I didn't think so. My original mention of flexible hose simply stated "air hose". The stuff in the bike shop is a product that I think comes from the commercial beverage dispensing industry. FWIW, this is a big bike shop, with lots of repair / build stations in multiple rooms, not what you'd typically see. Their usual use of compressed air is blow guns, so the demand can be pretty good during peak tune / clean season.
I'm with you all the way if the line is driving die grinders, air routers, and sanders all day long. I'd probably just run a pipe to that work area. For the average one or two person shop we talk about here, even 1/2" hose should be fine.
Pretty low demand by air compressor/delivery system standards.
Lots of guys want to do spray painting and that kind of delivery capacity, especially with smaller compressors, will hurt their efforts. For a small operation like most folks here have, and some simple blow gun, air nailer, etc., low air volume operations, I agree it could be suitable. If they envision larger air volume requirements though, I'd suggest some pipe - and these days that pipe would be copper. Mine is a black pipe system, and if I had it to do over again, I'd go copper.
The very first listing from googling "shop air explosion" revealed one occasion where 140psi of air was accidentally put in a truck tire which then exploded, killing the worker. No explosive mixture... just air pressure less than 150 psi.
That's not a shop-air explosion. That is an idiot overinflating a tire. Using that barometer (I made a funny), I am sure there are many air-related accidents. Put 30 psi in your ears, and you'll get hurt. 5 psig through an intravenous needle into your bloodstream and you're toast. How many accidents have been reported where somebody has blown dirt into their eyes? That happens all the time.
Compressed air can hurt you.
I want to see a report where it states that an air distribution line exploded, pvc, copper. rubber... anything. My old shop has a large 3/4" PVC airline distribution system. A dozen drops. Never had an issue for
20 years. Had a crimp come off a cheap airline once.. chased one of the guys around the paintbooth real good.. he had some welts on the back of his legs and a bruised ego..we had a huge laugh...(Could have been more serious, we were lucky.. but you need full-tilt air to blow off dirt particles)
Truck tire "explosions" are common--it's not the tire that explodes but an improperly assembled rim that separates, and if one of the pieces hits someone he generally gets hurt--truck wheels are rather large and the rims are rather heavy.
So, does this mean that my potato cannon constructed out of schedule 40 PVC is now to be considered "unsafe"? I wrapped a few layers of duct tape around the combustion chamber, just in case of a blow out - no problems yet.
BTW, I've got a great book on the subject called "Backyard Ballistics". All kinds of fun projects involving PVC.
probably going to claim these don't count because the ambient temperature was beyond parameters, or it was the wrong phase of the moon, or whatever.
You can rub this one all day but you can't put a polish on a turd. PVC line for compressed gases is a dangerous game. Just because he's gotten away with it for a lengthy period of time doesn't mean it's not ready to fail later today... or tomorrow... with disasterous results.
Anecdotal only. My boss at my old job had a neighbor who tired to inflate a space-saver spare tire to 32 psig or so instead of the rated maximum.
It separated from the rim and the blast of air blew his face off of his skull.
That's not a terribly good analog to the present discussion.
What size pipe is pretty important in this context.
IIRC, plastic soda-pop bottles are rated for about 150 psig. So you could take a small one, put some vinegar in it and then drop in some baking soda wrapped in wax paper, screw on the cap and put it somewhere safe to see how big a bang it makes.
Please note, this may be illegal in your locale. If that is the case, don't do it.
You did not meet the criteria. You did not point to a situation where the PVC pipe had exploded... it was a truck tire. The topic here is PVC piping.
Having said that, I have discovered one of the errors of mine and that is the air plumbing in the old shop is in fact ABS. My apologies. I also read the other links that kind Wreckers have posted. I would never even think of PVC in an industrial application. Service air systems in my history have been driven by 100 HP rotary vane compressors at pressures of 300 PSIG and higher. 4" lines are not uncommon in power generation. To be blowing craters of the dimensions stated in some of the reports, one needs a whole lot more than a basic wood-workers' compressor. Therefore the parallels are ridiculous.
Even though, in one of the reports it states "Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems Standard, limit the operating pressure of plastic piping distribution systems to 100 pounds per inch (psi)", which makes me think that PVC isn't as fragile as some think it is, it obviously isn't worth taking a chance on PVC. I hereby retract my careless endorsement of PVC and suggest we stick to copper, ABS or other stuff I have never heard of before.
Lesson learned, ABS isn't PVC and you can't get anything past this alert crew of wreckers.
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