A Cheap Source For Air Hose?

[Turbo]

I picked these up last week for £8.



It's a pair of heavy duty 10mm dia, 18m long oxy/propane hoses, used but still in good condition. Not really suitable to reuse for welding hoses but I think they will be ideal for airline hoses.

I bought a similar set last year so that gives me 72m of hose - enough to pipe 2 sheds plus some loose hoses.

 

[Robotstar5]

What pressure are they rated at?, I thought Oxy-fuel gasses ran relatively low pressure.

 

[GW8IZR]

'er brother is still using a blue one as an airline which his dad made for him before he retired, that was at the least thirty years ago and its none the worse today.

Needs the ends re terminating every few years but it has worked well for him.

Compare that to the expensive Silicon snap on thing that was designed with just one purpose in life, to coil up into trip loops with the mission to break your neck on a daily basis.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Yes, they are cheap airline hoses. In fact, it's what happened to my last O/A hoses once I deemed they were no longer safe for their original job.

As to the pressure, cutting would typically see oxygen at 50 psi, for very thick stuff I think the figures go up to 100. There must be a huge safety margin in these hoses due to the nature of what they carry, so I have no concerns about their use for compressed air at ordinary (150 psi/10 bar) pressures.

 

[Jim Davey]

Oxy hoses are designed to withstand at least twice the rated pressure. Or at least they were, I'm not so sure our friends overseas are quite so conscientious about our safety as the likes of Goodyear or Pirelli or any of the other manufacturers who were capable of making a hose that could survive 30 plus years of abuse. (Try getting anything like that from a cheap imported hose and you'll be lucky if you get 2 years, there are some truly awful hoses out there)

 

[brightspark]

- - mine are-10 years older then -

 

[Turbo]

My hoses are rated at 20 bar, so more than up to typical airline pressure.

Compare that to the expensive Silicon snap on thing that was designed with just one purpose in life, to coil up into trip loops with the mission to break your neck on a daily basis.

I have an air hose reel with pvc hose that has tripped me up once too often. It is long enough to cover my large workshop bit a pain for getting tangled and catching in you feet. I plan to use the welding hose to pipe around the workshop with regular drops so I can use shorter working hoses.

 

[MattF]

My main extension is a rubber water hose, same as the stuff you use on washing machine inlets. Can't remember exactly what the stuff is rated at, pressure wise, but it's above what a compressor will normally run at. Even some garden hoses will probably be rated above what the compressor rating is. That type of hose is quite cheap.

 

[123hotchef]

My main extension is a rubber water hose, same as the stuff you use on washing machine inlets. Can't remember exactly what the stuff is rated at, pressure wise, but it's above what a compressor will normally run at. Even some garden hoses will probably be rated above what the compressor rating is. That type of hose is quite cheap.

does that seal ok with the rubber washers inside?

 

[MattF]

I've fitted barbed PCL connectors at either end.

 

[123hotchef]

ah right gotcha now thanks

 

[GW8IZR]

I tried an experiment with the hard wall blue plastic water pipe intended for direct burial. Its wall is thick enough to tap for a taper thread PCL fitting maybe 1/4 inch or more.

I havent done more than a few feet test piece which worked but I'm planning the long run from the compressor in the garage to the workshop with the lathe in a section of this blue pipe.

Its much larger diameter than air line so the drop wont be an issue and as cheap as chips, no danger of it bursting at any pressure that I plan running and so far the couplings look to stay put very well. Now with a connector in them they may work loose without some mechanical support like a saddle so I need to confirm that bit but it certainly wont rust!

 

[MattF]

I tried an experiment with the hard wall blue plastic water pipe intended for direct burial. Its wall is thick enough to tap for a taper thread PCL fitting maybe 1/4 inch or more.

Plastic tends to be a bad choice. Brittle when cold, (and also degrades after a few years of UV if it's exposed to any sunlight or such), and some plastics will shatter when they let go, which risks throwing out shards.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Plastic tends to be a bad choice. Brittle when cold, (and also degrades after a few years of UV if it's exposed to any sunlight or such), and some plastics will shatter when they let go, which risks throwing out shards.

Shouldn't be a problem if it's buried though.

 

[GW8IZR]

This stuff wont shatter, if you get it cold enough to shatter its not going to be something we need to worry about.

Its like a very thick polyurethane tube and it gets buried direct into stony ground - it also is uv stable but it would be indoor anyway, witness the many KM of the stuff coiled in water board yards for years before use. I reckon the yellow gas pipe is another potential but I havent got 100m of that in the field :-)

Anyway it may not work out for many other reasons but cold and UV stability arent them. More likely the direct interface to the PCL or whatever connector is a weak spot but a turned barbed brass plug for each end then a 1/4 or even 1/2 NPT in that might be best, then a simple manifold to distribute

Its just an idea at the moment but I reckon its worth a try, but off topic for the original post - sorry :-)