# How much pressure will PVC pipe hold?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 25, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140 "2006-05-25T06:32:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/1 "2006-05-25T06:32:14Z")
How many PSI’s can I get PVC pipe up to before it blows up or becomes dangerous?
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### Author:  [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/2 "2006-05-25T07:03:34Z")
WARNING: PDF File ahead…
[http://www.dipra.org/pdf/DIPvsPVC.pdf](http://www.dipra.org/pdf/DIPvsPVC.pdf)
Page 4 shows burst test strength of PVC vs. iron pipe. For more exact answers, we would need more information about the type of PVC pipe you’re proposing to load up.
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### Author:  [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/3 "2006-05-25T07:22:31Z")
I’d think that if you’re really going to do it, you’d want to get the information from the manufacturer, just to be safe. I’d imagine they’d have the specifications, or some standard that they’d say it meets.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/4 "2006-05-25T08:29:17Z")
Planning on building [one of these](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=41020)?
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/5 "2006-05-25T11:29:49Z")
You’re not planning to build pipe bombs or some fool thing like that, are you?
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/6 "2006-05-25T15:45:59Z")
Recall seeing 200 PSI on the 1/2 and 3/4" schedule 40 PVC I was using this weekend.
The PSI rating is printed right on the stuff, usually.
Schedule 80 is thicker, so it should be able to take more pressure, and schedules 140 and 200 is thin stuff
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### Author:  [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/7 "2006-05-25T16:44:28Z")
No No, no pipe bombs or goat catapults.
My friend (Who is 22, I’m only 19) recently built a wagon with a false bottom to it. He built it for a music fest he was going to because beer is so expensive inside that he wanted to bring his own.
He and I got to talking and were curious as to whether or not you could build a keg wagon. And as far as I know, it should be possible. All I would have to do is snake PVC pipe through the bottom of his wagon , fill half with beer, then pressurize it. So, as to make sure I dont’ blow up when we build this, I wanted to see just how much PSI a PVC pipe would hold.
On a side note, is that basically what a keg is? A pressurized canister full of beer?
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/8 "2006-05-25T19:26:41Z")
So, you want to do the double crime of underage drinking and sneaking something into a venue?
FWIW, the beer is already somewhat pressurized. If you’re going to the effort of false bottoms, why not just make it deep enough to hold cans? That can’t be much more obvious than a maze of pipes in a wagon, assuming the venue allows you to bring in the wagon at all.
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### Author:  [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pressure-will-pvc-pipe-hold/358140/9 "2006-05-26T14:45:46Z")
Well I won’t be drinking the beer so no underage drinking will occur. **The Surb** games me some pointers the other night that make more sense than building a PVC keg. In the end, its just too impractical and expensive to build one. So I’m giving up on it.