I know, that’s why I wrote, “they are scrambling around on the ground searching for the missing core (don’t know why…)…”
But your point about eye protection is well taken…
Actually, I wrote that part all in jest, I have heard over the years that the old air in tires gets “poisonous” with being in close contact with the inside of the tire and that the air inside of the tire may vent fumes that could kill a “coal mine Canary…” I can’t image that the fumes are as “poisonous” as the air in most public restrooms…
I’ve also heard some “Racing Pros” say they only race with 78% Nitrogen in their tires and that some folks think they are bragging, when in reality, they are simply saying that the tires are inflated with everyday air, straight out of the pump…
My posting was intended to present every possible ridiculous scenario that a Newbie “Core Replacer” could conceivably run into…
The next person that ask if my hot rod is NA or forced induction, I am just going to simply say that I am running 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen and just smile and walk away…
Heh heh. A local new company is setting up shop to separate air. I’m not a chemist so I don’t remember what gases were going to result except argon and I Spose pure oxygen, and maybe nitrogen. Supposed to be a good market. Maybe they’ll have a free air pump outside. No joke though. Argon is the only one I remember because I have some. Very low percentage though.
When I lived in Texas, I had a friend whose home had a basement and he had to install fans that would vent his basement because it collected Radon Gas. It’s a naturally-occurring radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. You can’t smell it or see it and it enters buildings through cracks and other holes in the foundation. He was being treated for lung cancer and the EPA estimates that about 21,000 people die each year from radon-related lung cancer. Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths.
On a happier note, before the Pandemic I taught a couple of computer classes at my local Senior Center each week. Since this class was very informal, I had lots of repeat students and it really was more like a computer-social club than a class, they often brought in cookies, cakes and pies. One of my repeat students was a lady who had COPD, who had smoked most of her 70 plus years, and dragged one of those small Oxygen bottles with wheels on it. While she was on the bottled oxygen, she and her husband were going on a vacation and they wanted an extra bottle so there would be no issues in a strange city…
They never got out of town before they had an issue… When her husband was loading the spare bottle in the trunk, it slipped out of his hands, landed on the nozzle and it took off like a rocket, traveled high up and into the adjacent parking lot and bounced of a couple of cars and caused quite a bit of damage and their insurance really had to fight hard to get the medical supply business to pay, saying the the bottle had to be defective for the valve to break off from a drop of only a few feet.
I asked, didn’t the bottle have some screw on cover and she said they never did…
After that, she bought one of the oxygen concentrators that generate oxygen out of the air. It was a little larger than a lunch box and she could carry it over her shoulder like a large purse. When she showed up the first time with that, she practically danced into the computer room…
When Dad come home from the hospital a few years ago the ins set him up with o2 for the house, luckily he never needed it… It consisted of a o2 making machine about the size of R2D2 with enough hose to go anywhere in the house… Also came with a large back up bottle (minimum 9 hour supply) incase the power went out, that could be wheeled around about chest highish, and then 6 small bottles (minimum 2 hour supply) each that was a backpack type setup…None had caps like an oxy-acetylene or argon bottles have… Most home medical supply oxygen tanks don’t have threaded necks for safety caps…
No guard on a propane tank, but the pressure in an oxygen tank is 2000 psi, much much more than a propane tank’s 150 psi. That oxygen tank wasn’t defective I bet.
Things may not be what they seem. You might have got some dirt in the valve core. Depress it briefly to blow any dirt out and check it again. If the leak has stopped, something else caused the flat. If it still leaks there you can get a package of cores and caps with the tool to unscrew and tighten the core. If you have to replace the core, take the weight off of the tire so it does not go flat and create a leak at the rim.
I had one that the tire kept getting low. Soaped it several times but couldn’t find the leak. Finally I put the tire In the kids pool. Then about every ten seconds a little bubble came out of the valve core. I think I just had them put a new valve stem in. Pesky little things. Shop owner said in the winter be sure to do a little puff of air after filling the tires because a little ice can hold the valve open. I always do it anytime though.
