Shop air line blowouts got me rethinking my whole setup

Last month I had a 1/2 inch air line pop right at the fitting while I was running a 1 inch impact gun, scared the hell out of me and sprayed oil all over a customer's valve cover. The line was only 3 years old but it was laying on the floor in a spot where I constantly drove the shop cart over it, that cheap rubber casing just gave up. I replaced it with a retractable reel mounted on the ceiling near the back bay, paid about $260 for a decent 50 footer, and I'm kicking myself for not doing this years ago. Now I'm wondering if I should redo the other two drops in the shop the same way because the old lines all have those same wear marks near the couplers. Has anyone else switched to ceiling reels and found they actually save you time, or do they just loop and tangle worse than the floor lines?

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1 Comment

evannelson1mo ago

Man, that line popping at the fitting while you're working on a customer's car is the worst kind of surprise. I switched my main drop to a ceiling reel about two years back and honestly, the tangle worry goes away once you get the hang of pulling just what you need. The old floor lines always found a way to get crushed or kinked no matter how careful I was, so I say go for it on the other two.