>
> > Has a bunch of notes about building a garage. The first item is rather
> > controversial: whether or not to use PVC for air plumbing. Some folks say
> > it's fine, some say that it's not designed for the high pressure
> > differentials when the compressor comes on and off, that it gets weakened
> > and breaks at the bottom.
>
> Where I work, (an electronics repair 'shop) we have a 200 foot PVC airline
> running at about 90-95 psi. There were some teething problems (three years
> ago) caused by bad glue joints. There has certainly been no question of
> failure of either the pipes or the fittings since.
What I remember being told the problem with PVC for air use is not
that it may fail but that the failure mode is bad. When it gets cold
PVC gets brittle. If it then fails while under pressure (even after warming up
again) it will probably shatter, spreading PVC shrapnel around your shop.
This is generally considered a bad thing. Metallic piping doesn't suffer
from this problem as it doesn't get brittle until it gets REALLY cold.
In fluid service PVC doesn't have this problem since fluid doesn't
rapidly expand (and go boom) the way gases do when unconstrained.
I've always installed copper.
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