why do bicycle pumps have something like “don’t use to pump your car” even though some bike tyre require more than double the pressure than that of a car tyre?
In: Engineering
Much more pressure in a much smaller space. It would take you hours to pump up and car tire with a bike pump.
It’s possible that it is mostly a liability issue. If you use the hand pump and overinflate the tyre, it might burst in the worst possible moment, causing an accident. Or the uneven pressure among the tyres might lead to unexpected behavior when braking or turning. Some inventive motorist (or their lawyer) might then have the idea to sue the pump manufacturer, because their product was at the root of the issue.
Never seen thay but probably justbtake far to long to long and wear your pump out. In an emergency its a different matter and i would use a pump to atleast attempt to repair a car tyre.
Well on the pressure point you raise, a smaller space like a bike wheel at a higher pressure wont put out the same amount of force as a car wheel due to the amount of volume. Thats why pressure is measured in units such as psi (pounds per square inch)
I think you’ve answered your own question, no? If a bike pump can output more pressure than a car tire can handle, by using a bike pump, you’re making it likely you’ll blow up your car tire.
If I remember right, a lot of bike pumps don’t have pressure gauges, you just stop when it “feels right”, but if you did that to a car, you could blow the tire.
I assume it’s for liability reasons, I have pumped up car tyres with my bike pump (it has a gauge) and it doesn’t take much longer than my bike tyres
My father and I filled up a forestry machine’s tire (the 5 foot tall one) with a bike pump. It just takes a lot of time. As long as you don’t exceed the tire capacity, you could inflate any tire size.
The main reason you shouldn’t use a bike pump for a car is because Pumping up a car tire will require you to cycle the pump a considerable amount more then with a bike tire causing An excessive amount of heat to be generated inside the pump which will damage the parts prematurely. The piston seal can melt, the Check valve can seize, and etc…
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