Method Helium without regulator?

[Podlerman]

I have a party helium canister, where they promoted to have "99% pure helium compared to our competitors". I tried to find a regulator, but it uses some connector I have no clue about.

Can I use without regulator, and just purchase a long plastic 1/4" tubing, then use a wrench to "shut it tight" for little leakage, then turn the valve just a little bit to get the gass going?

My exit bag is literally just some plastic shopping bag where a tiny tube is going from the canister to my 'exit bag'. I thought of using very tight duct tape around my neck to reduce any air to go out. It's scuffed but it looks like it would work.

 

[blacksand]

That sounds like a real old school 90s style helium ctb. Personally I would never do inert gas unless perfectly setup because the risk of failure is high.

 

[foxgirl]

There's a mega thread on the inert gas method, or, if you have audible, I'd recommend listening to some of the chapters in Final Exit by Derek Humphrey. The full book is available for free on there. He discusses this method.

That sounds like a real old school 90s style helium ctb. Personally I would never do inert gas unless perfectly setup because the risk of failure is high.

Is the risk of failure high? From what I've read and listened to, if all the precautionary steps are taken it sounds like death is certain. Asking because I have been leaning towards this method

 

[Falling Slowly]

I have a party helium canister, where they promoted to have "99% pure helium compared to our competitors". I tried to find a regulator, but it uses some connector I have no clue about.

Can I use without regulator, and just purchase a long plastic 1/4" tubing, then use a wrench to "shut it tight" for little leakage, then turn the valve just a little bit to get the gass going?

My exit bag is literally just some plastic shopping bag where a tiny tube is going from the canister to my 'exit bag'. I thought of using very tight duct tape around my neck to reduce any air to go out. It's scuffed but it looks like it would work.

View attachment 124034

The thing about using a regulator is that as well as setting the gas flow litres per minute(LPM) to what's usually recommended to ctb (i.e. 15-25 LPM), you can also roughly work out how many minutes worth of gas you have.
The PPH states that death occurs after 5-10 mins when using an exit bag at 15 LPM of inert gas.

In theory, if you had enough gas flowing into the bag, and the gas flow lasted a good bit longer than 10 mins, then it would work. But could you be certain of either of those things by just adjusting the cylinder valve yourself?

There are plenty of examples online of people who ctb'd by directly connecting a bag to a cylinder (sometimes 2 cylinders at the same time) in the past. So it has been done. But I would try and get a setup with a regulator if I was you, just to be sure.

 

[UnwillingSavior]

AFAIK, gas canisters in general are not designed for outputting a variable pressure. It's either "fully closed" or "fully opened", like off and on. Thus, you may find it unreliable or even dangerous to attempt a variable opening without a regulator. If the canister is from the US (maybe North America might work, generally) then look for a CGA580 type helium regulator. Again, AFAIK it needs to be a helium inert gas regulator and not a nitrogen or argon one (helium is a finicky gas I think). It might have extra numbers and letters after the name but as long as it has "CGA580" in its name, it should be fine. Conduct trials if you are not sure, such as setting the regulator to output 10-15 psi and feel the airflow on your hand: is it constant or increasing/decreasing? Perhaps a hardware/welding store may be able to help you find a fitting that works and give you more info.

I hope this helps and I hope you can procure the necessary resources.