Mains pressure?

Does anyone have any idea what "mains pressure" is? I need to plumb my shed for compressed air and rather than use copper I thought I might go with that Pex tubing. I know that I can definitely run 120psi through copper pipe but am unsure of the Pex tubing. When I asked my supplier I was told that it is rated for mains pressure, but don't know what this is deemed to be. I know I could just run airline hose around the shed but I want to have multiple droppers from the ceiling with regulators and water traps on each one to run some of my machines and would rather do it right.

Mick

Mains pressure is anything upto at least 120 psi. I've no idear what pex is. I use 16mm polly for air you could use pvc but it is harder to make changes after you have finished.

Cant help with that one Mick, I do know hot is on the left and.......errrrrr, something flows down hill? :confused:

Al :D

mickalus,

mains is variable - it depends on what utilsation is happening at the instant you use / measure it. for instance when industry is open duering the day it will drop when people start to go home it rises.

I have a limiter on my house to 650KPI. up to 1000 is normal. always make sure your limiters or pressures are rater better than 10% of what you esxpect to use. (make sense ?)

hope this is good enough - mostly you'll have up to 1000, when me plumber measured mine it was 1100KPI at the meter.

cheers

1100 psi !!! you must have some good pluming. Class 12 polly which is normaly used for town pluming is rated at about 170 psi. 1100 psi would blow it to bits. Your not mistaken with kpa are you?

Zed, your definitely getting your kPa (NB Captial "P") and psi mixed up. Mains is typically around 100 - 120 psi, 7 to 8 atmospheres or 700 - 800 kPa.

Mick,
Look up pneumatic suppliers in the yellow pages they sell plastic piping for installations such as yours, might as well get the right stuff rather than the plumbing grade

Quote:

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Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

Does anyone have any idea what "mains pressure" is? I need to plumb my shed for compressed air and rather than use copper I thought I might go with that Pex tubing. I know that I can definitely run 120psi through copper pipe but am unsure of the Pex tubing. When I asked my supplier I was told that it is rated for mains pressure, but don't know what this is deemed to be. I know I could just run airline hose around the shed but I want to have multiple droppers from the ceiling with regulators and water traps on each one to run some of my machines and would rather do it right.

Mick

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Mick what pressure are you going to be able to supply to your shed
What is the pressure from you compressor then run piping to suit
The only Mains pressure I have heard of is with water pressure, the question is who supplies compressed air at mains pressure, mabye your supplier was confuser and didn't want to show his lack of knowledge on the subject , as to using Pex tubing and the pressure limitations try the web page or the fact sheet from your supplier


Rgds

Our local Bunnies sells air-line by the metre; I've been considering plumbing my shed with it, running with droppers down to near each DC gate. No problems with pressure rating that way...

What ever pex is it will handle air at 120 psi not a problem. Just sounds dear to me.

The Poly that they use for plumbing has higher PSI ratings than copper according to our plumber. Rehau is the brand he uses.

I dont think you will have a problem with any of the plumbing (water) products if used for air. I've had this discussion with the plumber already. His pressure tester goes a lot higher than 120 PSI.

Thanks all,
I guessed that anything rated for mains pressure water would be able to handle 120psi air but I thought I'd better check. There's only one specialist pneumatics suppler in town and I'll see what they have, but somehow I doubt that I'll find anything that's going to be cheaper. I've seen PVC used but it does get brittle after a while and I've seen it blow up as well. At any rate it will be cheaper than copper (and quicker to fit).

Mick