Mid-90s SPA bottle experience

[Rick Kirchner]

Is the actuation mechanism for a SPA bottle, the usual manual pull type used in mid-90s Van Diemens, removable without releasing the gas?

I'm guessing its not given the location of the gauge, but maybe there's a valve of some kind underneath.

[Phil Creighton]

Not removeable - there should be a shrader valve under the gauge but not always and it often is stuck anyway.
Phil

[Rick Kirchner]

After hearing of a friends close call with being trapped upside down in a burning car, only to find the valve corroded shut, I sure wanted to test it.

Regardless of the extinguishant used, the inability to do so is certainly a design flaw.

[billtebbutt]

After hearing of a friends close call with being trapped upside down in a burning car, only to find the valve corroded shut, I sure wanted to test it.

Regardless of the extinguishant used, the inability to do so is certainly a design flaw.

Agreed Rick. I took the bottle out of the RF 90 a couple of years back to replace it, and the valve was so corroded that the cable wouldn't open it and I couldn't open it with a squeeze from both hands. I eventually opened the valve/set off the refrigerant by squeezing the handle and rapping the bottom of the bottle hard on the picnic table multiple times. When it finally went off, it really went off!

best
bt