[Shop-talk] Compressed Air Lines, RapidAir

[Michael Lye]

Well, I can confirm first hand the PVC will fail by explosively shattering. I had thought the same thing about the pressure ratings etc. and ran a line from the back of a shop to the front of a store. Fortunately it was above a dropped ceiling because that served to stop the shrapnel when it let go. It made a big noise when it did let go that was only connected to a small tank around 100 psi. Never did find all the pieces. About 6 inches of the pipe were badly fractured and I never did find all the pieces.The fracture occurred in the middle of a section of pipe nowhere near a joint or anything else I could identify as creating any special stress. 

So even though it's cheap and easy to work with I'd never do it again.  Even if no one gets hurt or nothing gets damaged it just isn't worth the effort of doing it twice. 

Michael

On Oct 13, 2011, at 1:37 PM, Wayne wrote:

> On 10/13/2011 9:11 AM, Bob Rochlin wrote:
>> I'm jumping in here late, but i've been using Home Depot PVC for my air lines
>> for about 10 years with no issues.  The PVC has a bursting rating or 600PSi (I
>> run it at about 100 PSI), is easy to work with, and inexpensive.  I've had no
>> issues with leaks, bursting etc.Bob
> 
> And of course everyone is gonna jump in with "do not use PVC, it can explode and shatter".  But you know what -- I've seen it used in multiple industrial air systems, including a local NASCAR shop (Andy Petree - I now own his workbench and sandblaster) and never heard of failures.
> 
> I suspect it's kinda like "do not power up your cell phone on the plane, or it will immediately nose dive into the ground"
> 
> -WC
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