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Galvanized steel pipe
Galvanized steel pipe is made by hot-dip galvanizing common welded steel pipe. It is featured with low price, convenient to use and simple connection. After use for a period, the galvanized steel pipe is easy to rust. This will affect the water sanitation. And it is not durable.
Thin-wall copper pipe
Copper pipe is non-ferrous metal pipe with copper as its main raw material. It is seamless pipe molding by drawing, extruding or rolling. Copper pipe can be divided into copper pipe and plastic coated copper pipe (it is covered by hot extrusion plastic covering to protect copper pipe and heat preservation for pipe line). Thin-wall copper pipe uses braze connection. Hard braze welding uses copper-based hard solder with no silver or low silver. Thin-wall copper pipe has good performance in living water supply pipe.
Thin-wall copper pipe has good mechanical performance and malleability. It has hard and high intensity tubular product. The strength of extension is more than 20 to 315 MPA. Pipe with small diameter is processed by drawing. The pipe thickness is more than the requirement for pipeline work stress. The pipe wall made by copper is thin, this save much material. It has light weight. The flow resistance is low for its smooth pipe wall, which is good to save tubular product and reduce energy consumption. Copper pipe is recyclable. Thin-wall copper pipe has been used for a long period. Copper has low tagmeme in chemical activity sequencing, so it has stable performance and good corrosion resistance. Copper pipe is durable. According to research, copper can inhibit the growth of gem. It can keep the water clean.
PPR pipe
PPR pipe is co-polypropylene water supply pipe modified by polypropylene pipe. The working pressure of it is lower than 0.6 MPA and working temperature is less than 70 degree. The connection way of PPR pipe is hot melting or electric smelting. There is specialized tool for copper pipe connection and the connection surface need to heating. The flow will be blocked if the heating time is too long or the bell and spigot is inserted excessively. Besides, the softening temperature of PPR pipe is 140 degree. It can be used as hot water pipe.
PVC-U pipe: PVC-U (polyvinyl chloride) pipe is thermoplasticity plastic pipe which is made of pvc resins and plasticizer, stabilizer, filler, lubricant, colorant etc. additive and molded by kneading, plasticizing, sized dicing and extruding. The feed-water temperature of PVC-U pipe is lower than 45 degree. The working pressure of it is less than 0.6 MPA. The strength of PVC-U pipe is low. It has poor heat resistance, cannot expose under the sunlight for a long period. Although polyvinyl chloride is cheap and has low influence on water quality, the addictive added in it and other residue will have bad effect to water.
PVC lined galvanized steel pipe
Plastic lined steel pipe is low pressure pipe which lining composed plastic in the inner wall of steel pipe. PVC lined plastic is material often used in water pipe. It has relatively mature technology. Plastic lined steel pipe is composed by polyvinyl chloride and galvanized steel pipe. It combines the merits of high strength and good rigidity of metal pipe and corrosion resistance of plastic pipe. Meanwhile it does not have the shortages of the two pipe materials. Plastic lined steel pipe use threaded connection way. It has much choice in pipe fitting and completed specification. This is also one of the advantages of it during use. But the material utilization amount of PVC lined galvanized steel pipe is large. The pipe diameter for actual use is small. It needs to use composite molding process in produce, this increase its cost. There is large difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between galvanized steel pipe and lined PVC. If they are not bonded correctly, it is easy to have separation phenomenon. This will affect the pipe quality.
Thin-wall stainless steel pipe
Stainless steel pipe also called stainless seamless steel pipe. Using thin-wall stainless steel pipe is more economic in interior water supply system. The price of stainless steel is relatively high. Remember to choose stainless steel model that is resistant to chloride ion in the water. The connection way for thin-wall stainless steel can be weld, thread etc.
Summary:
1. All these pipe: thin-wall copper pipe, PPR pipe, PVC-U pipe, plastic lined steel pipe and thin-wall stainless steel pipe, can be used for home water supply pipe. Thin-wall copper pipe, PPR pipe and thin-wall stainless steel pipe also can be used as the hot water pipe.
2. The choosing of home pipe material should be decided by synthesis technique and economic factors, such as architectural design standard, construction costs, operating requirement and time, installation and maintenance.
3. Different pipe materials can be used in the same building for different area.
4. Thin-wall copper pipes have the highest cost performance in all the pipe materials on the market with comprehensive consideration of various factors.
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I had no idea that there were so many different types of pipes that could be used, like the PVC lined galvanized steel pipes you mentioned. I’ve heard that stainless steel can be very beneficial because it doesn’t rust easily. Because it is non-porous, it is also effective in resisting buildup of germs.
Thanks for pointing out that galvanized steel pipes provides beneficial features of both metal and plastic pipes, such as strength, rigidity, and corrosion resistance. My husband and I are building a custom home and have been trying to decide on a material for the water supply pipes. I learned a lot about the features of different pipe types, so thanks for sharing!