pvc for air

shine

shine

Member
need some help here. i have been running 1/2 in sch40 pvc since 78 in my shops. why have i not had all these catastrophic events everyone talks about ? never had a blow out or anything.
and dont cut and paste any crap from osha. osha is a gov agency that tries to fix stupid.
 
Just like using paint materials, its all in the application. I hear guys all the time say they have this problem or that problem but anytime i've run pvc for air, i've never had a problem.

dont even get me started on osha, dhec, epa. Had an inspector come in for the yearly inspection...was new and wasnt the original inspector. Had to explain how the paint booth works and what filters were what? Amazing...but did find out that they guys arent subject to just bodyshops...they have 1 person that does EVERYTHING from bodyshops to checking out calls of people burning trash,leaves,etc.. Typical goverment...wastes 3 hours of my day. i should get some stimulus for that time loss right!?!?!?! I'll mention it in my taxes...i'm sure they will understand!
 
shine;11930 said:
need some help here. i have been running 1/2 in sch40 pvc since 78 in my shops. why have i not had all these catastrophic events everyone talks about ? never had a blow out or anything.
and dont cut and paste any crap from osha. osha is a gov agency that tries to fix stupid.
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I wonder if there are different grades of pvc?
You say you're using sch40 pvc.
I wonder if the guys who have had blowouts are using a brittle grade?

I do know there are different types of vinyl windows. Some vinyl is more brittle than the other.

And there are soft pliable plastics, and hard brittle plastics.
 
1/2 pvc sch40 burst pressure is 1900 sch 80 is about 2800 . i just dont run a lot of pressure. i dont need more than 70-80 lbs.
 
Same here, been using pvc for 25 years, never been a problem. I do know it gets brittle if it is in the sun for a long time.
 
I have 3/4" copper (50') in my shop. Didn't cost all that much and it is almost like investing in Gold. Just keeps going up in value. LOL
 
1/2 in is 1.50 a ft here. sometimes 1.25. i have over 175 ft of airline . i'm looking into rapidair systems.
 
big shop across the street has that setup. The bodymen say they hate it. They leak...and a few of them have burst off the outlets. Needless to say, they wont be replacing

The building i am in is over 20 years old, over 10,000 sq. ft. I believe the pipe they used to run the airlines is galvanized. Not sure if that is the "best" way but i've been here for over 7 years now and never had one problem out of them. Always have had a refrigerant dryer system. From the guys that were here before, they say they've never had problems. They were running 2 paint booths while they were here all day long and on the other side had about 8 bodymen running air tools all day long.
 
jeremyb;11934 said:
Just like using paint materials, its all in the application. I hear guys all the time say they have this problem or that problem but anytime i've run pvc for air, i've never had a problem.

dont even get me started on osha, dhec, epa. Had an inspector come in for the yearly inspection...was new and wasnt the original inspector. Had to explain how the paint booth works and what filters were what? Amazing...but did find out that they guys arent subject to just bodyshops...they have 1 person that does EVERYTHING from bodyshops to checking out calls of people burning trash,leaves,etc.. Typical goverment...wastes 3 hours of my day. i should get some stimulus for that time loss right!?!?!?! I'll mention it in my taxes...i'm sure they will understand!
Click to expand...

Just found out recently but did you know if you have less than 10 employees you do not have to let osha in your building unless there is an accident.
 
I used Schedule 40 PVC for air lines and the first failure came after 20 years and it appeared to be my fault (replaced and overtightened a fitting and it cracked the PVC). Only reason I chose galvanized was the heat conductivity issue. Thermal conductivity for copper is 400, aluminum is 250, steel or galvanized is 42 and PVC is 0.19. Fifty feet of galvanized 1/2" pipe removes about a cup of water per hour from my system. Galvanized won out over copper on price, even though it's only 1/10th as heat conductive as copper. I seem to recall that Shine and several others have refrigeration coolers so the cooling effect from the pipe is irrelevant for those systems.
 
Bob Heine;11969 said:
Only reason I chose galvanized was the heat conductivity issue. Thermal conductivity for copper is 400, aluminum is 250, steel or galvanized is 42 and PVC is 0.19. Fifty feet of galvanized 1/2" pipe removes about a cup of water per hour from my system. Galvanized won out over copper on price, even though it's only 1/10th as heat conductive as copper. I seem to recall that Shine and several others have refrigeration coolers so the cooling effect from the pipe is irrelevant for those systems.
Click to expand...

That was going to be my next question.
Does pvc have much ability to get water out of the air?
You just answered it with that post.
Thanks
 
i have no cooling set up. i run pvc and still dont have water problems. BUT my booth is at the opposite end of the shop. most of you guys have water problems because of the distance from compressor to hose. just not far enough to let the air cool some. good moisture trap followed by a toilet paper filter will cure the problem. the air hose for my blast hood goes into a coil in a 55 gal plastic barrel filled with water . cools the air so we stay cooler while blasting. in the top , out the bottom with a drain.
my compressor will be moving up hill this fall and plumbed underground to the shop. this will cool the air . i also do not run high pressure which creates more heat.
 
Why not run galv or black sch 40 ?
A lot cheaper than copper and will last a lifetime.
 
black pipe sucks. it will rust in no time and hold moisture and contaminate your air source. even gal can flake off and cause problems. if not plastic then copper.
i'm just a tight ass and hate to spend 500 bucks replumbing the shop in copper.
 
Galvanized pipe seems to be the standard for price/performance, etc. The dozen or so shops I have worked in have all been plumbed with it.
 
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