Black pipe or galvanized for shop air lines?

[Deere Dude]

I installed a factory worth of similar stuff a few years ago expensive but the only tools you needed was a sharp knife or a hose cutter. Did 3/4 main line with 100s of 1/4 drops for each machine so fast and neat much better than draging a oxi set around in the ceiling.

All that is needed is a little propane tank with a little turbo torch which are very easy to carry and use for any solder even some silver solders. That is all that's needed for copper and it's cheap to operate.

 

[LD1]

Im in the camp of forgetting about the hard piping and just using hoses. I am only one guy, and can only use one tool at a time anyway.

One or two of these are probably cheaper than hard-piping everything and still needing a hose

Master Distributor of Industrial Hoses, Hose Fittings, Hose Clamps Hose Reels, Retracta Hose Reels - Retractable High Pressure Hose Reels - HoseXpress

 

[kennyd]

One problem is getting from the compressor to the wall mounted regulator on my setup. That flexible hose keeps failing. It sits at full pressure and eventually cracks.

As already mentioned, use a section of hydraulic hose, it will outlast you and is readily available with NPT fittings.

 

[the old grind]

... I am only one guy, and can only use one tool at a time anyway...

Oh come ON, man! Electrical outlets on every wall, hot & cold water in every 3rd room, and you expect us to sacrifice convenience where we need it most??

Bad enough that we have to do our own work and pay for it, then you come along and tell us we might do as well with less!

Been too much work for me hooking others up over the years. I'm going to wait another year or so and get the DeWalt 36v Li-Ion cordless compressor package with 'water-preventer technology', cross draw holster, and belt-slide HVLP painting system. :laughing:

Seems every other, if not every idea herein is wrong to somebody. Six pages in I'd hate to be the guy planning something like this ..... :silly:

 

[LD1]

Electrical outlets on every wall because things that require electric usually have their own 6'+ cord for attaching. Drills, saws, grinders, lights, chargers, etc.

Most things that require air in a home shop do not.

 

[the old grind]

Electrical outlets on every wall because things that require electric usually have their own 6'+ cord for attaching. Drills, saws, grinders, lights, chargers, etc.

Most things that require air in a home shop do not.

Oops, sorry if you missed my total satire. Wrong smileys?? Beneath it all I try to compliment some of the 'most sage' advice so far ...

I'm sure we'll get past it.

6' whips on some tools to not foul a spring-ey coil hose coming from wall outlet where it's not convenient to hang a reel (mine are hand-wind type). Less to trip over when bifocals give you the choice of stumbling or banging your head.

Universal swivels on most whips, esp nailers, low torque total-air-hogging ratchets, tire chucks, and hoses that aren't used just to extend a line to a remote job.

Had to jack up my drag line (Erie 15-B, 35' boom) from where it had settled to sell it. 100' of 12 Ga cord to a 1 1/2 hp compressor, then 150' of hose to a HFT 20 Ton air-over bottle jack. Pumped to full stroke in < 30 sec. Had to re-crib several times as base under the jack sank till firm, but only had to do the job once.

btw, hydro hoses are cheap at TSC & I'm using them with their fittings too, If they hold air ok they're not so sweet with JD's >2500 PSI & if your wrenches are only 24" long.... :grumpy:

 

[Texasmark]

I used copper to plumb my shop in 1981. Easy to work, not all that cheap in today's market but was cheap then and PVC was somewhat new to the market around here and 160 psig was the rating; was not Sch. 40. On PVC, BIL ran a PVC line from his house to his shop with no problems. If running PVC I would use Schedule 40 which I think is 300 psig rated. The burst pressure on things like that is usually 4:1 for safety derating. My air systems put out 125 so it wouldn't be a problem for me either way. Other thing is that my shop is for me and not a commercial establishment which might cause one to lean toward metal.

On moisture, if you are worried, you can put a slight slope in the lines as they extend out from the compressor and at point of use install a filter with a drain valve in the bottom. On the ones I bought from WW Grainger supply, the housing was clear plastic so that you can see how much water and the valve was a little black tube that you just pushed sideways to vent the water. The instructions on my air tank, vertical 60 gallon state that you should frequently drain it anyway. If in a low humidity environment that wouldn't be very often.

HTH,
Mark

 

[SPIKER]

One thing to watch,

I put in my Compressor and some HF Water Separator regulator which had the Gauge setting on it at the bottom. In a hurry I installed it said I'll fix that next trip to store to get the proper 1/4" pipe to put it on top. Yep it filled up with water froze and broke first year... NEW one is fixed with gauge on top, I installed plenty of drop legs for water separation & draining. Bought a TSC med pressure Hyd Hose to plumb from Compressor to Wall regulator setup. I built a small manifold on the wall outlet from regulator with a couple full pressure T's and Regulated T's with 1/4" air QDs. I set the blaster next to the compressor and have short hose from full pressure fitting to it. I [plumbed in a drop leg for water drain outside wall with flexible 1/4" poly tubing and one off bottom of compressor with a Auto Drain that I can hit with air hose rather than every cycle just use Air Gun into the tube and blow it off once or twice a quarter.

My setup is using Hoses from the manifold as like LD1 and others I'm only one using it and just leave em out & walk around the hoses... I had thought of using hard lines (black pipe NOT GALV) or Copper and drops at benches, but I keep moving that stuff around at will... Just using hoses pretty much from now on.

Mark

 

[NCMau]

I would not go PVC either but...PEX is the way to go. Cheaper, much more flexible to install and just as good as metal pipe. I bought 100 ft from NH and I made 3 drops in my shop... easy project.

 

[franklin2]

This is sort of on topic, and possibly a consideration for the OP...

I work in an industrial environment, and have installed thousands of feet or black pipe for air lines. Just recently we have switched to using copper with crimp fittings for just about everything becuase it is so easy. Anyway, I have a theory about the water seperators and some agree with me and others not. Some people like to put in bigger separators (probably because they don't get emptied like they should), but I think you would lose performance that way. Looking at how they appear to work, they will do best with more air velocity going through them, so using one designed for say a 1" line on a 3/4" line would not be beneficial. Hopefully someone that knows them better will shed some light on this, and we can all benefit from the knowledge, since we are talking about moisture in lines.

They make this crimp type fittings for black pipe now also. It comes with a gizmo that "trues up" the od of the pipe, and it uses steel fittings with o-rings just like the copper style fittings. We just got one where I work.

The biggest problem with moisture is the heated air from the compressor. The compressor heats the air when it compresses it, so the air will have the ability to hold more moisture. As the air flows out into the system, the rest of the piping tends to be cooler, and the this makes the moisture "fall out" of the air. It's very hard to avoid this, thus why the piping system is designed to accomodate some moisture in the piping. That is all a air dryer is; A A/C unit that cools the air so the moisture will drop out. But even it can't get it all out, especially during high flow rates.

When we added another 150hp compressor at one of the factories I worked at, it was on the north side of the building and we actually put the storage tank outside in the shade of the building. Just keeping the tank cool will help the moisture drop out of the air. We usually put automatic drains on all the tanks.