Beer-lord]

I got 2 of my CO2 tanks filled yesterday. I came straight home to keg a beer and put the 10lb one outside under cover and the 5lb one was going to go in the kegerator but I left it on the kitchen floor while I was getting ready to keg my beer. I went outside to grab some stuff and heard a very loud pop then screaming hissing. I rain in to see a good portion of my kitchen foggy. I grabbed the tank which had fallen from whatever was happening and put it outside until it stopped just a few seconds later.
Of course it was empty obviously overfilled and the relief valve went off. I wondered why the whole cylinder was frosted the whole trip home and for the next 15 minutes inside my house until it blew up. Never seen that before.
My question is, does anything need to be done to the relief valve before filling again? Not sure if it was overfilled but the tank is a few years old and in excellent condition. I'm gong to bring it back this week and let them know what happened and hope they know what they're doing because had that gone off in my car, I would have shat myself!

[berryman]

I know propane tanks can vent off if are over filled and sit in the sun and get too warm, would guess c02 would do it also. I think at least looking at mine, it looks more like some kind of blow off cap that would have to be replaced. Must be you own your tanks? I get mine exchanged at the welding supply.

[Beer-lord]

Yes, I've got a place just 2 miles away that fills while you wait. Reasonable and fast. Never had a problem. They do exchange but there's been no reason for me to. This IS actually a welding supply place too!

[mashani]

I'm glad that didn't go off in your car while you were in it, breathing that in an enclosed space would not have been great.

Other then that I have no idea.

But it reminded me of when I was a kid the time the propane plant a few miles away blew up. We saw tanks, large and small, flying through the air like uncontrolled rockets, flames shooting out of the various holes in them, some landed as far as like 1/2 mile away in peoples yards. That was exciting.

[Beer-lord]

Took the tank back today and was told overfilling will not cause the relief valve to blow. Not sure I believe that but they do fill by weight. I thought they'd at least give me the fill for a discount but charged me $15 to put on a new relief cap and $15 to fill.
Life goes on.

[BlackDuck]

So if overfilling doesn’t cause the relief valve to blow, what the hell is the relief valve for???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Beer-lord]

Good question but I don't believe just because they fill tanks, they know anything. Nowadays, no one knows anything but the internet!

I did find this:
https://www.generalair.com/pdf/Tech%20T ... inders.pdf
All tanks are supplied with a pressure relief valve for maintaining safe tank pressure for specific applica-tions. Typically, these are shipped to the customer at 22 psi for liquid withdrawal, and up to 350 psi for higher pressure requirements. When the pressure in the tank reaches its release point, this valve will evacuate the excessive pressure. When the pressure falls back below these levels, the valve closes again.