On 16 Nov 2005 18:34:25 -0800, "
wrote:


wrote:
On 16 Nov 2005 06:33:03 -0800, "
wrote:

Greetings,

I recently purchased a house which has had some of its galvanized water
pipe replaced with black pipe. I know that the work is new because
there are bar codes all over the pipe. I know that this is "not
good" but I would like to have some notion of how bad it is before I
decide whether or not to replace the pipe with galvanized.

a) Is this a code violation (if yes, why?)
b) What is the life expectancy of black pipe?
c) What is the life expectancy of galvanized pipe?
d) Are there any other factors?

Thank you for your time and energy,
William

Black pipe is for gas. Water contains gasses. Just allow the gasses
in the water in those sections of pipe rather than the liquid water
and you wont have any problems.

Greetings,

I ran your suggestion by the plumbing isle worker at Lowes and she
concurs with you. Since this was not the response I was expecting I
decided to push it further and asked her for the specifics on what to
buy. She then added that it sounds like you know a lot more about
plumbing that she does and perhaps I should talk with one of the guys.

Hope this helps,
William

Correct. The guys at Lowes should have known that what you need is a
Vaporizer. You need one for each section of black pipe. Insert one
at the input end of the pipe, and the water will turn to gasseous
vapor. On the output end you must use a devaporizer to turn the vapor
back to liquid water. You will need to do this for every section of
black pipe. Be sure you have one 50 Amp 240 VOLT electrical
receptacle for each vaporizer and devaporizer, since both require a
high amperage circuit. Be sure your home has a minimum 600 Amp
service entrance, or 1000 amp if you run a lot of Christmas lights.
You will likely have to rewire your house and have the electric
company install a new transformer, larger wires to your neighborhood,
and fire up another nuclear power plant.

Of course, your other option would be to take those black pipes apart
and take them to a company that does electro-plating. Have them apply
zink to the inside of those pipes to form a galvanized coating. While
they are at it, they can also galvanize the outside of the pipe, or to
save money, you can just paint the outside silver using aluminum
paint. Then reinstall the pipes.

I should note that it may take several weeks for the plating company
to retrofit their machines for your job, and you could be without
water during that period. Therefore, you might want to purchase some
temporary galvanized pipes of the same length and diameter to put into
your plumbing system until your pipes are returned to you.
Unfortunately you will not be able to return these "temporary" pipes
because they are used, but you can always sell them on Ebay or rent
them to a plumbing company for a 5 year lease, and the rental income
will pay for the initial cost of the pipes.

[1] Of course you could check into the rebuilt water pipes (in another
thread on this newsgroup). They could save you a few dollars.

I hope this helps.



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