Thread: pvc air lines?

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PVC for compressed air is illegal. Reason being already covered for the most part here already. I can get you all the micro-engineering data but my shop had many failures in the pvc airlines. If your system puts out any oil, whether it is for your air tool or just inefficient oil/water separater, the oil will degrade the pvc from the inside. I have seen it blow out at joints, in the middle of 20' sticks of pipe and blow the molded fittings to pieces too. My business dealt with pvc fabrication and large fitting manufacture.

There is approved plastic pipe for compressed air and it is oil resistant and has fiber in the matrix. It is a glued system too. The only failures I saw in that pipe was due to outside impact or poor glueing in the assembly.

My own preference is copper after replacing all the lines with it at work. I use it in my home shop as well. I really like that the copper adds no rust too.