Pressurized air through copper pipe What is common practice

[coW]

Not sure where to ask this question, but figured someone here'd know:

My garage was my do-all workshop but recently split it into two, having the garage for my bug's restoration and my basement shop for woodworking, etc.
I have a good size compressor that I'd like to put in my basement and plumb pipes all over the place, including outside. The outside pipe will be hooked into air hose reel that could then be hooked into the garage's tools.

What is the common practice of making pipe connections?
I can just use regular copper pipe, right?
Can these connections be sweated or do the need to be threaded for safety?
I was thinking of putting sweat/threaded converters on and thread a hose connector to it - is that right?

Looking around at work, they seem to use a combination of threaded copper pipe and compression fittings - just making sure that nothing incredibly stupid and dangerous will be done by me..

[DaveM]

thick walled pvc used to be used a lot... I have a machinist friend that used it all over until the osha people got after him. Standard black pipe is what I would use.
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[johnshenry]

I've plumbed my shop with 3/4" copper. One pull down reel, and 2 other "drops" See TPTOOLS.COM for some good tips on laying out air systems. All drops must have a valve at the lowest point to drain condensation.

TPtools will say steel pipe only, but I find copper very easy to work with and virtually no leak problems ever.
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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[Ace]

We used PVC and it holds up well if it is in a non abusive environment. On the copper, I was playing with compression fittings last weekend and they seem to hold up fine.

[coW]

Thanks for those tips, guys!
I'm leaning towards using 3/4 copper because of the convenience factor (used it a lot and sweating connectors comes easy). It is only me in the shop and could easily make most the pipe be out of normal reach to avoid abuse.

TPTool's suggestion of the use of risers to dry the air hadn't occured to me. Those gate valves used to drain are those special air ones or would any solid ball valve do?

[Fish]

The Machine shop I work in all air lines are sweated 5/8" copper pipe and we operate at a max of 85 PSI. You can buy plastic water traps that go in-line, but they don't work that good when the humidity goes up. We run an air dryier system so no problems with water in the lines. We pass CA state inspections every year.
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[The Sage]

I recommend an air line drying system with the granulates. They turn color when they are ready to be replace...we have found you can simply bake them in the oven at about 120 and they can be reused...

This is very important when it comes to painting booths...
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[sweetlokin66]

1/2" schedule 80 PVC works great. It doesnt corrode, its easy to set up/work with, wont brake the bank, you have endless amounts of options for connections. My whole shop took about 7-8 hours to do and i was running air tools that night. That was 9 years ago.
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[Fish]

[coW]

[Fish]

Don't forget to oil your tools and you should be fine. And keep an eye open on those high humidity days.
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[Iowa Mark]

I just got done sweating about 200 3/4" fittings together at work for our new paint system. "K" copper and 95/5 solder. 100psi all day long. For the buried lines, I'd go with flex copper in one continuous stretch to avoid splices under ground. And make sure it's below your frost line. Have fun!

[60's Burnout]

Unless you have really long runs, over 100 feet, just use 1/2" copper, soldered together. Compare the inner diameter to the rubber airhose you're using and you can see it's several times bigger. Plastic is a no-no. Something hits it, it'll explode and throw plastic shards. Use the drops, otherwise the female quick disconnect on the end of the line will rust, ask me how I know.

[bugninva]

Rem, copper is fine, but you MUST use at *least* type L copper... K would be even better, but possibly overkill and alot more expensive(plus commonly available fittings would be your weak point if you use type K anyway, so unless you wanna shell out, and locate, high pressure copper fittings, type L is fine)... i ran copper in my father in laws garage and he has been using it daily for six years.... no leaks.... one word of advice i give to anyone using copper(*and really for anyone using anything) if you shut your compressor off from the airlines when not in use(like with a ballvalve to isolate the line from the compressor) always open the pressure valve slowly till the pressure in the lines equalizes to the regulator's pressure output.... this avoids popping fittings...
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[steponmebbbboom]

sched. 40 black iron

[coW]

[60's Burnout]

CoW, the working pressure for 1/2" L copper is 722psi, it's 3900 psi burst. Somehow I don't think you're going anywhere near those.

Black pipe is overkill, I had to put that in my house for the gas lines, mainly so you can't drive a nail or screw into it. Propane is about 2psi. Total pain in the ass to work with, threading it and not having it leak, even with pipe dope and teflon tape was a challange. Had to have a new, sharp, set of Ridgid dies, correct cutting oil, and pipe that wasn't slightly oversize.

Don't worry about letting the air into the piping from a charged compressor tank, it's air, not water. You don't get the water hammer where the moving water hits the end of the line and spikes the pressure.

Don't leave the copper where anybody can see it, it's like $3+ a pound for scrap. And install the drip loops.

[bugninva]

[60's Burnout]

[bugninva]