Copper piping for air compressor

[TheRic]

....A quick price check shows $11/foot for 3/4" 'M' copper pipe and $9/foor for 1/2" at plumbingsupply.com, vs. $2/foot for 3/8" air hose at airhosesupply.com. I don't know how good those prices are other than an indicator that the difference is pretty significant.

I do NOT know what the going price of copper pipe is. I have NOT bought copper pipe in a few years. I know copper pipe has gone up drastically. But I do NOT believe it costs that much now. Over $100 for 1 10' pipe??!! $1000 for a bundle!!! Last time I bought some I got a bundle of 10 10' pieces. Bought extra in case I needed them. At that price I don't think I would have.

[Hellrazor]

3/4 x10' type L $25
3/4 x10' type M $18

[Tom Slick]

how long is your run from the compressor to the where you are going to use it? how many drops are you going to have? if your system is remotely complex and if you are interested I can give you some design tips.

[michael.scheller]

Isn't one of the advantages of rigid pipe, be it copper or iron, the fact that it expands less and thus you get less condensation in the lines? I remember my brother talking to me about making sure you got good stiff quality lines or you'd pay more for moisture in your tools than you saved on cheap hoses.

[sacherjj]

How much of a problem is moisture in typical gas iron pipe? This seems like another reason to go with copper. I could see having rust particles coming down the air line after a couple years of use.

[Tom Miller]

One other point that may be useful, depending on how far away the compressor is from your shop -- consider installing a switched outlet for the compressor, with the switch being in your shop.

Regards,
Tom

[diamondman]

Thanks for responding to my question. I guess copper should work so I let everybody know how the job turns out.

[jessrice]

Another choice for piping

I will mention this as I only learned about it a few weeks ago when researching plumbing for my shop.

Pex al pex, or pex aluminum pex is rated for compresses air and compressed gas use. It features an aluminum liner between layers of pex tubing. It does come in many sizes including 3/8" and 1/2". I think i priced out the 1/2 inch at about 42 cents per foot.

It can be connected by 3 or 4 different type of connections, including compression (normal copper and speciality), expanded, crimped, and a newer push together that i didn't look into (shark bite). The downfall is that for crimping or expanding, you need a specialty tool ranging from 50.00 for crimper to 200.00 for expander (both manual). For a small project like air lines, compression may be the way to go.

The benefit is that it is flexible and bends 90 degrees without fittings, light weight, cheaper than copper and is easy to work on in tight spots since you just cut it with a ratcheting pvc cutter and crimp and go, assuming that it wont just bend around the corner.

here's a link

http://www.flexalpex.com/

Cascade natural gas just ran my in laws gas line to thier house using the same pipe, so if they use it for flammible gas then it should be fine for compressed air.

I am gonna purchase the crimp tool and normal pex piping for my shop plumbing and then pickup a roll of the pex al pex for my air supply lines. So far i am leaning towards the ssc crimp style of fittings, since the tool is about 50-100 bucks, and the crimp rings are cheap. I like the idea of the expansion tool, but it costs twice as much and i don't need to worry about restricted flow in the shop. I have never had good luck with any compression fittings as i normally over tighten to much at first!

I am sure this will probably bring on some discussion, and I'll be reading to see if my mind changes

Jesse

[dlminehart]

Jesse, I'm really interested in the possibilities of hot & cold water plumbing with PEX, but wonder if it isn't overkill for the compressed air application. After all, rubber hose is already available at a comparable price, and doesn't require the expensive crimper/expander/whatever tools. Although, you could always resell the tools on eBay for the net cost equivalent of a rental.

[Tom Slick]

I think the deal with PEX is life cycle. rubber will deterorate faster then pex. if you don't think your system will be around for along time rubber will be just fine.

[SID2]

Plex

Has any one used Plex pipe for air lines? The crimper is a little pricey but the pipe is not bad. Any thoughts?

[lrr]

Wellcome diamondman. (irrespective of whether you own a bt3 )

copper would perfectly suitable - but i am no expert, i am merely quoting from the Nov issue of Shopnotes (#90), as you can see in this table-of-contents page : http://www.shopnotes.com/issues/090/. The article is pretty helpful for the task you are taking up.

I have this issue of Shop Notes, and highly recommend you get it. It has lots of good suggestions. In the article, they say to use thick wall (Size L), and avoid the thin wall, which is only for water (Size M). For main run, use 3/4", but for others, you can use 1/2" to save money. They also talk about using galvanized pipe, but unless copper is prohibitively expensive (I haven't priced it in awhile), I'd avoid iron pipe. It will rust, since it is only galvanized on the outside.

The article shows how to route pipes to avoid water collection, and how to put drains on the drop lines.

[bigdaddyjohn]

might be interesting for you

Found this article online. Take a look. http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/airpiping.shtml


bigdaddyjohn