Compressed Air Piping

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Oldmanmopar said:
You are right about the copper and iron. I only ever saw one copper line split. Probably soft copper. My iron lines were installed over 30 years ago if you look at the picture you can see rust on the wall from the drain valve. But you should see the rust under the compressor tank from the auto drain valve. Pex would be a good choice and easy to run. When I did mine Iron was the way to go. Now they have special air compressor plastic lines, Northern industries sells rapid air in kits 3/4 inch that would be something to look at. Easy to install from what I was told.
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In a freezing situation , soft copper will hold up better than hard copper , comparing L to L , the hard copper wont give , the soft will give a hair before splitting .
 
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RustyRatRod said:
I don't know what I am going to do honestly. I think most likely I will do what's cheapest and keep what I have. 50 feet of heavy duty air hose on a hose reel.
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PEX is rated for a lot of pressure , nothing could be easier or cheaper . All u need is the specialized tools to crimp the rings on the fittings , for air , I use two rings instead of one .
Air can leak out of a place that water wont.
Haver a plumber friend that will loan them to you for a few hrs ?
You have a choice of blue, red , or clearish white pipe----------I have never used it but there are threaded crimp fittings for it too. The fittings are the most expensive parts , and they aren`t terrible , unless u get into shark bite and stuff like that.
 
I never thought of my air lines freezing, My garage has water and sewage. If my air lines freeze there would be far worse issues then the air lines. LOL.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
I never thought of my air lines freezing, My garage has water and sewage. If my air lines freeze there would be far worse issues then the air lines. LOL.
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Must b a nice garage = jealousy here ! I don't leave the heat on in mine all winter ,but hardly ever gets below freezing out/in there , so no water lines..
 
DO NOT USE Galvanized piping for your air system as the galvanizing can flake off and end up in your air tools!!
 
gzig5 said:
Which is better or which do you prefer and WHY? Getting ready to hookup my new to me 5hp 60gal two-stage compressor and I want to run a pipe from front to back of the garage with a couple drops. PVC is out. That is a bomb waiting to happen. So I can use hard copper, iron pipe, or maybe that blue composite stuff Eastwood and others sell. I can go about anywhere and get parts for the copper/iron but not so much the composite. Cost is a factor but I think it is almost a wash between iron and copper? I haven't compared to the kits Eastwood sells.
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I used 1/2 copper throughout my shop and even made some loops near the compressor works very well for me for the past 4 years.
 
I was going to go with copper but decided after much research to try out the RapidAir 3/4 air line system. Cost me a bit more but I also went overkill with the drops and amount of line I ran requiring two kits and extra fittings. I am SUPER happy with the results. It took a bit of time to straighten the hose (did it by hand) as I am very picky and wanted it as straight as possible. I ran 8 drops in my shop. One for the front outside on a shutoff, one to my welding bench, and 2 on each wall without the garage door. This way I don't have to drag a long hose around my cars. I ran one outside so I could run air lines outside with out having to open the garage door. It also gives me the option to place a compressor outside and feed the shop from outside with clean air in case I want to do painting and shut off valve at inside compressor to isolate it. Had it all plumbed in 2 evenings after work. Just make sure you tighten all the fittings properly or you'll get a nice surprise when one pops and it sounds like a gunshot. (Entirely my fault...missed tightening one fitting). Piece of advise if you do go with this system is to throttle your compressor down to 30-50psi and check for leaks with soapy water before running it up to full pressure. Not a bad idea with any system you install.

Excuse the mess in the pictures. This was during garage construction before tools and stuff got organized.

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Backally said:
Looks really good. How did you straighten it?
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Rolled it out and slowly straightened it by pulling it across my knee but by bit until I was happy how straight it was. Didn't take as long as I thought it would. As it is aluminum core it holds it's shape pretty easily. Then once up I bent it here and there until it was as close to perfect as I could get.
 
The newer areas of the machine shop I work at have all the lines run in PEX plumbing lines. It looks like **** in my opinion but it works perfectly and has been in service for over 10 years. If I can find a way to hide it, I'll likely do my shops this way.

Cley
 
89on35s said:
The newer areas of the machine shop I work at have all the lines run in PEX plumbing lines. It looks like **** in my opinion but it works perfectly and has been in service for over 10 years. If I can find a way to hide it, I'll likely do my shops this way.

Cley
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Pex would be the way I`d go id doing mine over, I do have one add on pex extension in my system .

Dam , I used my 40 yr old schedule 80 pvc air lines yesterday , and they worked like a charm !
 
Hmmm, Pex huh? As a plumber I do sometimes use Pex for water supplies. With the Upanor brand you just can’t let it be exposed to sunlight. It certainly won’t shatter like PVC, is very fast to install, won’t rust. I would be sure to use brass fittings though, not the black plastic ones, as they could probably shatter. Might just work really well!
 
nearpar said:
DO NOT USE Galvanized piping for your air system as the galvanizing can flake off and end up in your air tools!!
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That what the gasfitters code in Tulsa said , but they changed it after a million yrs, cause there was no documented account, or proof of it happening.
 
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