CO2 Inflators - not lasting - what am I doing wrong?
First - yes I use a pump when I can. But sometimes I prefer to use CO2, and I take the cartridges home and put them in recycling. There.
Second - every single brand of inflator I've tried - PDW Shiny Object, Blackburn Wayside, Genuine Innovation Microflate Nano - have all eventually failed to work correctly.
Typically since going to tubeless on most of my bikes I have less than a flat per year that I have to fix on the road/trail. In some cases these inflators go unused for months. And then when I go to use them either they leak CO2, or the mechanism by which you release CO2 no longer works correctly (each of the three I listed works slightly differently - one with a knob to open the valve, one you just press the head down, and one you twist the cart to open).
Should I be using some kind of silicone lubricant on the seals? Keeping it in a ziplock in my bike bag? Or is there a brand you've found particularly reliable and long lasting?