How much weight can PVC pipe hold vertically

I bought my house my house built like this already. It was designed and built by a ME as his dream house in 1989. It slowly degraded after he sold it and moved to michigan. then the guy that had it before me had spray ureathane blown over the whole thing and coated with elastomeric. The wall thickness is 8" of styrofoam, 1/4" concrete stucko, 1 1/2" of spray foam and elastomeric that is (now) aproaching 1/8 - 1/4" thick. 5 years ago I started to upgrade it with thermopane windows (replacing the singe pane ones) and removed the central A/C and moved to 3 window units in permant boxes in the walls above the new windows. I heat all winter long with a dehumidifyer and a halogen floor lamp. A/C went from a 20+ year old 5 ton unit to 2 - 1600 btu units and a single 3600 unit. All 120vac.

The sound inside does "very strange" things, but the coolest thing is when it rains hard, it sounds like ping pong balls hitting the outside. Almost every time I hear it I think of the old kids show, Capt Kangaroo, and the moose dropping the ping pong balls (oppps, dated myself) and crack up.

It has been a real learning experience, and I have done lots of experiments prior to deploying some kind of repair/improvement

I have acquired materials for the "carport from XXXX" (6 - 36 ft x 14" I beams) and hope by next year to have the frame assembly for solar water heating.

If anyone would want a tour, and you find yourself in the houston area, PM me, we'll drink a cold beverage or two, and I'll give you the "free 50 cent tour"

I will try to get some pics of both the house and some of my "cored pvc/foam panels" to post later

thanks,

dr

Even 1.5 diameter PVC pipe, which is a pretty standard bar handle diameter for parallettes can support tons of weight.

According to pvcfittingonline.com, schedule 40 1.5 inch diameter PVC pipe can take 954 pounds of tensile strength, and schedule 80 1.5 inch diameter PVC pipe can take 1225 pounds of tensile strength.

Tensile strength is simply the most weight that can be put on something before it breaks. To test the tensile strength of PVC pipe for example, you would hang more and more weight on the pipe it until it broke to measure the amount of weight it can withstand. 

It is clear that PVC certainly can withhold some serious pressure given that it takes 954 pounds to break a schedule 40 PVC pipe.

At about 2 dollars a foot for this diameter and schedule, PVC proves to be extremely sturdy for quite an affordable price.

Now you might be thinking “great! I don’t weight nearly 954 pounds so I won’t need to worry about my PVC parallettes breaking!”. This is not quite the case as there are a few other things to consider.

Keep in mind that the length of the pipes is a big factor to consider when determining how much weight it can support. The longer the parallette, the less weight it will be able to hold. Because parallettes are typically about a foot in length or more, you can reasonably expect PVC parallettes to support less weight than 954 pounds. After all, the 954 figure is not necessarily derived from strength testing PVC pipe built into parallettes. Rather, this number came from tests on PVC pipe in a lab setting. 

It is also to keep in mind that with parallettes, the pressure you put on these pieces of gym equipment can vary based on what exercises you are doing.

For example, imagine that you are transitioning from an L-sit to a handstand. There will be points in the middle of that transition where the swinging of your bodyweight will force more pressure on the parallettes.

So lets cut to the chase… what is the PVC DIY parallette weight limit? Can they really support my bodyweight?

The short answer is most likely yes. Building parallettes out of PVC pipe is quite common because the method works effectively. You can see all the positive experiences on blogs and forums.

The catch is that the parallettes need to be made properly. If they are made poorly, or incorrectly (which is easy to do) they won’t last very long.

Regardless, there a few tips you must keep in mind when making your own PVC parallettes to be entirely sure that they will be able to support your weight.

 Related: Beginners Guide to Choosing Parallettes  

5 tips for making sure your PVC parallettes are as strong as possible

1. Make sure you have the right size bars

Photo credit: Teresa Trimm

It is important that you use at least a 1.5-inch diameter pipe for the handles of your PVC pipe parallettes. 1.5 inches is pretty much the standard diameter for all parallettes so you should design your own makeshift parallettes accordingly. Secondly, using any bar with a diameter smaller than 1.5 inches will be much more likely to buckle under stress. Keep in mind that the wider the diameter, the more sturdy the bar will be.

Of course, this next point might sound like a no-brainer, but it needs to be said. You also need to make sure that all of your other pipes and connectors are the right sizes. There is no possible way that you can make an extremely sturdy and secure parallette set by using pieces of PVC that don’t fit. You can use all the glue in the world, but if the pieces don’t fit, you will never be able to create a functional pair of parallets like you would with properly fitting pieces.

2. Use schedule 80 PVC

Schedule 40 PVC is the most common type of PVC pipe that you can buy. For that reason, it is most commonly used to make homemade parallettes. However, schedule 40 PVC is considerably less strong than schedule 80 PVC.

Schedule 80 PVC has much thicker walls than schedule 40. As a result, according to pvcfittingsonline.com schedule 40 PVC at 1.5 inches in diameter can withstand 954 pounds of tensile strength while schedule 80 PVC at 1.5 inches in diameter can withstand 1225 pounds of tensile strength before breaking. Keep in mind that 1.5 inches in diameter are the standard diameter for handles on most parallettes.

Clearly, by choosing to go with some pipes a bit on the thicker side, you can expect that they will hold up to your bodyweight a bit better.

3. Glue your pipes together

You will come across various sources that will say you don’t need to glue your pipes together to make perfectly functional PVC parallettes. These sources are perfectly right.

You don’t at all need to use PVC primer and cement to make your PVC parallettes. Many people have no problem with this approach. 

However, for added stability and strength it is important that you do in fact use primer and cement when putting the pipe together. The last thing you want is your handlebars on your parallettes to suddenly twist out of position mid-set.

To glue your pipes together, follow these steps:

     1. Fit all of your pipes and joints together into your parallettes BEFORE you put on any primer or cement at all. This way you can know for sure that all the pieces fit together correctly before you start gluing. Disassemble the pipes but lay them out so that they can readily be put back together again.

     2. Coat each and every piece with PVC primer in the areas where they will connect with other pieces. Be sure to lay the pieces out the same way as before so that you can readily put them together again.

     3. After priming each and every piece, you may coat one piece with PVC cement over where they were originally primed. From here, immediately attach piece into its connecting joint. Press it in to really make sure that they get bonded together.

     4. Do this to each piece one by one until you complete your first parallette. Then do the same for the second.

The video above should give you a more detailed demonstration of the bonding process.

4. Get your dimensions right

To make sure that you don’t make flimsy parallettes it is important that you build them with a sturdy design.

Generally, the more compact you can make your parallettes the better. If you design your parallettes with long handlebars over 12 inches, they are more likely to snap under the pressure of your bodyweight.

However, it is also important that you don’t make your parallettes too small. Otherwise, they can fall over easily under pressure.

The most sturdy homemade parallette design consists of handlebars a little less than 12 inches long and base bars that are about as long as the handlebars. In fact, you can even make your base bars even longer. This way the parallettes will be just a little bit more sturdy.

5. Fill with expanding foam

There is an argument that filling each and every PVC pipe with expanding foam will make your parallettes firmer and harder to break.

However, expanding foam likely only makes your parallettes a little bit more firm at best. The real benefit is that your parallettes will become just a little bit heavier.

This is actually great because often times PVC parallettes are not too heavy, to begin with. Having that little bit of added weight can help to make sure that your parallettes don’t topple over mid-workout. Alternatively, you can also fill the pipes with sand to make them just a bit heavier. 

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