Shark bite and pex air lines

[Xkylescorex]

I recently got a nice 80gal compressor and wanted to run air to my shop. I read and re read the garage forum and like 500 posts about drop legs and black pipe vs rapidair vs pvc. I finally decided to use black pipe so that it would cool the air and put in 2 drop legs on about 40 feet of run. After I had it all finished 3 of my joints had air leaks and my final drop leg was about a foot from where I wanted it to be because I had to use pre determined length pipe. Well after wrestling and cursing and trying to tighten the leaking joints i ended up breaking one of the pipes. Believe me if It can be broken, I will figure out a way to do it. Anyway, as I was looking I figured out a new length of pipe and couplers were about the same price as 2 npt to pex sharkbites and a 10' of pex. 10 minutes later I had the piece spliced in to the exact length I needed and with no cursing. I wasnt sure it would work. But no air leaks yet and seems to work great. I have black pipe at the first 30 feet to cool down the air and the final piece of pex connects to another black pipe drop leg. Ill post a picture but if any other guys who arent plumbers are wondering if this works. Then yeah looks like you can use sharkbites and pex. If you have a small project you could probably do it all with pex but might be cheaper to just buy a rapidaire kit as sharkbites get expensive.

 

[Xkylescorex]

 

[Xkylescorex]

 

[Xkylescorex]

If you had a pex crimping tool you could save even more money by ditching the sharkbites.

 

[rburke65]

Ya if my Aunt Lucy had b ....... Oh never mind....

 

[tjdux]

Ditto on crimp tool and fittings... Whats the psi on the compresor? PEX is iffy over 150.

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

 

[Xkylescorex]

I have it regulated at 100 psi. I had read another post where someone said they pumped a pex line to 500 before it split. I wouldnt do this for a professional setup and truthfully the only reason i did it was so i could easily adjust the length of my run by cutting the pex to length.

 

[indyokie]

In the 500 posts you read - many people defend if Pex can work, not why it's not marketed and or spec'ed in new buildings.

Pex - ( A&B ) has no listing to ASTM standards, and ASTM standards are what building codes use to confirm performance. Will Pex work for air, sure - will any Pex maker tell you that it's good for 125 degrees - 100 psi no....

 

[all4bespinnin]

I've redone some of my plumbing with Sharkbite fittings. Amazing little devices for how simple they are to use. Not a single leak from any of them.

 

[dfiler2]

No ASTM standard for PEX?

https://www.astm.org/Standards/F877.htm

 

[Xkylescorex]

Id there any real reason mixing it like this might be a bad idea? I was more concerned with the sharkbites failing than the pex not working. Im assuming rapidaire is a kind of pex like tubing. I kind of wish that I had just bought the rapidaire kit. It would have made install a lot easier and it would have been cleaner

 

[spudley]

Hmmm, not being a smartass but leaking pipe usually means it needs another turn or two, tape and/or pipe dope. Why didn't you add a 16" piece of black and drop down the side of the post?

 

[Xkylescorex]

Hmmm, not being a smartass but leaking pipe usually means it needs another turn or two, tape and/or pipe dope. Why didn't you add a 16" piece of black and drop down the side of the post?

The leaks were easily fixed as you said but I tried to tighten a 10 foot section while it was still fastened to the wall and I guess my clumsy hamfisting did something and I actually broke the pipe off in the coupler. I went to lowes to buy a new 10' pipe and did the math and this was about the same price and I wouldnt have to disaasemble the drop leg to put it back together (not a big deal) but the main reason was I wanted to adjust where my final drop leg came down. Home depot doesnt cut black pipe and they only sell it in pre cut lengths. This way I could adjust it to where I wanted it buy just cutting the pex to length.

 

[timewarp]

No ASTM standard for PEX?

https://www.astm.org/Standards/F877.htm

That's for use as water lines, not airlines.

 

[tjdux]

This forum gets more excited about hard air lines than anything else...except maybe vices and jacks...

Signiture; Check out my garage progress http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352703

 

[59 wagon man]

if you broke the end of the pipe off you overtightened it, next time try spoolwick and some kind of paste, pipe dope, teflon .

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I got a PEX cinch clamp tool for around $30 and use those for almost everything. I've used Sharkbites on a few plumbing projects in the house in areas with limited space, and those get expensive for sure.

 

[Fueler]

When I air plumbed this shop (black pipe) I used a thin liquid type of teflon that I used on machined pipe fittings. Blue loctite is my choice these days.

Guess what, the chinese pipe from the big store has less than ideal threads.
The thin teflon could not seal it no matter how tight you cranked on it.
I was less than enthused to find a dozen leaks after finishing.
sigh, back up the ladder.
What did work was the plumbers thick paste. Go figure.