copper line for suction?

[Mr. Manka]

Hello all,
well im in a bit of a budget crunch right now, and i was wondering if it would be possible to use a piece of copper pipe as a substitution (sp?) for stainless steel braided line. The compressor is a nf7clx, so i dont think it will put out too much vibration,will it work and last for a while, or am i better off spending 50+ dollars for some braided SS?

thanks

[Gray Mole]

With a small low vibration compressor, and if you put a good ubend in the pipe, you could get away with it I suppose.

Some would disagree, as any vibration through a pipe isn't great for he socket or the cpu, but if you take the steps to minimise that, you should be ok.

Still recommend a flexi, but have seen other's use the pipe and be ok. If you put a coil into the line from the compressor, it would take out more of the vibrations as well, so that would help. Just want to make sure the coil is positioned so it's not going to catch and hold any oil and such up, but normally a single coil isn't a problem, have seen multiple coils that still worked.

It doesn't really do anything to the performance of the unit to go with straight copper tube than a flexi though, just the danger of vibration, and cracking the pipe if things get moved around too much.

Cheers

Gray

[f00t]

you just have to remember that copper becomes harder and harder to bend the more you bend it. so it you plan on bending it alot, the copper will become extremely difficult to bend after a while

[the_new_guy]

also the low level vibration are what coz the most damage.

[chilly1]

you building a cascade?
well if you are building a cascade and keep the static under 140 psi then you do not need a braided line..
just an expansion tank.

cheap stainless get a gas line and deal with the elongation they will hold 300 psi but tend to grow a little...