I have a confession to make: I plumbed my new shop entirely with schedule
40 PVC both for hot and cold water and compressed air. I ended up using
over 500 linear feet of pipe (shop is 48x80, two stories) and have a number
of water traps, oilers, oil removers, and air dryers in the line.
I wanted to have separate dry air for the paint booth and both oiled and
non oiled lines for air tools around the building. With black pipe, you
have to use a lot of teflon to keep the joints from leaking. With PVC I
just clean with the purple stuff then glue with the blue. I used a table
saw to make all the cuts right at 90 degrees, and super clean.
The compressor is a Speedaire 7.5 hp, 80 gallon 25 cfm @175 psi. I had
trouble with just the few galvanized pipe joints coming from the tank
through a ball valve and into the first regulator holding air that I looked
into using PVC. There were a number of local mechanics shops that were
plumbed with PVC, a couple of them were using 1/2" sched 40 which is really
tough, has a bust pressure in the 800 range, I decided to use 3/4" since I
could get it in bulk and use it for both air and h2o. It also keeps the
CFM up for the sandblast cabinet (it needs 18 cfm to run).
With the kinds of pressures that PVC takes in schedule 40 thickness, I have
to agree that I'm more likely to get a leak in the yellow self coiling hose
lines I have in places. It's not like I'm going to be wacking on the pipes
in the middle of winter wondering where the steam is for my radiator.
I don't worry about shattering PVC, and you are all invited to come wrench
in my spiffy new digs any time you're in the Pacific Northwest. I promise
nothing will explode while working on our projects.
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Miq Millman miq@teleport.com
Tualatin, OR
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