Leaky air lines

[TCT]

What do you guys use for leaky air lines? All of our air lines are galvanized pipe and there are a few connections that leak a bit of air. I wanted to take these two days we are closed and seal some of them up. I know the best thing to do would be back everything out to the problem fitting and replace it, but that would take forever! When we installed the lines we put a bunch of unions in so we could disassemble it if necessary, but for the small leaks it almost seems like more work to back everything out for some bad fittings.

Any goop, glue or sealant anyone recommends?

[aauusa]

Honestly you do need to take it apart and use either the plumbers tape or pro-dope.   may take some time to redo but you will never have to think of it again.  doing anything but this is just a waste of money and time because you will be have the same issues again and again.   always do it right the first time..

sorry for not have good news.

[244]

What do you guys use for leaky air lines? All of our air lines are galvanized pipe and there are a few connections that leak a bit of air. I wanted to take these two days we are closed and seal some of them up. I know the best thing to do would be back everything out to the problem fitting and replace it, but that would take forever! When we installed the lines we put a bunch of unions in so we could disassemble it if necessary, but for the small leaks it almost seems like more work to back everything out for some bad fittings.

Any goop, glue or sealant anyone recommends?

Just a FYI galvanized pipe should not be used for air. Black pipe is the proper application. The galvanizing can be a braided off and deposit itself on the poppets and spools of air valves. It will work but is not recommended

[TCT]

What do you guys use for leaky air lines? All of our air lines are galvanized pipe and there are a few connections that leak a bit of air. I wanted to take these two days we are closed and seal some of them up. I know the best thing to do would be back everything out to the problem fitting and replace it, but that would take forever! When we installed the lines we put a bunch of unions in so we could disassemble it if necessary, but for the small leaks it almost seems like more work to back everything out for some bad fittings.

Any goop, glue or sealant anyone recommends?

Just a FYI galvanized pipe should not be used for air. Black pipe is the proper application. The galvanizing can be a braided off and deposit itself on the poppets and spools of air valves. It will work but is not recommended

Man Rich, you sure know how to bring a guy down on New Years Eve!   (That was a joke, don't worry)

I could of swore I scoured the web for pros and cons of each and galvanized was the winner. Oh well, it is too late now. I suppose the fittings I replace I can start with black pipe, I am just not sure the hardware store has 1.5" black fittings. Which is what about 50% of our system is.

Suppose I could start all over, now where did I put that garden hose.......

Happy New Year guys!

[aauusa]

I am nut sure about you application but most auto shops can do custom length air hoses which is a little less expensive that the hard pipe.  But a hose may not work for your situation.

[mooseman]

Go on any compressor site and look at the cost of air leaks you will be out there pulling pipe ond sealing leaks in no time because the $$$$$ really add up as HP wasted, run time to replace, wear and tear hours on the machine

just google cost of compressor air leaks....here is one result http://airpoweranalytics.com/leakcalc.php

mooseman

[ZooCity]

Galvy sucks for repairs, at least from my experience with it as water supply, if you try and undo one fitting it's going to try and loosen it all up down the line.  Did the fittings just develop a leak?  That's weird. 

I used rapid air tubing for our shop and I'm a convert.  It's basically pex-al-pex and you can bend it around really easily.  I couple it to black iron for last so many feet on the drops. The flexible stuff we used only goes up to 1" but they make a stiff tube version that comes as girthy as 2".  [haha, phrasing]  I think I came out cheaper than black iron when I did the math.  The fittings are kind of a rip but you don't need too many when using 100' rolls of the flexible pipe.  Being a cheap ass I tried to just source regular pex-al-pex but the cost is pretty similar to just buying the rapid air, at least in my area.

[TCT]

I looked into the RapidAir system, if I remember it was rather inexpensive because I could pick it up from the manufacturer(located like 45 min from the shop, I thought western Wisconsin). But I don't think he had a large enough diameter pipe. The system is a great idea. I have been doing ALL my plumbing in my house and rental properties with PEX for probably the last 6 years, the stuff is awesome and takes hours of a project. The RapidAir just didn't have big enough diameter, and we have a TON of fittings. Below is a pic of just the line and fittings at the compressors. And that is probably only 10% of the whole system.

[gtmfg]

They make Rapid air pipe up to 2". Not sure how big of pipe you need but that seems pretty big.