Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"Ralph Mowery" wrote:
"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
Thanks for the link. I read it. I think the danger is highly overstated.
We've had the occasional blowout, but it's always been a failed glue
joint. It's loud and inconvenient, but hardly dangerous. Of course, none
of the thousand or so joints I've personally done have ever failed,
because I'm meticulous with them.
We've had at least a half dozen OSHA inspectors over the last 30 years.
None of them squawked about our PVC air lines. I wonder what's really up
with that. Seems odd to me that PVC could be rated to 200 psi or so and
then explode around 80 or 90. This strikes me as the freak accident
thing. The worst injury cited in your link was a broken nose.
Wonder what they'll outlaw next?
I work where we have compressed air all over the plant. The compressors
operate on 4160 volts to give an adea of the size. Most of the air is set
around 100 lb. I have seen high dollar filter regulators with plastic bowls
crack and blow out. They are even rated for air. We started replacing them
with metal housings. The regulators only had a 1/2 inch pipe connected to
them,but made a large dent a couple of times on things they hit.
The air pressure on the bowl could be a lot higher
than 100psi because, I believe, the incoming air
hits the bowl first before going into the regulator
body. From your description it sounds as though the
regulators are set to 100psi and the incoming air
pressure could be a lot higher. It wouldn't surprise
me if the supply pressure was over 250psi.
TDD