Club Members Login

Thinking About Getting a CO2 Tire Inflation System?

A while ago I decided to get a CO2 system for inflating my tires after a run. I won’t get into the reasons other than its much faster than a small compressor but at a cost. I started looking at the systems that are available. Top of the line was an American made Power Tank system, powertank.com, 10 pound tank, regulator, hose and tire inflator with a gage, a little costly, over $400. Too much for my budget! I then looked Chinese made systems. These systems had all the same components as the Power Tank system had plus a carrying case. These systems cost about $250. Sounded good to me so I bought one locally. Other folks have bought this system and have had good luck with it but not me. After having it filled for the first time one of the fittings leaked and then the regulator itself started to leak. At that point I returned it and got my money back. What to do next?

I read on one of the Jeep forums about building your own system, buying the major components on-line and from local home improvement stores. I decided to try this. I bought an aluminum 10 pound tank from Beverage Factory.com. The model number was BF C 10 and cost with shipping $105. Next I ordered a CO2 regulator from Weldingsupply.com. The regulator was a Western RP Preset CO2 with a 125# spring which cost $50 with shipping. The next component was the hose. CO2 gets very cold as the tire is inflated, I tried an ARB hose I already had but it seemed to get a little brittle from the cold so I decided to buy Power Tank’s hose which cost about $60. Locally Tractor Supply has hoses for about $30 or less. Lastly the final part of the basic system was a tire inflator with a gauge from Home Depot, $15.00. Total cost for the system at this point was $230. In addition to being about $20 cheaper than the Chinese system, my whole system was American made. 

One last part that I ordered was a tank mount, $80, and roll bar clamps, $60, from Power Tank. I could have had to order the tank mount and roll bar clamps for the Chinese system also, they were not included in the $250 system. They had one listed but it was back ordered without any estimated delivery date other than maybe 6 or more months! So far I have been very satisfied with the system even though getting it filled takes some planning because currently there is a 2-5 day turnaround time. It costs about $14 to fill it and it should fill over 36 33” tires from 16 psi to 28 psi.