Industrial WARNING PVC leak checking.

I'll call this a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT.

I do this for 2 reasons.

3) Advice and regulations, codes, etc are such a rarity online for this or any other thing that endangers people directly.

PVC piping is commonly "leak checked" in the plumbing industry. Put pressure on the lines, see if anything leaks.

Apparently PVC explodes in the manner of CDROM when broken. My brother is the plumber, I'm the computer tech. During a "leak check" on a PVC line in Atlanta this past friday, his apprentice was killed in an explosion during the check. CDROMs shatter like glass. A PVC pipe explosion killed a person in Atlanta last night and shredded everything in the vicinity in the process of a standard test. I consider that alot more important than the latest car wreck.

I will now direct your attention to the only relevant link referring to safety advice during such testing procedures in order to prevent getting killed while doing a job. That I was able to find online.

html: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:TyAtdSIJzzwJ:

TheNIGHTCRAWLER (This is the only post I'll make tonight that requires general attention. Another reason Google is so profitable.)

Please return to your room for your nightly medications. You may return to the TV room afterwards.

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@enews4.newsguy.com:

If there was any sort of "explosion", then the leak test was done incorrectly. All leak testing, no matter what material, must be done with a non-compressible fluid (e.g. water), so that a leak or rupture will release almost no energy at all.

Sounds like an urban legend building to me. I suppose you could get an 'explosion' by grossly overpressuring a piece of pipe but I would expect it to just rupture not shatter.

Harry K

I think a lot of people are unaware of the danger of ruptured PVC pipe

- I have a PVC spud gun that I am very careful with. I used Schedule

- your article makes me more likely to do that.

I wonder how many young experimenters have been injured due to exploding pneumatic spud guns - anyone know?

John

John Davies TLCA 14732

Unfortunately not, PVC pipe does shatter. You are not supposed to use it for compressed gas including air as the PVC strength degrades rapidly with heat. This is the first death that I've heard of though. Most damage has been to the underware of the people in the area where the PVC self destructs.

We have an argument in rec.woodworking all the time where people want to use PVC to run air around the shop. Too damn dangerous for me; one inch iron pipe is cheap and not too bad to work with. Copper is also commonly used but usually requires soldering.

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Harry K) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

PVC will shatter explosively if a compressible fluid is used (e.g. compressed air). Mind you, using compressed air to leak test *anything* is really stupid (at best).

I have a friend who had a spud gun. Used an igniter off a gas grill, and he used hair spray for the propellant. The good stuff like Final Net works nicely Would throw a potato 100 yards or so. Really hysterical. Nearly no recoil.