Should a marker leak air over time?

[Deerslayer]

I inadvertently left my POPS in the ON position on my Etha 3 after I stopped using the marker.* I don't know how much air was in the bottle - it was well below the half way point (a 3000 psi, 48 cu in, HPA Ninja). When I looked at the gun a few of days later, the tank was empty. I routinely store the it with the POPS off, and experience absolutely no leakage whatsoever. My spare bottles will hold 3000 psi air with no obvious leakage for several months when on a shelf in my closet. Since there are myriad o-rings and another valve in the gun, I am not surprised at the minor leakage I experienced.

Is this normal?

What does the POPS acronym stand for?

*Marker was turned off, hopper off, muzzle covered.

[Jordan]

According to ANS's website:

"POPS stands for Push On Purge System and is a completely new concept in On/Off/Purging ASAs."

[autococker04]

Huh. That’s news to me, I thought it was just called that because it makes a pop when you disengage.

[MrBarraclough]

And its predecessor was OOPS, On/Off Purge System.

[MrBarraclough]

Why on earth are you storing your marker with the tank still screwed into the ASA? I wouldn't even transport my marker home from the field like that.

[Chuck E Ducky]

They will leak down over time. It’s normal. Some more then others so nothing to be concerned about. But I would not store it like that if you can help it. Mainly for safety reasons.

[BrickHaus]

I thought driving with a tank on your gun ready to fire was technically illegal. Was just telling my co worker whom I took balling yesterday this. The shooter ai let him use ended up in my truck, hopper on, tank juiced, ready to fire at the end of the day. I was like woah bro, we can't leave it like that.

but to echo the room. It really depends on the shooter. Most should hold air for a long time, cup seal material would be a factor. Macro lime fittings likely let some bleed off also.

I have an rtp Viper ( sheridan) that the valve won't hold air unless you have enough input pressure. But it's spring so perfectly for pump stroke, I'm leaving it.

[Deerslayer]

Why on earth are you storing your marker with the tank still screwed into the ASA? I wouldn't even transport my marker home from the field like that.

As I posted earlier, I'm using this marker mainly to chase deer and larger animals (raccoons) away from my wife's bird feeder. I keep the marker with tank attached, pressure purged (thanks Jordan) in a corner near our back door so that I can just grab it, power up, turn on the feeder, remove the bbl sock, engage the POPS and shoot. It is not transported anywhere with the tank attached outside of our house. Inside the house, it always has a sock on and the pressure purged. After shooting, its purge pressure, de-power, hopper off, sock on, and put the gun away.

To date, its animals lots of points, me, zero for hits.

[MrBarraclough]

That would explain why, then.

If you're using a POPS that's disengaged, then you're almost certainly not losing air through the marker or the ASA. My suspicion would then fall on the fill nipple, specifically the little o-ring around the pin/piston inside the fill nipple. Those get chewed up easily, especially if the fill nipple isn't screwed in to the point of being fully seated. Do you happen to have one of the little rubber dust caps for the fill nipple? If so, do you tend to find it has come off when you could've sworn that you habitually put it back on after filling? A very tiny leak can often reveal itself by popping that little dust cap off the fill nipple by itself.

[chops]

You may have a very small tank leak that’s too small to hear. Next time you have air in it, spray some soapy water around the burst disks, fill nipple, gauge, etc. if you’re seeing bubbles, you’ll know where the leak is

[Deerslayer]

Thanks to you and MrBarraclough. I only had one leak when I forgot to disengage the POPS. This was a one time occurrence when I put the gun away (sock goes on immediately after turning the electronics off). This was the only time I forgot to purge the air pressure with the POPS.* Since a tank lasts me easily a month (often longer) and I have seen no pressure gage needle on my spare tanks while they are waiting to be used, I think they all hold air sufficiently well. My original question was about this one time leakdown, and since a couple of posters have said that is normal with the whole gun pressurized, I no longer worry about this issue.

*I have noticed when the tank is nearly empty of air, the POPS almost requires me to push in the button and pull the POPS slide forward to vent the pressurized gas. In other words, with low enough pressure it does not automatically vent the pressure but requires assistance. There is no such problem with anything over a few hundred psi left in the tank. It is possible this might have been the case when I lost air.