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Plumbing the garage with Rapidair

747mopar

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Finally pulled the trigger and ordered the Maxline kit from Rapidair ordered from Summit Racing. I went back and forth between Copper, Black pipe and this kit, each have their own benefits but what won it over for me is the fact that I can bend this stuff around corners reducing a lot of restrictions.

I really had to scratch my head after calling Rapidair??:realcrazy: You can request a custom kit from them so I call them and get a quote of $1,500:eek:, I go to Summits site and I can buy 2 100' kits for $300.. add a couple more fittings and I may have $400 in it:wtf:. Here's what you get in a 100' 3/4" kit. Dog not included:D

Seeing these made me feel good about my decision, nice barbs on both the fitting and compression ring... it isn't coming off!
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Here's my biggest disappointment that I'll fix, I love the wall mounts for your outlets but they have a 3/8" NPT on one end for a drain so no option to pass through with the 3/4" piping when running a series of outlets at the work bench. I'll drill and tap them so it's a simple in and out saving $18 per T.
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My biggest concern was neatness, if this stuff is to flexible it will look like spaghetti on the wall, it's not. I'd compare bending this stuff to bending 1/2" copper, stiffer than PVC for sure:thumbsup:. I'll make a set of rolls on the lathe to pull it through rather than buying theirs so it's nice and purdy when it goes up.
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Something else I'm going to look into is cooling the air. I thought about running copper upstairs to give it a chance to cool allowing the water to drop out but it makes more sense to run the pump through a cooler before the tank. I'll be looking for a radiator with the proper size piping then mounting a fan on it that's switched on by the pump.
 
I bought the same stuff for my shop both at home and business. Has held up well, no complaints.
 
Dog not included . . . LMAO . . . He'll never leave your side . . .

Looks great, can't edit to see it all installed and running . .
 
This the system I have as well, and it has been trouble free. It was easy to put together too. BTW, I have a bunch of the blue tubing left if you need it....
 
i had it for a long time in my shop. will be using it again in the new shop. never had a leak
 
Thanks guys, pretty encouraging hearing nothing but good reviews from people who already have it.

I don't plan to do a lengthy thread just basically show what you get and what it looks like installed and answer questions for anybody else that may be interested. I'm also going to get with Rapidair and try to persuade them into offering a pass through outlet block, a bunch of T's and blocks just sounds sloppy looking to me?
 
Conduit benders from Lowes/Home Depot can be a low cost alternative to making something.
 
Conduit benders from Lowes/Home Depot can be a low cost alternative to making something.
Not for bending but for straightening, I can borrow the pipe benders from work. This is a series of rolls you pull the coil through to get it perfectly straight, they sell them for $140 but I'll likely never need it again so.. making them on a wood lathe shouldn't take long at all.
 
Not for bending but for straightening, I can borrow the pipe benders from work. This is a series of rolls you pull the coil through to get it perfectly straight, they sell them for $140 but I'll likely never need it again so.. making them on a wood lathe shouldn't take long at all.

Ahh, I see said the blind man... I thought you meant making turns. I am trying to decide myself what I want to use, and thought you could roll it out using the floor.
 
Ahh, I see said the blind man... I thought you meant making turns. I am trying to decide myself what I want to use, and thought you could roll it out using the floor.
I saw people on YouTube doing it that way, doesn't look fun and I don't know how straight it will come out? I'll try that before I go to the trouble of making one though.
 
I saw people on YouTube doing it that way, doesn't look fun and I don't know how straight it will come out? I'll try that before I go to the trouble of making one though.
It is stiff. But, you can unroll it fairly straight by manipulating it a few feet at a time. It helps to plan out where your clamps that hold it to the wall will be placed so you can clamp it down as you go and that gives you leverage to get the next few feet. Be sure to make clean bevels with that cutter.
 
It is stiff. But, you can unroll it fairly straight by manipulating it a few feet at a time. It helps to plan out where your clamps that hold it to the wall will be placed so you can clamp it down as you go and that gives you leverage to get the next few feet. Be sure to make clean bevels with that cutter.
:thumbsup:
 
I've done a lot of this stuff. Mostly Weil Mclain Alumapex, and my brothers Rapidair in his garage. No matter how straight you try to get it before, you'll still bend it when hanging it on the wall. I usually unroll what I think I need with out cutting the roll, that requires two people usually, hook up one end, then cut the other end right in place. I've never measured out a piece to install. Once it is up and secure, you can spend a little time tweaking it to make it look straight. I'll try to find some pics of my brothers install.
 
I've done a lot of this stuff. Mostly Weil Mclain Alumapex, and my brothers Rapidair in his garage. No matter how straight you try to get it before, you'll still bend it when hanging it on the wall. I usually unroll what I think I need with out cutting the roll, that requires two people usually, hook up one end, then cut the other end right in place. I've never measured out a piece to install. Once it is up and secure, you can spend a little time tweaking it to make it look straight. I'll try to find some pics of my brothers install.
That's another reason I thought the rolls would help, almost everything is a one man job here. Figured I could put the rolls in the vice so I could pull it through myself with the roll of piping hanging on a pipe? I was thinking the same thing about not cutting until I hit it's end point... think I have plan?
Hopefully I can start on it Friday afternoon. Biggest issue right now is both upstairs walls that it will be mounted to are unfinished needing insulated and sheeted. Since it will be ran high I'm sure I can come back later and slide the sheets under it, hate too but I try my hardest to space out the spending.
 
It's pretty stiff to pull like that. If it doesn't work, just roll it out on the floor, just be careful not to scratch it too much. You won't have any trouble.
 
This will be a short thread, this is stuff goes up fast! After some members told me you can easily straighten this stuff without the rolls I tried it, no problem. I rolled it out on the floor then chalk lined and mounted the clips every 32", once installed you just tweak anything that's off and move on... easy peezy.

Here's where I dropped through from upstairs then supplied one side of the lift and will also branch off to supply the addition. One benefit I really love is the ability to bend nice offsets in the piping when you want to hit studs.
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Then across the ceiling to the other side of the lift. I wanted the line ran across the ceiling so it came out perfectly in line with the other post but no joist and a metal ceiling... then I remembered these
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:thumbsup:. The other T will be to route an air drop in between the garage doors.
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Across the other bay then the drop for a few outlets at the workbench then over to the lathe, that's where I stopped. I chose to mount these high so I have room for a pegboard and will put pigtail hoses on them .
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C'mon Devon...You were supposed to make the roller assembly so I could borrow it when I'm ready to do mine...
On second thought since you already got the hang of it I may just sub the whole job out to you...:thumbsup:
 
Today realizing how close I was to being done I started thinking about how to get the compressor upstairs by myself?:realcrazy: I had been waiting on the ground to freeze but now there's 3"-4" of snow on the ground and it's up hill then over a boulder and across a bridge! This seamed like the only option and it worked perfectly lol. I used a couple heavy duty ratchet straps hooked to the roll cage to lift it off the ground then drove it right in.

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So far this is my only complaint, this is a 3/4" kit but the fitting take it down to just over 1/2".

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