This topic can lead to more opinions than the Ford vs. Chevy deal.
You mean there's people that think there's a Ford that's faster then a Chevy???
Charles, you'll most likely find the proponents for PVC have been or are users of PVC, and those against it are usually basing their judgement from reading(internet) or hearing unexperienced rumor.
Doesn't matter to me, I've already saved my money. From the stuff still being in use on bonshire road in Akron that was installed 30 years ago(you'd think if any was going to go bad it'd certainly be that installation right there), to the my last house and shop in NC still having it hooked up, to over 500 feet of it here in this shop (that you can't tell the difference between it and black pipe by the way, other then it's white and doesn't carry moisture for as long in the morning as the steel)... well, I think I'll stick to my ways.
I did look up a rating file someone sent me once though...( I think the burst rate is high and the operating rate is low from my findings though).
Even in my burst test it only opened up the end in a non violent way and that was at very high pressure(I never experienced the splinters of plastic debri flying around the shop as someone described (not that it couldn't happen under some wierd circumstances, just didn't happen to me and I certainly gave it every opportunity to).
Like Sum said, do what makes you comfortable and of course(as with any air line) put a main shut off from the tank. I have a shut off at the beggining and at the end of each leg of my line. Makes it easy to change the ends when they go bad,,, yes the brass and steel couplers go bad.. the PVC does not (not to mention ad another leg in the middle of the day without cutting air from the rest of the shop).
Todd