Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmogirl
Yea I didn't think about it expanding but do you really think it would at a low to medium boost? Considering the plastic would have a decent thickness too. I would think a heat wrap would hold the heat in considering isn't that what its made to do?
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The expanding part wouldn't be that big of a deal..
Schedule 40 PVC (the white, cheap stuff) @ 3 inches is rated @ 158 PSI operating pressure...
So if you had some piping made that was maybe half that thickness, you'd theoretically be in the 78-80 PSI range for
operating pressure. That's @ 73 degrees f.
PVC wouldn't be a good choice for this application, it can't really handle the temps for any length of time, but I just wanted to use it as an example of good thermoplastics' pressure handling characteristics.
At the very least, plastic cold pipes could be used, but the tooling to manufacture them would likely be prohibitively expensive. Same goes for a composite design.