[encantotom]

hi all,

i know this question seems to give a number of opinions and such, but i thought i would ask for your experiences.

i will be running a total of about 200 foot of air lines in my new shop. i will have a compressor capable of 175psi.

i have studied this and researched on garage journal forum (lotssss of opinions there).

there are a few common materials used.

1. PVC pipe (btw, i am not interested in using this. i know many have with good luck, but i will not be using it)

2. Threaded black pipe (seems to be the what alot of industrial places use)

3. galvanized threaded pipe (not as common)

4. copper (type K, L or M)

5. stainless

6. aluminum

7. different types of Pex.

8. specialized plastic airlines made for compressed air

so.....i do not want to use threaded metal piping so 1 and 2 are out. stainless and aluminum are out, no PVC, pex i am leary about, specialized plastic airlines are expensive and not common, so that pretty much leaves copper in my mind.

even at the highest temperatures, the copper pipe handbook has type M able to hold well over 200psi,

i am assuming the trunk line should be 3/4" and then 1/2" drops off of it.

so, any other opinions and or things i have missed?

the price difference between type K, L and M is pretty large. I will probably use type L or M.

thoughts?

thanks

tom

[HoosierDaddy]

It's a good idea to loop around the whole work area with the air line. That allows 1/2" pipe to flow as well as 3/4" would. "T" off of the loop and run 3/4 to the compressor. Run a drop pipe at each coupler to catch any moisture that might get through the line.

[Yachts]

A friend of mine just built a new mechanics shop and did the whole thing with PVC.. It works great for them

[HoosierDaddy]

Look here...

http://www.rapidairproducts.com/

[qcj]

Tom, If you use copper use L. Anytime I plumb in copper I use the middle gauge L. K would be over kill.

[qcj]

Tom, If you use copper use L. Anytime I plumb in copper I use the middle gauge L. K would be over kill. I also use an acetylene torch which work better than Mapps. you can hold the acetylene torch at any angle and is less weight. I'm assuming you are going to do this yourself.

[qcj]

Tom, If you use copper use L. Anytime I plumb in copper I use the middle gauge L. K would be over kill. I also use an acetylene torch which work better than Mapps. you can hold the acetylene torch at any angle and is less weight. I'm assuming you are going to do this yourself.

[qcj]

Tom sorry I don't know what happen here.

[RussWhite]

Jeff Rowe at East Tennessee Luxury Coach ran copper. It looks and works great! Russ

[encantotom]

I will probably do copper.

now to decide if i need to run 3/4" as the trunk and 1/2" down? 3/4" is ALOT more money

tom