Using plastic for compressed air piping

www.manufacturing.net/magazine/planteng/

Most of us have learned through study or experiance, the dangers of PVC and most other plastic pipes when used with compressed air.
However, not reading the article just implies that after 1/4, 1/2, 2/3, or 3/4 of a life of learning, you have now decided to stop.
Remember, even gavinized iron, black steel, coper, etc. were once "new" materials.
Geeze, I better stick to my brace and bit, that new fangeled electric drill looks mighty dangerious!

Go read the article. It's interesting -- even if you never plan on using the stuff.

Yes I did read the article. If you notice, I reffered to "plastic" pipe because thats just what the article was refferring to, another form of plastic pipe.

You missed my point (not you Russ) as I was just making everyone aware, just because there's a new improved product on the market doesn't mean it's 100% "TIME" tested. Steel pipe on the other hand has been used for over 100's of years and I would have to say is very well "time tested". Plastic pipe although it's been around for approx. 50yrs, has "failed" in different applications that the "oil companys" have tried to make us feel safe at. You did know plastic comes from crude oil!

And that is my POINT, over time plastic can't do the job and never has been able too!

If a air system is installed correct, tee's are taken off the top (not the bottom) of the main run, 6" drip legs installed on every riser with air supply taken off above the 6" drip leg, all horzontial legs are set to drain at 1/8" to the foot drop, then moister and pipe scum will be at a minmium in the supply air.

T_Bone

Mike
Chickamauga, GA

After reading all the comments I have chosen to go with Black iron for my plumbing (copper is great alternative). My reasons are:
1) availability
2) standard in most shops
3) standard pipe sizes and fittings
4) no soldering although I do plan to seal joints
5) copper is great but to expensive right now
6) should last forever provided I put maintain it
HTH,
Shep

What the engineering experts said happened, was the ground frooze deeper than expected that winter and fractured the pipe when vechiles drove over the top of the ground, a leak started and a truck backfired causing the expolsion. The typical depth of the layed pipe was 6ft underground and normal frost line was 4ft! This therory is a bunch of hogwash. Look what happens when you light a gas burner, and this is what happens when you get a leak. The ground had to be saturated with natural gas for this type of explosion to occur, so the system had to be leaking alot for along time and had to be leaking in several over lapping areas!

The pictures I saw looked like several bombs had been droped. They even showed body parts laying all over the place. Pick-up turcks torn in half or in so many pieces you had to look really hard to tell what it was.

Now some of the engineering types here are going to say, natural gas is deliverd at a much higher pressure then reduduced to the .5psi at each home. That was not the case here and this was there "back-up" saftey feature incase something like this ever happened.

Yes I know were dealing with compressed air and I've stated before when compressed air blows it's not like a bomb and that is still true. What I was trying to get accross, just because you read it somewhere it don't make it so! I'll leave plastic pipe to sprinkler systems where it's useful and use steel pipe for my compressed air systems.

T_Bone