A few AGR tank tricks

[UncleChuck]

Hey guys,

I figured out something rather clever with the AGR tank. Even with the short tube it's still quite a large tank, due to the bottom locking section. The only reason you need the locking section is because screwing the tank straight down onto your PV will result in no contact on the center pin, due to the extra space taken up by the bottom cap of the tank (not the locking section, the actual bottomcap the carto just sits in)

Well, that, and because without the locking section it's a hassle to screw the tank on-and-off your PV, since the o-rings are so loose and it just spins freely around the carto. But that's true of several other tanks as well.

Anyway, all I did was pull the post on the carto and whatever PV I was using so that they could make contact. Doing this allows you to use your AGR without the bottom locking section, cutting down on the size of the tank. If you do this you still retain the locking function of the tank, it's perfectly secure, it simply locks into your PV instead of the locking base piece.

Also, I'm sure most AGR people have heard about the flooding issues some are having. Many have said it's an issue of loosely fitting o-rings around the carto, allowing air into the tank where it shouldn't. I can say I'm absolutely certain this is the cause, when I flipped the tank upside down, took a draw, I could see quite a few bubbles coming from the carto to endcap seal.

Larger o-rings will help, but there is an issue I have run into. Using a thicker o-ring, the o-ring won't fit into the little o-ring channel, because it's machined to a specific size, anything larger won't fit inside.

Using o-rings small enough to fit into the small channel, it then doesn't press as firmly on the carto. If that channel was larger, you could use a much thicker o-ring, which would stick out further into the center hole, sealing better against the carto.

To avoid the whole replacing o-rings thing,I just decided to shim up the current o-rings. I took a carto-condom, cut a tiny bit off the open end, and inserted this "bushing' into the slot, followed by the stock o-rings.

This gave me a much better seal, on my first try too good of a seal, I couldn't get the carto in there at all. I had to cut down the little condom bushing piece to find a spot where it will seal better, but still accept the carto. I've reached a point where it's close to being flood-free, but I still have to pay attention and take VERY light draws as to not suck in any air. It no longer floods while sitting still, but will flood when used as I normally use my tanks (average draw, nothing crazy)

More experimenting could probably get me to a point that it's flood-free and stil accepts the carto, but to be honest I got frustrated tearing the tank down over and over and over again to fiddle with the o-rings, so that's where I'm at right now.

I'm thinking some sort of paper might actually work better, or maybe even something like saran-wrap. You just need something that fits inside of the o-ring channel, that will force the o-ring to extend further into the center hole to press onto the carto firmer.

I just figured I'd share, hopefully this info is useful to someone! And thanks again to you (well, just they) know who for the AGR

 

[mike26038]

Without the bottom section on, the cart would fall out very easy making a mess. Mine is not a tight seal without the extension ring on.

 

[UncleChuck]

Without the bottom section on, the cart would fall out very easy making a mess. Mine is not a tight seal without the extension ring on.

That"s true when the tank is removed from the PV, but when it's attached to a PV it's 100% locked and nothing can fall off. Simply replacing the locking base back onto the tank when not attached to a PV fixes the issue. Plus, with the shimmed o-rings, my AGR is more firmly attached to the carto than with my IBtanks.

 

[surewhynot]

interesting thread.. just got AGR and i don't use the locking ring because i like it small. but occasionally get flooding.. do you think if i put some shrink tubing on the oring and shrink it, then put it back onto the cap it will work?? almost the same as your condom method..

 

[UncleChuck]

interesting thread.. just got AGR and i don't use the locking ring because i like it small. but occasionally get flooding.. do you think if i put some shrink tubing on the oring and shrink it, then put it back onto the cap it will work?? almost the same as your condom method..

I'm not sure how well that would work. The o-ring which seals against the carto is very tiny, a very small amount of shimming material is needed, a piece about the length of a grain of rice might be all that's needed. I'm not sure if you can get shrink wrap that small, or work with it good enough to accomplish that.

Plus, I'm not sure what type of leeching would occur with shrink wrap in contact with the juice (however little contact there would be) The condom material is the same type as used for little gaskets and seals inside various clearos so I had more confidence in it.

I gave up on shimming the o-ring however, it did work but was just a hassle. I now used a thin file to put a slot in the carto, then use a thumb tack to poke a tiny tiny hole, smaller than a hole you would use for any other carto tank. The much smaller hole compared to the size you would normally use for a well sealed carto tank restricts the juice flow to the point where I get zero flooding, without messing with the o-rings.

The only reason I use a file and tack for this, is because it allows me a bit more control than using a carto punch. With a punch it's hard to make a hole that small, as the carto body when punched seems to stretch and stretch, and then suddenly the hole goes through, giving that slight crack or pop sound when punching cartos. Even if I back off right after this, the hole is still too big. It appears the regular carto punches have a lower limit on how small of a hole they can make, where as using a tack I can just barely poke through the thin material and get a tiny hole, if I had to guess I'd say 3 of the holes would fit inside of a regular hole on a prepunched smoktech carto. So it's fairly small.