Air lines for Shop

[mscher]

I plan (eventually) to run compressed air from a larger compressor, to 3 (or so) connectors within a 3 car garage. I'd like to keep everything above the ceiling and inside the walls.

Keep reading that some, are using PEX or other plastic tubing, with good results 1/2" or so, rating 150-200 psi.

Want to keep costs lower, but need have a low/no problem system. Pricing cast iron or copper, is just plain ugly.

Anybody using tubing?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Air lines for Shop

You want to keep it cheap? Everyone that I have seen has used sched 40 PVC with never an issue. If there is anywhere that the line would be exposed to sunlight, paint it. It has a huge pressure rating margin over what you will subject it to. Sched 40 is probably 1/5 th of the cost of Pex and it's fittings.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Air lines for Shop

I plan (eventually) to run compressed air from a larger compressor, to 3 (or so) connectors within a 3 car garage. I'd like to keep everything above the ceiling and inside the walls.

Keep reading that some, are using PEX or other plastic tubing, with good results 1/2" or so, rating 150-200 psi.

Want to keep costs lower, but need have a low/no problem system. Pricing cast iron or copper, is just plain ugly.

Anybody using tubing?

PEX is fine and used in industrial applications. Do not conceal connections and be sure to leave a little slack (S turns)on each run.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Almost everyone says to never to use PVC for air lines. If they burst, shards of plastic get sent across the garage. The money you save using it will buy you a nice eye patch if it does burst though.

I would go with the PEX.

be sure to leave a little slack (S turns)on each run.

Wouldn't that trap water?

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Mine is all SC 40 black pipe. Not the quickest stuff to install but it is cheap and you don't have to worry about banging stuff into it.

 

[bigdee]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Almost everyone says to never to use PVC for air lines. If they burst, shards of plastic get sent across the garage. The money you save using it will buy you a nice eye patch if it does burst though.

I would go with the PEX.

Wouldn't that trap water?

Just be a little creative on the horizontal runs. Runs from point A to Point B have to have room for thermal expansion/retraction or it could pull apart. You don't need much and there is a formula if you search for it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Air lines for Shop

I have done black pipe and copper in the past however both Dad and Grand Dad were in the plumbing business so I have the equipment now and cut my own threads. I usually do the runs inside the wall and then drywall over them. From the compressor to the wall mounted filter/strainer I run stainless braided teflon hose just do to the temperature rise from the compressor when really using the compressor.

remember, the pressure rating of PEX decreases as the temperature increases.

I know a few people that use teh aluminum kits from Garage Pak Garage Pak?::?Garage-Pak Starter Kits

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Air lines for Shop

You want to keep it cheap? Everyone that I have seen has used sched 40 PVC with never an issue. If there is anywhere that the line would be exposed to sunlight, paint it. It has a huge pressure rating margin over what you will subject it to. Sched 40 is probably 1/5 th of the cost of Pex and it's fittings.

I suspect that he'd rather keep it safe.
A very good friend had some pinhead tell him that PVC would be ok in this application....probably stayed at a Holiday Inn Select the night before.

We were doing some ski prep in his shop. A pair of skis fell over and hit the line on the wall, it blew about a minute later, a 4" piece of shrapnel stuck into the wall about 18" from my crotch....he still has a small piece in his calf. If he hadn't been wearing safety glasses, probably would be blind.

Just because lots of people do it, doesn't make it safe. :facepalm:

 

[hungupthespikes]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Worked two years at a PVC plant in Florida and we tried the PVC compressed air in the plant. Sch 40/80/120, 40 was a waste, 80 worked OK, but still not good, 120 was fine, but the fittings were the weak point. Heat made all the pipe sag with time.
Went to Black pipe and never looked back.

PEX would work. but it will sag and trap water/moisture. At the assembly plant here in Ohio the fitters use black pipe with tubing the last few feet/inches to help with vibration when needed.

I'd run a piece of PEX from the compressor to the start of the pipe so the noise/vibration of the motor could be controlled a little better. Getting the pipe inside the walls will be a challenge without drilling a hole in the outside wall to feed it thru.
That was no biggie for me, the garage is not attached and being the old wood siding style you just pop the trim and replace when done with pipe.

The money for the pipe, fittings, strapping and the quick connects was very close to a portable compressor, soooo that ended the piping idea for me. One stationary, one portable. :eagerness:

Good luck however you go.
huts

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Air lines for Shop

I'd run a piece of PEX from the compressor to the start of the pipe so the noise/vibration of the motor could be controlled a little better.

A hydraulic hose is also good for this.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Air lines for Shop

A hydraulic hose is also good for this.

Or just regular air hose, which is how mine is set up Attaching the compressor directly to anything ridged would really suck.

 

[gm280]

Re: Air lines for Shop

I suspect that he'd rather keep it safe.
A very good friend had some pinhead tell him that PVC would be ok in this application....probably stayed at a Holiday Inn Select the night before.

We were doing some ski prep in his shop. A pair of skis fell over and hit the line on the wall, it blew about a minute later, a 4" piece of shrapnel stuck into the wall about 18" from my crotch....he still has a small piece in his calf. If he hadn't been wearing safety glasses, probably would be blind.

Just because lots of people do it, doesn't make it safe. :facepalm:

Tim, yours was the comment I was looking for. I too will be installing a largeR compressor hopefully in the back section of my shop (outside in a added on covered area) and was trying to figure out the best, and safest, means to supply the air to different places in the shop. I heard of PVC stories about them bursting. Finally a first hand experience to set me straight. Thanks for reporting your experiences. I am now thinking on black pipe over head with moisture traps to drain the water. Living where I do, we get a lot of moisture in the compressors and supply lines. I have to drain the compressor and install a moisture trap at the spray gun to paint anything... Thanks again...

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Air lines for Shop

put a dryer or coalescing filter between the compressor and system.

I also installed an auto drain on the tank in my last shop

 

[dolluper]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Humm only 2 problems cheap and behind walls .....more problems ifin you do that......copper and brass out in the open would be worth it down the road

 

[bigdee]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Humm only 2 problems cheap and behind walls .....more problems ifin you do that......copper and brass out in the open would be worth it down the road

I would trust PEX behind walls....I have never seen a failure In all the industrial applications of PEX that I have been involved with. Cheap and easy. Copper and brass would be way out of reach for most budget minded people.

 

[rbh]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Keep an eye open for buildings being torn down that had steam heat in them, that's where I got my 1 inch galvanized steel pipe.

As for plastic type pipe, it gets brittle over time, might as well stick with hose, cut to length, and put ends on it.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Air lines for Shop

I just have mine on a reel in the cealing. It reaches where I need it to go and its out of the way when I don't need it.

 

[agallant80]

Re: Air lines for Shop

I would trust PEX behind walls....I have never seen a failure In all the industrial applications of PEX that I have been involved with. Cheap and easy. Copper and brass would be way out of reach for most budget minded people.

I had a peace of PEX in my house spring a leek 5 years after it was installed. I think city water is something like 30PSI? I would not trust it to hold 120 PSI

 

[81 Checkmate]

Re: Air lines for Shop

Just input...Been a Pipewelder/fitter for the last 25 yrs and i have never seen a PVC compressed air system. So i dont think id go that Route in my option?..I would go with ?? black iron pipe and 150# malleable iron fittings?..All the big box store should have everything you need.

1. Use Teflon pipe tape and a pinch of Loctite 567 pipe dope on the threads.
2. Don?t over tighten the fittings as they will crack.
3. Proper fitting make- up is?.. there should be 2 to 3 threads showing behind the fitting when tight
4. Do not back off a fitting to make it work?? chances are it will leak?..tighten 1 more turn around to make the fit
5. Add a drip leg at the bottom of your vertical runs to drain water from the system. Or go with the drier unit as someone else suggested.

You could rent a power threader for a day to do your threading or buy a hand thread die and hand thread it. Get everything lay'd out and cut to length before renting a threader.

Good Luck!

 

[bigdee]

Re: Air lines for Shop

I had a peace of PEX in my house spring a leek 5 years after it was installed. I think city water is something like 30PSI? I would not trust it to hold 120 PSI

Curios, where did it leak...tubing or fitting? We used it on industrial high speed robots at 160PSI compressed air. The local modular home factory here has been using it for 20 years and the only problems they have had was an occasional air driven nail. Europe has been using it for the past 50 years for water lines. I prefer it b/c of rust and sediment in iron pipe.