My camper came with tires filled with Nitro air

RAS43 wrote:

Muddydogs wrote:
What amazes me is most guys on this forum all worried about tire pressure and say to check it often but when the use of nitrogen comes up they claim its a waist of money and snake oil.
So for guys worried about trailer tire life and the effects low air pressure can have on a trailer tire I would think that nitrogen would be a no brainer. I don't have to worry about heading out to the mountains in the fall when home temp is around 60 degrees and ending up 5+ pounds lower when I get in the 30 degree temps. I have not put air in the tires of the 2 trucks I drive in the last 2 years or the trailer since I purchased it a year and a half ago. I do check trailer tire pressure often just to see if they hold as well as my truck TPMS system tells me my truck is doing and I verify the truck TPMS system with an old fashioned gauge every once in a while.

All of my vehicles have nitrogen in them as that is what Costco put in them when I purchased the tires. And all have a TPMS system to monitor air pressure. In cold weather the pressures are 2-3lbs lower in the morning then in warmer weather. I may be able to run all summer without adding air as you have stated but as soon as the temperature drops I see a change in pressures. But since I am not towing in the winter a few lbs. lower pressure isn't critical. My point is that nitrogen filled tires are also effected by temperature. But I do believe that they hold pressures better over a period of time and I don't have to add air as often.

Yes you are right, you will see a couple pounds difference which isn't anything to worry about but with normal air in the tires you can see a 5 to 10 pound drop. Just this morning after commenting on this thread I jumped in a rig that had 70 pounds in the tires Tuesday when I drove it and today the TPMS is flashing telling me that I now have 62 pounds in the tires. Why the change, well the temp dropped yesterday.

I noticed that no one said that nitrogen molecules are larger therefore less nitrogen will leak. In that case I'll just pump up my tires to 23% above normal and let all the O2 leak out, leaving me with free nitrogen!!!

Muddydogs wrote:
What amazes me is most guys on this forum all worried about tire pressure and say to check it often but when the use of nitrogen comes up they claim its a waist of money and snake oil.
So for guys worried about trailer tire life and the effects low air pressure can have on a trailer tire I would think that nitrogen would be a no brainer. I don't have to worry about heading out to the mountains in the fall when home temp is around 60 degrees and ending up 5+ pounds lower when I get in the 30 degree temps. I have not put air in the tires of the 2 trucks I drive in the last 2 years or the trailer since I purchased it a year and a half ago. I do check trailer tire pressure often just to see if they hold as well as my truck TPMS system tells me my truck is doing and I verify the truck TPMS system with an old fashioned gauge every once in a while.

All of my vehicles have nitrogen in them as that is what Costco put in them when I purchased the tires. And all have a TPMS system to monitor air pressure. In cold weather the pressures are 2-3lbs lower in the morning then in warmer weather. I may be able to run all summer without adding air as you have stated but as soon as the temperature drops I see a change in pressures. But since I am not towing in the winter a few lbs. lower pressure isn't critical. My point is that nitrogen filled tires are also effected by temperature. But I do believe that they hold pressures better over a period of time and I don't have to add air as often.

What a bunch of junk science being principally promoted by Nitrogen suppliers.

Simple physics, mainly ideal gas law rules here.

As said above, the air we breath is 78% nitrogen. The Oxygen molecule is not this tiny element that "slips" through the tire at a faster rate than Nitrogen.

Most shop air goes through a water separator, which isn't as effective as as a dryer, but as pointed out above air transport tires use nitrogen, as the tires do get hot enough to water vapor to steam, which will cause blowout issues. Our tires don't get that hot.

Where some of the biggest problems come from, when air is compressed, it heats up. That hot air expands the volume and increases perceived pressure. As the tires cool, especially going into fall/winter, the volume of gas drops, but the tire volume remains constant, which shows up as lower pressure.

Will nitrogen do anything except lighten your wallet? Not a chance in hell. So unless you accelerate from 0-150 in 5,000 ft and then have to stop to zero in the same distance, you're going to be fine with breathable air in your tires :)

frankdamp wrote:
The FAA requires airplane tires to be inflated with nitrogen due to in flight tire bursts on retracted landing gear wheels. I worked in Boeing's landing gear group for a couple of years and investigated a serious incident on a 727.

A main gear tire blew out at about 18,000'and punched a hole in the bulkhead between the wheel-well and the aft cargo bay. If a couple of mailbags hadn't jammed in the hole, the airplane would probably have crashed.

It turned out that the airplane had taxied a long way before take-off and had a dragging brake. The blow-out actually failed the steel cords in the tire bead. Calculations indicated that a pressure of about 12,000 psi would be needed to do that.

Tests showed that the tire had been hot enough to expel explosive gases from the rubber compounds in the tire and they had exploded.

If your RV can accelerate to 150 mph in two miles with a dragging brake, then you stash the wheels away in a closed box and climb to 18,000 feet, you need nitrogen inflation. Otherwise regular atmospheric air is fine, and much cheaper.

What happened to the sacrificial plug ? the one that lets all the air out even with a brake on fire.

After topping my four tires with nitrogen, so far they have all maintained the samed pressure. So, apparently no leaks. Fall temps change seems to be the culprit. With the TPMS system, I do check nearly every time I drive, especially if traveling at highway speeds for a bit. Usually notice a pound or two difference from cold to running.

I fill mine with helium. It makes the whole rig lighter and I get better gas mileage. The downside is the exhaust now sounds like a high squeaky voice.

Keep the water tanks full, though, else your rig will float away when you stop and get out.

:)

"Snake air".... now I like THAT term! Thanks!

(I hope he doesn't have bad breath!)

The FAA requires airplane tires to be inflated with nitrogen due to in flight tire bursts on retracted landing gear wheels. I worked in Boeing's landing gear group for a couple of years and investigated a serious incident on a 727.

A main gear tire blew out at about 18,000'and punched a hole in the bulkhead between the wheel-well and the aft cargo bay. If a couple of mailbags hadn't jammed in the hole, the airplane would probably have crashed.

It turned out that the airplane had taxied a long way before take-off and had a dragging brake. The blow-out actually failed the steel cords in the tire bead. Calculations indicated that a pressure of about 12,000 psi would be needed to do that.

Tests showed that the tire had been hot enough to expel explosive gases from the rubber compounds in the tire and they had exploded.

If your RV can accelerate to 150 mph in two miles with a dragging brake, then you stash the wheels away in a closed box and climb to 18,000 feet, you need nitrogen inflation. Otherwise regular atmospheric air is fine, and much cheaper.

Good reading
Clicky