OSHA and 120 PSI air

A seemingly silly problem, and far from the biggest one in my day, but I'd like to solve it and figure someone here can help.

I'm working in a non-production environment in San Francisco. There is a prototype shop on site, but that is <5% of a mostly office environment. I'm trying to put an air line or compressor in the bicycle storage room to replace the floor pump. I figure it needs to be able to push 120 PSI.

The safety person wants it to either have a blow-off somewhere around 30 PSI, or be set up so that if the tip gets sealed (you know, to the thing you're inflating) there is another air path like the holes on the side of an air nozzle...which doesn't work so well when you want to inflate a tube or tire.

I've found some info about clip on air lines and tire cages that apply to large truck tire inflation, but I'm hesitant to bring that up as I don't want to get told to put bicycle tires in a cage. I'm assuming the safety person is more reasonable than that, but I'm new to the state and finding out reasonable has multiple definitions.

I've also found some info about cleaning concrete forms with compressed air, but also documentation pointing out that as a very narrowly interpreted exception.

What other areas have a use for higher pressure air out of a manually controlled line, and how is it handled?

I have shop air and still pump up my bike tires with a hand pump... I don't like filling bike tires with shop air for a lot of reasons.

My understanding that if it's a blow gun (for "cleaning"), then it has to have the sort of pressure regulator or limiter you've noted. Tire inflation? I'd imagine every service station in the country would be in violation if that same rule applied to a tire chuck.

Just to inflate bike tires, I'd want a very good and fast-acting pressure regulator - with an accurate and big dial pressure gage -- hooked to a small compressor to limit the risk of over-inflation.

If you want the ability to both inflate tires to 120 psi and have a nozzle to blow things off - just get a blow gun with the side vents.

Since road bike tires need as much as 130 PSI you can not limit the pressure with 30 PSI limiters.

Many items require more than 30 PSI, like air tools, paint guns, air clamps, etc. Therefore, it must be legal to have air pressure greater than 30 PSI. As stated above blow guns have a low pressure requirement but that is the only one I know of.

However, if someone has mountain bike tires and hooks them up to your 125 PSI air and does not check pressure continuously, there could be a loud bang and possible blood leaks. With hi pressure, a bike tire will inflate incredibly fast. One might want an orifice to slow the fill rate.

You could use multiple regulators with user selectable pressures or an adjustable regulator but getting people to follow instructions rarely works.

kustomizingkid said:

I have shop air and still pump up my bike tires with a hand pump... I don't like filling bike tires with shop air for a lot of reasons.

Click to expand...

Whenever one has been available I've always used a compressor for car and bike tires, including my time at the place that was making EU pro cycling team wheels. That said, it sounds like you've had an experience I may not have had. What are your reasons for not using shop air on your bike tires?

PeteM said:

My understanding that if it's a blow gun (for "cleaning"), then it has to have the sort of pressure regulator or limiter you've noted. Tire inflation? I'd imagine every service station in the country would be in violation if that same rule applied to a tire chuck.

Just to inflate bike tires, I'd want a very good and fast-acting pressure regulator - with an accurate and big dial pressure gage -- hooked to a small compressor to limit the risk of over-inflation.

If you want the ability to both inflate tires to 120 psi and have a nozzle to blow things off - just get a blow gun with the side vents.

Click to expand...

I don't need to be able to blow things off at this location, just inflate tires. The bike tool companies (and Amazon, and hardware stores) sell nice little heads with presta/schraeder fittings, a gage, and a trigger. I've never had one that inflates so fast that someone paying attention (maybe that's my issue) would blow out their tires. We could also put a regulator in line for those who are concerned. I'm used to bike shops having a publicly accessible air line in front of their shop that's regulated somewhere north of 120 PSI, but pointing that out got me "Most small businesses don't really understand safety requirements and have less to loose." I'm still digging around what tire shops do.

Bill Simmons said:

Since road bike tires need as much as 130 PSI you can not limit the pressure with 30 PSI limiters.

Many items require more than 30 PSI, like air tools, paint guns, air clamps, etc. Therefore, it must be legal to have air pressure greater than 30 PSI. As stated above blow guns have a low pressure requirement but that is the only one I know of.

However, if someone has mountain bike tires and hooks them up to your 125 PSI air and does not check pressure continuously, there could be a loud bang and possible blood leaks. With hi pressure, a bike tire will inflate incredibly fast. One might want an orifice to slow the fill rate.

You could use multiple regulators with user selectable pressures or an adjustable regulator but getting people to follow instructions rarely works.

Click to expand...

Air tools that run at high pressure don't expose the user to them, although I do wonder if that would be true if you tried to cover the exhaust vent. I got "Those people are trained and work in an access controlled area" when pointing out that our machine shop has air drops all over. I don't think the safety person is so concerned about someone with a MTB blowing out their tire as they are with someone somehow sealing off the nozzle with a body part and getting exposed to >30 PSI air. Somewhere they read a rule that all compressed air systems must have a ~30 PSI blowoff or must have an alternate air path if sealed. Tire inflators by design don't have an alternate air path, so therefore they must not be allowed.

run 2 lines, one blow gun with exhaust ports the other with tire gauged filler. Do not have quick connects on business end. Go gourmet and run 3 lines, two tire fillers with pop out gauges - one presto one scherader.

I know have blown up a few tyres, has anyone ever seen a non lockable tube inflater get stuck onto a tube stem? I usually have the opposite problem, getting a flat tube inflated as it is like a turtle and wants to push back into the rim.

This sounds to me like a first world problem. Just a simple regulator set to 30psi or whatever and a non lockable tube inflator.

Or move to China.

I'm sort of curious about why everyone keeps suggesting a line with an air blow off, I don't want one and it doesn't resolve my issues. Also not clear on how I'm supposed to inflate a 120 PSI tire with a line regulated to 30 PSI.

RC99's locking inflator remark did prompt an idea. Locking vs-non locking probably doesn't matter, but the lock provides an alternate air path. If I drill a hole in the chuck past where the o-ring is then there is an alternate escape path for air, which should make it ok in her eyes. I'll just find a dual presta/schraeder head and hook it in to the line with no disconnects so that nothing else can be connected to it.

Apparently I can also move back to China where 3 of my 4 paternal great grandparents were born, although I'm not clear how that helps me solve first world problems at a job I really like.

The tire air nozzel has it own safety self seating plug..
I think the safety guy is out to lnch on this.



https://www.amazon.com/Coilhose-Pne...lator+Nozzle&qid=1559353673&s=gateway&sr=8-16

R they keeping the feces cleaned-up and out your way to ride enjoyably ?
Use to be a beautiful city when I was a kid.
The news paints a different story now a days about people shitting on the streets every where
Course,news channels are out of whack now a days

jrmach said:

R they keeping the feces cleaned-up and out your way to ride enjoyably ?
Use to be a beautiful city when I was a kid.
The news paints a different story now a days about people shitting on the streets every where
Course,news channels are out of whack now a days

Click to expand...

I do have to say that the amount of human feces and hypodermic needles I see around the city is rather staggering. That said, the last place I lived was 100 °F+ during the summer, so as disappointing as it it seems, I'll take that trade.

I'd say they clean our parking lot, but to do that we'd have to have a parking lot.

Set it up the safety nazis way, fill 2 tires to 30 psi, then tell them to ride it for 5 miles

I used to get a laugh from the factory air being 150 psi......every so often some one would explode a bike tyre........had one guy tell me how bad his car was riding.....yep ,he did it from the factory air.........The sandblasters used to blow themselves down with 150 too......got them 30 psi safety nozzles.....tossed in the dirty..no good.......The boss couldnt afford to lose blasters,they just went down the drydock for better money.But not full time...Blasters were royalty.Boss would say.....go down the dock,see if you can get us some blasters....dont get caught ,tho.

kustomizingkid said:

I have shop air and still pump up my bike tires with a hand pump... I don't like filling bike tires with shop air for a lot of reasons.

Click to expand...

This... I have shop air too and still prefer a good bike pump, one that has a gauge right on it. Even the bike shop near me that does a lot of business uses a hand pump.
Get a good one with a stable base, Blackburn and Bontrager make nice ones.


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Considering where you are located I would be concerned with what the local authorities deem to be in compliance. There are plenty of cities in California (I used to live in Riverside) where the fire department will walk through your business (even if it isn't open to the public) unannounced any time of day and do a safety inspection.

Order a tank of nitrogen to fill the tires with. Then you can say, "We have no compressed air here"

I believe the spec you are chasing only relates to blow guns

Obviously it is impossible to limit air for uses that require higher pressure.

I think you may have to look up the pertinent osha reg and read it yourself so you can have a coherent argument with the safety person

:-) quote a coherent argument with the safety person en quote :-) Just how likely is that??
...lewie...

Talk to your boss about it and do what he says, even if it's wrong. If that means inflating tires to 30psi, management will hear about it from the customers.

How many tire inflations in a normal day's work? Would manual inflation be all that burdensome?
Good luck,
Monoblanco (across the bay from you)