Nitrogen Filled Tires
My trailer came with nitrogen-filled tires. I'm not sure it makes that big of a difference, considering the atmosphere is already 78% nitrogen. I find conflicting literature on it as well. Anyhow...
Forum Discussion
Golden_HVAC wrote:
Hi,
Any 'problem' with using compressed air to fill your tires is that it might contain some moisture. It will not directly damage the tires, however when a cubic centemeter (10cc) of water is heated to 212 F and turns to steam, it will expand to 1.6 liter of steam! So it expands 1600:1.
Fred.
While this statement is correct in that water expands dramatically when converted to steam, there is another factor involved with the possibility of liquid water boiling to steam inside a tire - pressure.
We all know that water boils at 212 F at sea level. However, folks that cook at higher elevations also know that it takes more time to cook things because water boils at a lower temperature at high altitude. Lower boiling temperature equals longer cooking time.
The opposite applies to water boiling at higher pressure, such as in a pressure cooker. Higher pressure reduces cooking time because it results in a higher boiling temperature.
An RV tire running at 80psi would have to somehow heat to 312 F before any drops of water inside would turn to steam. My guess is that a tire would have come apart long before the boiling temperature is reached.
