Pipes What Are They & What Do They Do?
Are you looking to educate yourself on some basic plumbing practices? Want to be able to effectively choose what type of pipe best suits your plumbing needs? Then, this is the article for you. Designed to help you better understand home plumbing systems, in this article you will learn about pipes, their importance to plumbing, and their different types.
Pipes
Did you know that cardio surgeons are often called plumbers of the human body? The reason is that the cardiovascular system is quite similar to a general plumbing system with the blood vessels representing pipes and the heart a pump.
And much like their anatomical counterpart, plumbing pipes comprise the most crucial and basic unit of a plumbing system. If you’re thinking that I’m about to delve into some complex stuff? Then, don’t worry; there’s nothing much to say about pipes — as they only function to transport water from one place to another.
Plumbing Pipes come in two varieties:
PVC Pipes
Short for polyvinylchloride, PVC is a petroleum-derived plastic that’s cheap, durable, and flexible. The material is almost perfect in its uses as plumbing pipes, especially in large projects where more pipes need to be used.
PVC pipes possess the following qualities:
· They have a relatively high tensile strength on account of their lightweight and strong durability.
· Being amorphous plastics, PVCs are quite immune to variations in temperature i.e. they don’t expand or contract easily.
· PVCs are very malleable, allowing plumbers considerable levy to do and adjust the connections when and how they want.
· For example, when installing faucets, plumbers will often install them after they’re completed all of the connections. However, faucet installations in Ottawa are different as plumbers there choose to install faucets as soon as they can.
Copper Pipes
Not too long ago, lead, on account of its excellent durability, was the material of choice to be used for plumbing pipes. It was only after the discovery of its harmful side effects, was it replaced by copper. Belonging to the same family of elements as gold, silver, and platinum — copper has both exceptional chemical and environmental inertness. Its significant qualities are as follows:
· Being a pretty dense metal, copper is extremely durable — so much so that it can last for 10 years more than its PVC counterpart.
· Due to possessing a metallic nature, copper pipes are susceptible to variations in temperature i.e. they expand and contract a lot.
· Copper pipes aren’t malleable like PVC pipes which makes them less prone to bending out of shape or bursting.
· Moreover, you can’t connect copper pipes the same way you can PVC ones. That’s because they first need to be tapered and only connected to other systems.
· A consequence of this is that plumbers have less freedom to adjust and connect the piping network.
· For example, even faucet installations in Ottawa are done only after the piping has been completed and not whenever the opportunity arises.
Going Beyond the Basics
Despite how essential they are to plumbing systems, pipes aren’t as complicated — and hopefully, this article has brought you one step closer to better understanding home plumbing systems. However, keep in mind that this article isn’t meant as a substitute for professional plumbing and that it’s only made to help you better understand plumbing concepts. For actual work like faucet installation in Ottawa or drain cleaning, always contact a professional.
