I have been an ABS athlete for 10 years with skiing and sledding and thought I would put this up here for those who are interested in how canisters are filled with abs, why we refill them and not let the general public do them and also share some light on the important things you need to know if you fill your own BCA or Snowpulse cartirdges.
Today I did some info on our refilling station here in Langley, BC, this is where all bags for North America are built, tested and where our refilling machine is.
You bought your avy pack as a safety device, yes it has to fit properly and the color may be important but the reason why you payed between 600-1200 dollars of you hard earned money is for the safety if you ever need it.
We refill our bottles because we want to do the important work that I feel many people, skiers, snowboarders and sledders may forget to do, which is not good.
First, all bottles returned have the screw top taken off, we then scrub the bottles since they are steel and this is to prevent any rust from ever building up and to see if the bottle has incurred any damage. The the screw top is put back on, The empty bottle is weighed and tracked through the bar code and then put in the freezer till the bottle is -18 degrees, the reason for this is that when you refill the bottle the heat will bring the temperature up in the bottle. Our bottles are filled to 4500 psi and we have special gauge that cost roughly 250.00 dollars so it is accurate for the customer, this gauge is also calibrated twice per season. The bottle is then reweighed and tracked again with bar code. We then hold the bottles for 72 hours to make sure the bottles don't lose any air, they are then ready for the customers. I have blown off over 500 bags and never had a bottle fail!
If you want to fly or travel with your abs pack I suggest you contact a dealer where you are flying to and ask if you can rent a canister and handle for the time you are there, a good shop will do this and once you finish your trip you can return the bottle, or blow off you bottle and handle and when you land at your destination then exchange it at an abs dealer. All canisters regardless of brand can do this...do the same as you return home.
When you blow off an abs bag, the handle and cannister can be returned to any ABS dealer(ski,snowboard or sled shop) for an exchange of another bottle and handle for a nominal fee of $40.00(which pays for the shipping and handling to and back to the shops)
I always encourage anyone who owns a bag or has several friends with an abs system I recommend to buy 1 or 2 spare cartridges and handles in case you discharge it by accident and you are far away from a dealer or it is a saturday and dealers are closed on sunday/monday. This ensures that you can still use your expensive pack that you payed for. Infact regardless of the avy pack you own you should do this as sometimes you may find it hard to find a paintball shop or bca snowpulse dealer open as well.
All I can say if you are using a refill bottle on BCA and Snowpulse is have your bottle filled by a proper dealer who is authorized to fill these bottles. This is not a 5 minute deal to fill. It should actually take 15-25 minutes since o-rings must be changed and the bottle has to go in a freezer or filled then left to sit to cool down after the initial filling due to the heat generated by filling then topped up. If you do not then the bottle will NOT be full! Temperature while filling is very important and that is why I would only trust it to a dealer that does it lots.
It is also important to have your canister guage checked every year, as i know those guages are not the same caliber of guage that you will see at any place that relies on exact reading. Make sure every time you use your pack that you check the reading that it is 3000 psi.
This is not to scare or sway you from whatever pack you buy, but in my opinion it is very important information that all consumers should know before they buy and also the info everyone who has one of these pack should know so they can make informed decisions.
I would not buy/leave with any avy pack without blowing it off when you buy it as then you will know all the in's and out's of the pack. See all the things you need before you buy and realistically where your costs will be down the road, you should blow you pack off at minimum once per season so you teach yourself to do it if the crap hits the fan, you want it to be the first thing you do if you feel something weird as many people if they don't test fire it, actually won't pull it first, they will wonder whats going on and then try to out run, move etc. regardless teach yourself to pull first. If it ends up being a small slab or something no big deal that is why you have one and it can be refilled easily or if you have the extra cartridge with you then any bag can be reset.
It is great how many in the sledding industry has adopted these packs so quickly and I hope each one that has makes sure they do the homework of the specific needs each bag needs on a daily, monthy, and yearly basis. Happy Sledding! dave norona
Today I did some info on our refilling station here in Langley, BC, this is where all bags for North America are built, tested and where our refilling machine is.
You bought your avy pack as a safety device, yes it has to fit properly and the color may be important but the reason why you payed between 600-1200 dollars of you hard earned money is for the safety if you ever need it.
We refill our bottles because we want to do the important work that I feel many people, skiers, snowboarders and sledders may forget to do, which is not good.
First, all bottles returned have the screw top taken off, we then scrub the bottles since they are steel and this is to prevent any rust from ever building up and to see if the bottle has incurred any damage. The the screw top is put back on, The empty bottle is weighed and tracked through the bar code and then put in the freezer till the bottle is -18 degrees, the reason for this is that when you refill the bottle the heat will bring the temperature up in the bottle. Our bottles are filled to 4500 psi and we have special gauge that cost roughly 250.00 dollars so it is accurate for the customer, this gauge is also calibrated twice per season. The bottle is then reweighed and tracked again with bar code. We then hold the bottles for 72 hours to make sure the bottles don't lose any air, they are then ready for the customers. I have blown off over 500 bags and never had a bottle fail!
If you want to fly or travel with your abs pack I suggest you contact a dealer where you are flying to and ask if you can rent a canister and handle for the time you are there, a good shop will do this and once you finish your trip you can return the bottle, or blow off you bottle and handle and when you land at your destination then exchange it at an abs dealer. All canisters regardless of brand can do this...do the same as you return home.
When you blow off an abs bag, the handle and cannister can be returned to any ABS dealer(ski,snowboard or sled shop) for an exchange of another bottle and handle for a nominal fee of $40.00(which pays for the shipping and handling to and back to the shops)
I always encourage anyone who owns a bag or has several friends with an abs system I recommend to buy 1 or 2 spare cartridges and handles in case you discharge it by accident and you are far away from a dealer or it is a saturday and dealers are closed on sunday/monday. This ensures that you can still use your expensive pack that you payed for. Infact regardless of the avy pack you own you should do this as sometimes you may find it hard to find a paintball shop or bca snowpulse dealer open as well.
All I can say if you are using a refill bottle on BCA and Snowpulse is have your bottle filled by a proper dealer who is authorized to fill these bottles. This is not a 5 minute deal to fill. It should actually take 15-25 minutes since o-rings must be changed and the bottle has to go in a freezer or filled then left to sit to cool down after the initial filling due to the heat generated by filling then topped up. If you do not then the bottle will NOT be full! Temperature while filling is very important and that is why I would only trust it to a dealer that does it lots.
It is also important to have your canister guage checked every year, as i know those guages are not the same caliber of guage that you will see at any place that relies on exact reading. Make sure every time you use your pack that you check the reading that it is 3000 psi.
This is not to scare or sway you from whatever pack you buy, but in my opinion it is very important information that all consumers should know before they buy and also the info everyone who has one of these pack should know so they can make informed decisions.
I would not buy/leave with any avy pack without blowing it off when you buy it as then you will know all the in's and out's of the pack. See all the things you need before you buy and realistically where your costs will be down the road, you should blow you pack off at minimum once per season so you teach yourself to do it if the crap hits the fan, you want it to be the first thing you do if you feel something weird as many people if they don't test fire it, actually won't pull it first, they will wonder whats going on and then try to out run, move etc. regardless teach yourself to pull first. If it ends up being a small slab or something no big deal that is why you have one and it can be refilled easily or if you have the extra cartridge with you then any bag can be reset.
It is great how many in the sledding industry has adopted these packs so quickly and I hope each one that has makes sure they do the homework of the specific needs each bag needs on a daily, monthy, and yearly basis. Happy Sledding! dave norona
