I personally wouldn't be to quick to embrace acrylic for a working unit (in a vehicle), my bench top test/demo tank is acrylic and I think it works fine for static or sheltered applications.
My experience with acrylic in other fabrication projects has been that it doesn't like heat, vibration or many chemical substances especially in a prolonged exposer environment IE.. motor vehicles engine compartment. It gets brittle and will craze (small cracks) when exposed to many chemical or solvent compounds such as lacquer thinner, acetone and I think gasoline.
It also doesn't take impacts as well as PVC and when it does fail, shatters with sharp edges. From a practical building stand point PVC is my preferred choice easy to work with, materials and fittings readily available most anywhere, no special solvents to buy or try and deal with (Weldon-4 can be tricky), and usually much less costly. Drawback is you don't get to watch the pretty bubbles.
Its my opinion that for first time builders PVC pipe is probably best, an experienced fabricator may wish to use Acrylic for observation or demonstration reasons yet I don't see the need for it in practical application.
ABS is also a good starting place, just not many small fittings available, hence requiring more fabrication for the system.
Just my 2 cents worth
David
The test/demo tank is 8"x12"
The PVC cell is 6"x12" and contains 4400sq" of plate area, joe cell configuration(amperage draw is off the chart)
