Stainless Steel Pipe Fittings are the Best Pipe Fittings for Home use

Plumbing is not my strong suit. I am not what you would call a handy man as far as tubes and pipes are concerned. This is the reason why I like to make sure that the chances of plumbing trouble is minimized as much as possible and I do this by using the best material for my house’s plumbing system.

Pipes will always be pipes. They go straight one way and then they turn to another direction. That is just fact of life. One of the most common problems in any plumbing system always happens at the turns. Leaks always happen at the joints that connect the pipes. These joints are made up of what is called the pipe fittings. The most common pipe fittings are L- or U-shaped which are the most basic piping patterns that you will see in any plumbing system.

Pipe fittings are made out of copper, steel or PVC (which stands for polyvinyl chloride) but one of the best ones to use are the stainless steel pipe fittings.

Stainless steel is a steel alloy that is very corrosion-resistant. They actually do not rust as much or as quickly as iron because they are known to be “inoxydable”. One trivia about stainless steels that you should know is that they do stain. But that takes a long time to happen because this steel alloy is quite resistant to staining. Just provide it with adequate care and they could easily last decades serving your piping needs.

I would advise against getting the PVC type fittings as they are not as durable and would probably not last as long as any stainless steel pipe fitting you can easily find in most hardware or plumbing specialty stores. Yes, stainless steel may be more expensive compared to household grade PVC pipe fittings but going for the latter will only mean short term savings whereas going for the durable stainless steel versions would certainly mean long term savings in emergency plumbing expenses which can surely sky-rocket especially if you need to hire a professional plumber. If you are like me who is not much of a handy man, having the best pipe fittings is mandatory.

There are 3 methods to connecting pipes using stainless steel pipe fittings: flared fittings, single ferrule fittings, and double ferrule fittings.

Flared fittings - where the end of the tube is flared with a tool and then contained within a nut, sleeve and body.

Single ferrule fittings - where the ends of the tube are placed into a fitting with a single compression ring, a body and nut.

Double ferrule fittings - where the ends of the tube are placed into a fitting with two separate compression rings, body and nut. (Also known as the twin ferrule fitting, this is not strictly correct as the two rings are of different shape and length.)

Source: EzineArticles

Be sure to find out which suits your needs before buying anything.

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