HPA tanks are awesome, but they need to be refilled every once in a while. There are many places where the HPA tank can be refilled at and more than a one way to do it, however the question is what is the nearby place where you can do it with the optimal price?
HPA tanks can be filled on nearby scuba stores, paintball and airsoft stores and playing fields, some wielding stores and at home if you have the required equipment.
The HPA tanks can also be filled at fire stations and some local businesses like auto mechanics may have the required equipment, but it would be quite unorthodox to go for a refill every time you need it at those places.
Therefore, your best bets are to go to one of those places where they refill the HPA tanks and charge for it or to get a compressor at home.
I will mention the prices they charge by giving an approximate judgement based on what most places charge, but sometimes it may differ a bit.
You can check this website and check for the local USA refill centers. In case that you have any great place to recommend that is not already on the map it would be appreciated to suggest it, so the other players can also have the easier time.
The paintball/airsoft fields and stores
This is the very first option you should consider because it may be right in front of your nose. Some stores and fields will even refill the HPA tanks for free, especially if you have already paid for a service like the field fee or rented some gear.
The compressors that can be found at these places go up to 5500 PSI and they will refill the 3000 PSI or 4500 PSI with an ease in matter of a minute.
In case that they charge additionally for refills, you can expect to pay between $1 to $3 per 1000 PSI, so the average price for a full fill is about $5.
I have heard that some stores charge like $15 for a refill, but I believe that such places are quite rare and in that case I would avoid them.
This is the most common way of refilling, but sometimes there are no nearby paintball and airsoft stores, nor playing fields near you. If you do not want to drive to the one for hours then you can try out the second place and it is called the scuba stores.
The scuba stores
Most scuba stores are used with refilling HPA tanks because the original scuba tanks operate at a very similar pressure.
However, what I have heard is that not literally every scuba shop will have the adapter that fits the HPA tanks, so sometimes you may need to bring your own adapter.
This of course, depends on your local scuba store and you will have to check it out with them.
Scuba compressors are the highest rated compressors because they reach up to 6500 PSI and there is nothing that these bad boys can not fill in a matter of seconds.
In terms of the price they charge pretty similarly to the paintball and airsoft stores and fields.
I will also mention that you can get a scuba dive tank and use it instead whenever you need a refill, this is a bit more pricey at very beginning than just owning a classic HPA tank, but they might be easier to refill and than you can carry them in a car trunk and use them to fill your airsoft tank later when needed.
Let’s say that you have a couple of these scuba dive tanks with you waiting a car trunk or somewhere, you probably won’t have to visit a refill center for a very long time.
However, I do not have experience with it and do not want to instruct you with it, but have heard that some guys do it and that it works fine for them, so if you find it interesting make a further research.
You will need a fill rig along with a scuba tank for this to work.
This is what the compressors are used for
Air compressors have multiple purposes such as the following:
- Supplying high pressure air to fill gas tanks
- Supplying the air for surface supplied divers
- Supplying the air for Pneumatic HVAC control systems
- Powering pneumatic tools like jackhammers
- For filling tires
- For other engineering and industrial processes
Costs of filling at home
Now, this is a big deal!
One of the ways that you can deal with the problem of refilling is indeed by building your own home fill station, but it may cost a few pennies over your budget.
The high-end high pressure compressors start at $2000 and go all the way to $3000.
However, these expensive high-end compressors are for professionals who also want to utilize their power for business purposes.
There are also affordable $300-$500 high pressure compressors that can be found on the market.
If you can afford the high-end compressors you will be able to refill the HPA and Scuba tanks always at any time of the day in matter of a minute.
However, I would consider whether there might be some local business opportunity because the investment is pretty big.
Some things that come on my mind are running a refill station for various purposes because as I have already mentioned there are various reasons why people may need a high pressure compressor.
You can check the local situation and if there is a lack of compress stations you can build it and run a real small business on it!
Otherwise I would not invest in such expensive compressor unless I would be sure that I will play airsoft for next 8 years because this is exactly what I calculated that may be the moment when you will get the return on investment.
I added to the calculation that you will be playing airsoft every week and refill it 4 times a month.
Now, if you refill it for the other players and other people who may need it you will be very likely to cover the expenses in less than a year and soon after that start making money.
The other option are those compressors that fall in the range of $300-$500 and they are pretty solid picks for personal use, but people report far longer refilling duration with these (15 minutes per average for 3000 PSI ).
If you choose to go with one of these affordable compressors you will not be able to use them for business purposes, but will be able to serve yourself.
I personally would not like to start a brand new business just because I needed some air, but it depends on a person!
In case that you really feel hooked on these affordable compressors I must inform you that some models may need water cooling and are pretty loud so you will have to protect the ears. However there are many models and some will have built-in cooling.
You can also use them for other purposes such as for fire fighting, leakage detecting, pressure-tight tests, pressure proof tests, air impermeability tests and for some stuff related to auto mechanics.
They will definitely pay off quite soon even if you do not refill tanks for other people, but you still should make your own calculations.
Warning, be careful how you operate with them!
High pressure air compressors are not the toys and must be properly manipulated with safety precautions.
Some compressors do not automatically stop when the pressure reaches the maximum and you will have to turn it off manually.
Every HPA tank whether it is 3000 PSI or 4500 PSI always has more capacity than it is written for the safety measures, but it still requires the supervision.
The list of compressors and their power
- Gas station compressors operate at maximum rating of 50 PSI
- Most home compressors that common folk have do not operate over 300 PSI
- Construction crew compressors can reach up to 1500 PSI, but this still isn’t a perfect choice for HPA tanks
- Paintball and Airsoft compressors ( the ones that can be found in the stores and on the fields) operate at 5500 max PSI power.
- Scuba Compressors operate at max rating of 6500 PSI
Therefore, your HPA tank has a pressure of 3000 PSI or 4500 PSI and can not be filled with some low pressure compressors.
Can you fill HPA tank at a gas station?
This may sound as a good idea because you would assume that they have high air pressure compressors at gas stations, but they do not.
This may end up being quite dangerous in some cases too, so the best advice is to avoid this method. The compressors that you can find at gas stations do not have that much pressure and often operate at 50 PSI which is absolutely useless for any HPA tank refill.
The mentioned gas station compressors are used for various purposes and often are not cleaned and may contain the traces of the oil. You may have heard that you must not apply the oil anywhere near the valve because due to the high pressure the oil may cause the unwanted reaction, the explosion.
These low pressure compressors are a great tool for the wheels and some other low pressure devices, but stay away from them otherwise.