compressed air piping

[hugh jass]

I vote for copper since sweating joints is easy and quick, but I haven't priced copper lately. If galvanized is cheaper, do it. But as a few have said, leave a few low point drains. Actually wouldn't think they would have it, but you can find ball valves on Ebay.
I got half a dozen SS bodied ones for my new all grain homebrewing setup.

i second the copper. its light, easy to work with, and you aren't stuck with threading sections together. sweating copper is easy and sorta fun. plus, you can get copper tubing if you want to do big curves or long sections with no joints.

[LINUS]

I vote for copper since sweating joints is easy and quick, but I haven't priced copper lately. If galvanized is cheaper, do it. But as a few have said, leave a few low point drains. Actually wouldn't think they would have it, but you can find ball valves on Ebay.
I got half a dozen SS bodied ones for my new all grain homebrewing setup.

[FredK]

No, PVC has the tendency to get brittle, especially when exposed to the sun. As it gets brittle, when there is a shock to the system, it will explode, sending PVC splinters all over the place. Should one of these splinters hit flesh after being explosively ejected at 135 to 175 psi, you can expect a visit to the ER.

[benDASHDASH]

What's wrong with PVC? Just the pressure capacity?

[blueapplesoda]

pvc is a nono? explain?

[cheades]

Make sure and put drains in the system, condensate buildup can cause serious problems.

[NC325iC]

sounds like a plan, this is really more wishful thinking that anything but w/e never hurts to know.

bret did you ever get electric back?

[1990m3]

galvanized steel piping is pretty affordable and easy to plumb together

No sweat bro....I should have my 2002 ready for paint in a few weeks :)

It is a lot of fuckin work takin a car down to bare metal

[Rigmaster]

Thanks T.

1-the braided steel flex hose- is that something you got from Home Depot or Lowe's or something?? I definitely need something like that.

2-what's the reasoning for the "Ideally, you want 50 feet of piping before you tap off of it."?? Condensation or ????

Bret.

(1) Yes, that is for a water heater or something....It says its rated for 200PSI or whatever. Since my compressor only taps 150, its ok.

(2) According to Sharpe (the spray gun manufature) that is what they said. I tried to follow their chart for the most part. I did this since I was going to be painting parts and cars. Condensation basically.



http://www.sharpe1.com/sharpe/sharpe.nsf/Files/YTCJYTCK/$File/pipe-layout.pdf?OpenElement

Thats the link to the full size PDF. That link may or may not work.

[Rigmaster]

I agree with Trent- "Do NOT use PVC".

Other than that, you can use alot of different stuff, copper plumbing used to be popular- but copper is now so damn expensive, it's probably not practical.

If you use steel pipe like Trent did, I'd stick with galvanized, not the black pipe used for natural gas, etc. It might be a bit more expensive, but it's alot less prone to rust. I'm planning to use galvanized in the new shop (if and when I ever get the permit crap straight.....). I bought a bunch of 4 ft 3/4" galvanized pipe from a guy who bought it to use for clothing rack in a store that he never used.


Trent- a couple of questions for you about your setup:

1-the braided steel flex hose- is that something you got from Home Depot or Lowe's or something?? I definitely need something like that.

2-what's the reasoning for the "Ideally, you want 50 feet of piping before you tap off of it."?? Condensation or ????

Bret.

those of you who have compressed air systems what sort of hard piping do you use, ie what material and whered you get it?

I used standard pipe. Do not use PVC.


Here are some pictures of my setup.





Ideally, you want 50 feet of piping before you tap off of it. There are ball drains at the bottoms of each pipes, and you can see where I take off the center.

[DaN]

How about this stuff? never used it, but it looks practical.

http://www.garage-pak.com/

[NC325iC]

those of you who have compressed air systems what sort of hard piping do you use, ie what material and whered you get it?