i know a guy who would fill up a small dive bottle and get about two kites out of it

The only concern I would have using compressed air is, you would have to be really careful not to over-inflate and pop a bladder. The hassle of annoying pumps would be far outweighed by the hassle of repairing your bladder!

Road Cyclists have compressed air bottles for inflating tyres up to high pressures and this is a common problem. You have a pinch in your inner tube and the rapid inflation by the bottle prevents you from picking them up, thereby creating another puncture.

I have used the same pump for 3 years with little hassle - just some regular spraying with Silicon lube and being careful not to let sand get into the intake.

@ Dr.- I think the PFD inflator's are operated by Co2 cartridges, and would have an over inflation valve so they don't pop. Similar I guess, just kites don't have the over inflating release luxury..

@Lil. - It would have to be a slow/controlled/careful fill to avoid the pinchy issue... I'd set the regulators intermediate pressure (the pressure the 1st stage of the regulator reduces the high tank air pressure to) very low...around 8 or 9 bar should be heaps..maybe?
My old pump was awesome, then it just died... so far the replacements have not been up to scratch! (so I'm trying to avoid forking out any more cash and use the stuff I have around me)..

@Rhino. - With the little 3.5l tanks I have, filled at 250bar+, it should fill quite a few kites...probably..around the 1000l of air (excuse the on-the-run math job!)

What's the average kite bladder volume?

just drop into the petrol station on the way down to the beach and pump up at the air hose

Craig66 said...

Maybe some one could trial this on a kite.

let us all know the out come, and damage

I'm pretty sure that this is the method jimbob mcboilygroin uses to pump up his kites

Another thought / idea if the compressed air thing works -

You could use one of the mini-bottles (similar to those used by some big-wave tow-in surfers) as a back-up if you crash your kite and open the deflate valve on a long down winder.... would have saved me a long walk the other afternoon!

SMG said...


Has anyone ever tried using compressed air to fill their kite (eg: from a SCUBA tank)? I'm over unreliable pumps.....and figured since I have unlimited compressed air supplies, maybe it might be worth tiring out..!?
.
.
So when the cooler air heats up to the ambient air temp, it'll expand...and maybe make a gut wrenching pop noise!? The slower the fill, the less of a temp change...but still...(insert "thinking intensely" emoticon here).

Discuss

I've done it when kiting off a boat in PNG and had to inflate the kite in a tender (after attaching and rolling the lines back up on board). A mate had set up one of the dive bottles and just attached a normal kite pump hose to the outlet (minor mods). We used the tank valve to control flow and took it right down to minimal flow at the end so we had time to feel the LE and judge when it was right. We were a little conservative as it would be easy to accidentally overinflate.

Theoretically you could include the pump pressure guage in the hose to get an idea of where it is at, but I would not solely rely on it and you would need to turn off the tank completely for it read right I think. With a bit of enginuity I am sure you could work out a pretty good reliable and workable system. Beats relying on the dodgy moving parts of pumps on batteries.

I do not think the lowering temp of an expanding gas will be much of a problem - at such low flows it will not chill much and equalise quickly. Even if it does chill a bit I seem to recall the pressure variation by say a 5-10deg change in a kite was minimal.

Where’s RADMAN????

He’s just rigged up the ultimate in lazy-arse Kite inflation systems…. He has mounted a compressor under the bonnet of his Hilux. Then got a fitting on the back of his ute tray which you can just plug the hose into and pump away…. He’s even got a fancy on off switch on his dashboard!

It’s an awesome setup, the only problem is that you can’t get a park near him at the beach anymore, cos everyone is crowding around to pump up their kites!

How about posting some pics RADMAN?

I use a high quality 4wheeldrive mini comp mounted in the back sidewall on the troopy
and a 6m hose with slingshot pump nozzle an gauge,does the job nicely,I tried cheap compressors they overheat an melt so spend the $ an get a good one that is rated to pump up a convoy of fourbys an you wont look back


yes I know I am lazy......but your just jealous

Also, you will find that temperatures for Pressure, Volume, Temperature are all related to degrees Kelvin, not degrees Celcius - so the actual variation in pressure due to increase in temperature will not be that much within the kite, even if the temp goes from 0 degrees celcius to 30 degrees celcius - that is only a 10% increase in degrees Kelvin.

Blownaway said...

I use a high quality 4wheeldrive mini comp mounted in the back sidewall on the troopy
and a 6m hose with slingshot pump nozzle an gauge,does the job nicely,I tried cheap compressors they overheat an melt so spend the $ an get a good one that is rated to pump up a convoy of fourbys an you wont look back


yes I know I am lazy......but your just jealous

i just gave you a green thumb, now you owe me a few pump up credits.

[b]sunseeker said...

I thought hey, that's a great idea then I figured I would need a 200m air hose to be able to kite anywhere along the north shore haha.
Would be perfect for a big crew up at DI though.

Yeh it works at nearly all of our local spots

Hey sunseeker i have got a set up on the old cruser i use it for lots of things .I am thinking of going to di this sunday should give it a go . Too everybody out there it is very simple just use and old air conditioner pump on your car engine .They are rated at 11 cfms wich is about 50 times bigger than a 4x4 air pump be carefull though it will pump up too 230 psi before it blows the seal out the front of it . I have a air tank and presure switch on it set at 120 psi the electic clutch on it disengages but i use a simple tap on the hose too keep control and not blow kite up too much , fill most of kite with it then finsh off with hand pump. hell half of you might have air con on car already that dosent work a little plumbing and wiring and you are on your way . Make the hose out of pump fairly long as it dose create heat . sunseeker look for a sh**ty brown landcruser with big ass wheels on it .

Easier solution would just be the electronic kite pumps or a cheap chinese 150L 4x4 compressor which goes for about $80 on ebay.

ha the lengths we would all go to .....We are all getting lazy or old or both
and I am just as guilty often pumping up my 8m instead of 10m just because it is fewer pumps I justify by telling myself "ahh the wind will pick up" the result several frustrating underpowered sessions marred further by the constant reminder of my mistake each time I attempt to pop and the kite stalls.