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GlueGuy
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Topic: tire pressure Posted: 27 May 2019 at 12:29pm |
You can also pick up a nice little portable air compressor from Target, HD, Lowes, or Walmart for between $30 and $80. Most of them run on 12V, and a couple also have 120VAC input. Some will also have a built-in flashlight and/or carrying case. Most are pretty small; smaller than a bread box. They're not fast, but you can use them almost anywhere.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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podwerkz
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 1:07pm |
Originally posted by GlueGuy
Pressure is pressure and the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen anyway. What your tires are filled with will not affect what the tire gauge reads. |
True, but my advice stands. Here is why:
IF the tires are factory-filled or dealer-filled with nitrogen, they are much less likely to have been under-filled, or to have both lost 10 psi just sitting around. Nitrogen filled tires hold proper psi for 3 to 6 times longer than regular air filled tires.
If they are filled with 'regular' air, then slow air loss (over a few months) is considered by all of us to be more or less, normal, so two 65 psi tires sitting at 55 psi would not be unusual, meaning the gauge is probably correct.
Still, it is very little trouble to verify a new gauge against a known, accurate, gauge.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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lostagain
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 1:20pm |
Why does pure nitrogen as opposed to an 80% mix stay in the tires longer. Does that 20% of other gases leak out easier? Just wondering.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
Sonoma 167RB
Our Pod 172
2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost
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podwerkz
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 1:27pm |
Yep...nitrogen molecules are bigger than oxygen molecules...so they permeate thru the rubber tire carcass at a much slower rate.
Many long haul trucks use nitrogen inflated tires (at least on the steer tires) because of this property alone. The large fleet I drove for had very good success with nitrogen filled tires.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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EchoGale
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 1:45pm |
Thanks everyone. I found a place close enough to fill the tires that shouldn't heat them up much. I will check my gauge against the one there; heading there soon. I do not believe the tires are filled with nitrogen. I have seen no indication of such. Its not surprising to me that the tires are low. While new to me, this is a 2016 that seems to have not had much attention at all at least over the last 1.5 with a second owner. The tires were replaces by the first owner in 2017.
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Julie
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GlueGuy
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 2:19pm |
Originally posted by podwerkz
Yep...nitrogen molecules are bigger than oxygen molecules...so they permeate thru the rubber tire carcass at a much slower rate.
Many long haul trucks use nitrogen inflated tires (at least on the steer tires) because of this property alone. The large fleet I drove for had very good success with nitrogen filled tires. |
Since the ratio of nitrogen to oxygen is roughly 80:20, and oxygen permeates rubber faster than oxygen, then I would postulate that tires inflated with plain old atmosphere are slowly becoming nitrogen-filled naturally. Just wait long enough, and all those old, nasty oxygen molecules will just permeate to the outside. Then you will end up with (mostly) nitrogen-filled tires and you won't have to buy any of that expensive stuff. Then you buy new tires and start all over. 
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost
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podwerkz
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 2:44pm |
Yep, again, all true... (discounting trace elements)... That's also why some old tires are still holding some air after ten years sitting in the junkyard or behind an old barn: The oxygen went on permanent vacation before the old rubber hardened with age or vulcanized in the UV...now all the residual air, mostly nitrogen, is stuck inside holding SOME air pressure in the tire.
I don't go around testing old tires for nitrogen/oxygen ratio, but I would assume it's not 80:20 inside the tire after many years.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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podwerkz
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 2:49pm |
Originally posted by EchoGale
The tires were replaces by the first owner in 2017. |
Then it's unlikely they are nitrogen filled.
SO...carry on with normal procedures.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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offgrid
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 3:28pm |
If you want to look at what's going on on the molecular level check this out:
So, the permeability is proportional to the difference in the partial pressures of each gas between the inside and outside of the tire. If the permeability of N2 through rubber is about 1/4 that of O2 and there is 4x as much N2 as O2 in the normal atmosphere, the two ratios roughly cancel, so the total amount of N2 and O2 lost are about the same to start with.
So if you start with 80 psi of air (65 psi on your gauge because that is measuring delta pressure relative to an atmospheric pressure of 15 psi) that will be 64 psi N2 and 16 psi O2. After some period of time you might have 59 psi N2 and 11 psi O2 for a 16% O2 mixture which would give you 70 psi (55 on your gauge). You'd never get to 0 percent O2 because the loss rate of O2 would get slower and slower relative to the N2 loss rate as time went on. If you air your tires back up to 80 psi (65 gauge) then you can continue the process of slowly increasing the N2 content of your tires over time, but you'd still never get to 100% N2.
Still, if you were trapped underwater with another person you didn't know with no source of oxygen other than two tires, one old and one new, you should grab the newer tire. Unless of course it was nitrogen filled, in which case you'd be totally screwed). 
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
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podwerkz
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Posted: 27 May 2019 at 4:21pm |
Rescue Dive Team Leader on surface to dive team under water: "You found WHAT down there?"
Diver: "I repeat, a huge bloated corpse with its face attached to an old 400 pound tractor tire and wheel"....
Oh lord. 
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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