[amsat-bb] PVC pipe grades and color

[Michael Tondee]

Sorry, I didn't mean to indicate that all schedule 80 PVC was gray in 
color, I was just refering to what I have on hand that I got at the 
local  home improvement center. I do know that the pipe I have is 
definitely intended as plumbing pipe and not electrical conduit. I  got 
it because of it's superior rigidity to shcedule 40. Obviously this is 
the case because it is thicker walled tubing.
73,
Michael

Robin Midgett wrote:
> Schedule 40 & schedule 80 are simply different wall thicknesses for 
> pressure ratings. I believe the gray PVC is intended for electrical 
> conduit purposes, and it is more resistant to UV, but the color has 
> nothing to do with the schedule grade.
>
>
>
>   
>> The white stuff can tend to get brittle out in the sun. Painting it 
>> will help with this somewhat. My 70cm antenna was modeled after the 
>> cheap yagi design and had a white PVC boom that had been painted 
>> gray. When lowering the mast to do some rotator maintenance the 
>> antenna brushed a nearby dogwood tree that the XYL refuses to let me 
>> cut down. The boom snapped right at one of the elements. This could 
>> have been brittleness or just the fact of where it struck. I can't 
>> comment on the tan (CPVC) pipe as I haven't used it. My
>> replacement antenna will be using schedule 80 which is gray in color 
>> and much more rigid for the boom.
>> 73,
>> Michael, W4HIJ
>>
>>
>>