Ok, so I just bought a house in the country with a nice 40x60 shop, 8" concrete floor with drains, lights and lots of power, only problem is that there are no air lines on the walls, so I wanted to know what you guys use for your lines that run along the walls. I've had a shop in the past that had black steel pipe for the air lines, ( I never actually got to use them because I moved to this place before I got my air compressor hooked up to them - they were pre-installed there when I moved in & i'm glad I didn't because they were full of water & rust & would have played he** on my air tools.) but I would rather use a non corroding material. I was thinking of CPVC because it has a higher pressure tolerance than pvc (400psi with water at 73*F) Has anyone used this or can recommend anything else.
Thanks, Matt

This question always gets many different opinions.
I used type "M" copper myself but CPVC will work fine.
One thing I would never use is black T&C pipe, however galvanized pipe is OK if you don't mind a lot of extra labor.
PVC =:noway:

I wrote this up a couple of days ago on another forum, anyway.



With galvanized pipe you have galvinization inside the pipe, that could plug up a regulator or filters.

Also black pipe will rust inside, but I think the rust is the lesser of the two evils.

Whichever you use might be a wash, but my experience with black pipe has been really good.

So lets get down to the basics here, the heat from the compressor heats the air going into the pipe, as it cools it turns to water, so, we know have either rusty water or pieces of galvinized flakes going with it.

Our main concern here is trying to get long life out of our air pressure regulator, and most important is to keep rust or flakes or water out of our paint gun or air tool, or keeping the moisture out of our sandblaster pot.

Water will take the rust and flakes with it, and this is one of the things that will eventually do an air tool in.

So, we plumb our air lines on a taper so we don't have any flat spots, (where water can lay in the pipe).

At the bottom of these lines we put in drains to get rid of the rusty water or flakes.

In order to cool the hot air you put in a minimum of 50' of pipe, 75 to 100' would be better, then your pretty sure of your air coming out at more of a room temperature if possible, I probably shouldn't use room temperature.

At the end of this long run of pipe, thats where you put your filters. You will still have some water and rust or flakes or whatever coming into this first filter.

I use an f-88 sharpe filter, but no doubt there might be some out there a lot better then the f-88s, but these work good.

At the end of my long pipe run, I have three f-88s one after the other right in line.

These f-88s have a white stone type filter in them.

A couple of years ago my compressor bit the big one, so I changed it out.

So I took out the stone filter in all three of them, the first filter was pretty brown looking, the second one was a little tinge of brown coloring to it, and the third one was almost snow white, and mind you they have been in three quite a long time, I never have to change them out, only did because the compressor let go.

Now if i would have had galvanized pipe, would the flakes have gotten through to it, I don't have a clue on that, maybe or maybe not.

Heres another thing, I have been buying air tools since 1980, anyway I bought a bunch of them that year, thats 28 years ago, some of these air tools are just average priced air tools, not expensive but not the cheapest either, anyway, the only air tool i have ever replaced was a metal crimper and a couple of good napa air ratchets, worked them to death, they were good ratchets.

I counted my air tools the other day, because I haven't been working in the garage, I would give each one about three drops of air tool oil every 3 or 4 moths, and run them a few seconds, this is a good thing to do if you don't use them on a regular basis.

Anyway a couple of times I oiled them I forgot about one in my regular tool box, so I count them now, theres 23 of them and they all work just fine.

Did these 3 f-88s filters and a good set of tapered air lines keep these tools this good for that long, maybe, I'm not out there every day, but they have gotten a lot of use over the years.

Would galvanized or copper or whatever air lines have been better, maybe.

I'm 66 years old and can still work pretty good, so i still use these tools today. As you get older you don't get any smarter, maybe you get dumber, probably, buy older guys have seen more s**t happen, so you learn over the years if something works really good, its best to leave it alone, in most circumstances anyway.

I've set here and beat the drum on the black iron pipe and how i like it, but if something works good, you know the deal.

Hooking up a good set of air lines takes some planning and a little researching, the extra time looking at different setups will save you time and I would bet a good amount of money, in air tool life and wasted paint.

I'm not real sure on copper lines and how they cool compared to black pipe, maybe there better and probably rust free, but there are other things with copper that need to be looked at, but the galvanized or black pipe will take a little more punishment then the copper.

Running long lines of pipe and keeping it from leaking is a job. If you take a small wire brush and clean all your pipe connections with that and some lacquer thinner, you will have a lot less chance of a leak.

I use pipe dope or tape, it doesn't matter, I probably have about 150 or 175' feet of pipe run in all different directions, with zero leaks, but it took me a while to get it that way.

Its going to take you a while to run it, but once its in you can forget about it, and if you run it right you don't need an air dryer, I run a couple of sand blasters and a fairly large bead blaster, and I don't have a moisture problem with silica sand, and thats the worst stuff you can run if you have any moisture in your lines.

The air line drawing I put up a couple of post before this, gives a decent overview on how to run your lines without flat spots, hopefully somebody can get some good out of it.

You will see some mention of automatic drains on filters, for a commercial body shop thats probably a good deal, but as a hobbist, you might want to get the ones with the little wingnut, drain it at the end of the day, and check your finger tips, if it feels slippery something let loose in your compressor, and this could save you some major airline redoing to get the oil out, don't ask me how I know this.

I was pretty long winded on this, sorry about that, but if just one of you read it and get anything out of it, I guess it was worth it.

I will say this though, galvanized or copper might be better, but this black pipe works good for me.

Heres that drawing again, its about four feet long, thats the reason for the sections. http://www.1969supersport.com/draw1.html (http://www.1969supersport.com/draw1.html)

Rob
http://www.autobody101.com/forums/templates/subSilver/images/lang_english/icon_profile.gif (http://www.autobody101.com/forums/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=10188)

I was just looking up some of the hazards of different types of pvc and run across this, not directly connected to air lines, but it was an eye opener.

http://www.besafenet.com/PVCDisposalReport_2-Column_R6.pdf

Rob

Rubadub is good to give some details on his experience, so nothing wrong with being a little long winded, here is where want to avoid others mistakes & enjoy their successes as well.
I'm right now looking to do the air lines in my shop as well, along with having to replace my 5 HP motor on the IR T30 compressor that I've had for 20 yrs. or so. That CPVC was also reccommended to me by a friend instead of doing everything in copper. 10 ft. of type L copper 3/4" at Lowe's was checking in at $27. What I think I will end up doing is coming off the compressor area with the CPVC (need some sort of vibration coupling interconnect) maybe at 1", feed that throughout the shop area, then drop 1" CPVC down to close to where I'm mounting air filter/regulator/and or oiler units. But put a union joint there in case you have to disconnect the assembly for some reason in the future (along with a shut-off valve). But somewhere prior to all this at each station I am thinking about converting the remaining drop point to copper so that I can build each station with the proper 1/2" fittings. They have different sized pipe thread openings & exits on those regulators, filters & such, I'm chosing the 1/2" size. You would especially want good CFM to a blast cabinet. At each air station I want the following air dis-connects:1 for direct air supply pressure (after the water seperator bowl), one after the air regulator, then maybe two air-disconnects after an oiler. That gets built with the copper fittings. Also just good mounting brackets (stand-offs) so you want pull stuff off the walls & the pipes may be getting vibrations from air surges as well.

Heres some stuff on plastic pipe. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1550.html

Rob

With galvanized pipe you have galvinization inside the pipe, that could plug up a regulator or filters.



I believe you are putting out false information there Rob.
Galvanized coating doesn't come loose, flake off or wash off.
It doesn't completely stop rust though.

OHSA specs certain types of plastic lines for air, they may know a thing or two on that. I ran Copper pipe through my shop as it was easy to use, and takes more abuse then the plastic pipe. Black pipe should noy be used for air as rust issues will shorten the life and create a dangerous situation. Galvanized pipe is code and will be safer if enviorment has high humidity.
If you really want plastic pipe look at a MAJOR INDUSTRIAL supply house to get the correct tube for the job. After all it is a safety issue that will make or break your day.
Example: Bungy cords can hold a battery down and have for years with no trouble. So why do those prick inspectors at the track not let you fasten your battery and gastank with bungy cords.

I believe you are putting out false information there Rob.
Galvanized coating doesn't come loose, flake off or wash off.
It doesn't completely stop rust though.

Tp tools has a pretty decent website, http://www.tptools.com/ and in there technical tips they address different types of piping, in it they say galvanized pipe can give you problems.

They recommend black pipe, and give the reasons why.

Rob

I ran black pipe...
it last a long time...
copper is soft.. and in a shop.. it only takes one hit. to end it's life..
plastic pipe.. never used..

I ran my compessor in a little shed and the pipe comes in the shop down low. with a drain at the bottom.. and climbs 8' up water/rust(if any ) will almost never make it out of that run.. and if it does, it now still has to climb a foot ,as the pipe runs to the drops for your hook ups..
these drop to the floor and the up to 3' from floor with the lowest spot having drains.
I've never had water make it to the rubber line..
with this set up.. the water trap/filter never has anything in it..
works great..

I've been running galvanized pipe in my garage since 1987 without any issues. I have a filter at the compressor, one at the outlet valve to the hose, along with a water trap and have a third on my paint gun. I run the tools without a filter but do oil them everytime I use them. So far the only tools I have replaced since 87 are the air blocking sander and DA sander, both after LOTS of use. As stated by others you need to have some long runs so the water condenses before it hits the water trap.