On Mar 3, 3:39 pm, "BT98" wrote:
I was into a Amish window factory the other day and their air lines
caught my eye. They used 3" PVC pipe for all their air lines
suspended from the ceiling with supports and T's with snap couplers at
all the work stations. They used brass gas line couplers for shut
offs for the various branches. A 8" pressure gauge noted 145# PSI at
the end of the line. What are the Plusses for this type of system
other than the line acting as a storage media? I didn't see any water
separators and was wondering if they were using a engine driven
compressor in the cold and drawing cold air into the compressor and
bringing it in a warm shop what effect this type of line would have?

The biggest industrial users of pipe are oil refineries, petrochemical
and chemical plants.The specifications for the piping they use is
governed by various technical Societies (API etc). They will not
permits PVC in compressed air sevice for the reasons mentioned here by
others.

One piece of equipment the big guys can afford is an air drier which
uses dessicant beds to dry the air. If someone made a low priced unit
woodwookers could use it for sprayi guns and pneumatic tools.

I have seen cabinet shops which fabricated a labyrinth of pipe down
stream of their compessor to allow the moist compessed air some heat
transfer exposure to the ambient air thereby cooling it to below the
dew point. Seems an inexpensive way to improve the quality of air in
small woodworking shops.

Joe G