When conducting a major overhaul, the owner of the house always has the problem of choosing the material from which you can create a durable water supply system. To decide which water pipes are better, it is necessary taking into account the fact that you have to install two pipelines: cold and hot. This is important because for the hot water supply system it is impossible to use some types of water pipes, they can only be used for cold water.
An important criterion when choosing pipes is the purpose of the water supply and the temperature of the water passing through it
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Pipes for water: types
Of course, it is up to the homeowner to decide which pipes are best for running water in an apartment, private house or cottage. However, it should be remembered that not only the level of comfort depends on the correct choice. Replacing a pipe that burst due to its operation in unsuitable conditions (for example, under high pressure) is always associated with significant financial costs. Therefore, today, for the installation of home water supply with their own hands, they usually use combined pipe hire: for hot water one type of pipe, for cold water - another. However, you can choose universal products, the performance and service life of which remain unchanged at any temperature of the working environment.
Pipes for water supply can be metal, plastic and metal-plastic. The first are produced by welded technology and on a rolling mill. The consumer properties of metal water pipes are significantly affected by the raw materials used for their manufacture: cast iron, steel, aluminum or copper.
Polymer products are manufactured on an extruder. This unit forms a sectional profile of a plastic pipe under pressure.
Some types of plastic pipes are used for the installation of drinking water.
The assembly of plastic pipes is a more complex process. It is based on the welding or gluing of a polymer with a metal reinforcing frame consisting of copper or aluminum foil. Such a constructive solution allows pipes of this type to withstand increased pressure without sacrificing their service life.
Having found out what these products are made of, you can begin to find out what kind of pipes for water supply are and what water pipes are better to install in an apartment, in a country house or in a private house.
Metal pipes - which ones to choose?
As mentioned above, in this segment of the building materials market there are products made of steel, cast iron, and copper. But for the implementation of the water supply system in the apartment and suburban housing, it is better to use steel. This is due to the fact that copper is toxic, and the use of cast-iron pipes is impossible: on their basis, mainly pressureless sewers are created that are equipped in private homes or in summer cottages.
The older generation remembers which pipe was used in the Soviet era to create water supply systems in apartment buildings. These were simple steel pipes without anti-corrosion coating, and structural steel was used as raw material.However, today, when constructing a private house or arranging a water supply system in an apartment, the owners increasingly prefer stainless steel water pipes.
Important! The use of stainless steel allows you to create not only able to withstand significant pressure, but also aesthetically attractive, designed for a long service life, plumbing. In addition, it can be used for both hot and cold water supply. This will in no way affect the life of the stainless steel water pipes.
Copper pipes - a worthy but very expensive alternative to steel products
However, such a metal water pipe has certain disadvantages. Firstly, stainless steel is a very expensive metal. Secondly, it is not very plastic. That is, there is a possibility that no matter how presentable and expensive the water supply may be, it will simply break when the pipe from the stainless steel freezes. And this factor is perhaps the most important when deciding how to choose pipes for the water supply in the country.
Thirdly - this is the complexity of DIY installation. Such engineering communications are assembled on a threaded connection or mounted by welding. Moreover, regardless of which option is available, only a qualified performer can implement it. Therefore, to instruct the installation of pipes for the water supply system in a private house, in the country or in an apartment is better for an experienced boiler operator, who is able to weld an end seam with his own hands both accurately and tightly.
To seal the joint, a special seal is used. It is necessary to screw it onto the flange before the locknut presses the coupling. When mounting pipes for water pipes in an apartment, in a private house or in a summer cottage, this step should be performed with all care. It would seem that everything is simple. But, as practice shows, far from all household chores and plumbers can do the windings of a threaded stainless steel water pipe with their own hands carefully. And this can cause leaks even with stable fluid pressure in the line.
The most difficult step when installing a water pipe from steel pipes is the sealing of joints
The choice of plastic water pipes. Which are better and which are worse?
The production of polymer pipes for water supply in the country, in a private house or for a modern apartment is based on the use of polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Moreover, no matter what structural material was used, the final product is always relatively cheap. Therefore, if when choosing water pipes for hot and cold water supply, the main criteria are not only the service life, but also the cost, the best option would be plastic products, and not from the aforementioned stainless steel. Another argument in favor of such a solution is the possibility of installing them yourself.
PVC pipes are best used to create pressure-free systems with a working environment temperature not exceeding 40 ° C. The logical question is: which pipes to choose for the water supply in the apartment? After all, there cold water is supplied under pressure? For this, polyethylene products will fit.
Note! This type of water pipes is ideal for cold water supply: polyethylene pipes do not withstand temperatures of + 80 ° C. Therefore, these products are used in private homes, mainly for creating outdoor water supply systems that supply water from wells.
Well, polypropylene pipes are used to transport hot water. This is due to the following factors:
- such a polymer retains its characteristics at a carrier temperature of up to + 140 ° C;
- polypropylene piping is not critical to high pressure in water pipes. That is, the highway will not break through from the inside.
The choice of plastic products depends on the type of water supply, since not every polymer pipe is resistant to high water temperatures
Plastic types of water pipes do-it-yourself mounts, mainly in two ways.
- Cold welding. In fact, this is a simple gluing of a tubular product and a coupling. Its implementation provides an absolutely tight and quite durable seam.
- Diffusion welding. The principle of operation of this method is based on the melting of the internal and external surfaces of the joined components of the pipeline and the pressing of the softened segments into each other at the final stage. The only drawback of this joining method is the inability to dismantle the pipeline without cutting segments. But this minus is completely compensated by the fact that it does not matter what pressure in the pipes for the water supply in the apartment is increased or normal: the resulting seam can withstand up to 40 atmospheres (about 4.5 MPa).
When to choose plastic pipes
Such products belong to the category of the most popular types of water pipes for apartments, private houses and summer cottages. This is due to the presence of the following properties:
- the possibility of laying a water pipe from metal plastic with your own hands;
- high resistance to corrosion and, accordingly, long service life;
- excluded the possibility of the formation of mineral deposits. That is, there is no need to clean metal-plastic water pipes from the inside.
Being a flexible pipe for water supply, the metal-plastic product is flexible, easy to bend, but at the same time retains its shape. This property is not inherent in all polymer elements of water supply systems. Although all of them are also flexible water pipes, in them the place of the bend on the outside and inside takes on a sharply oval shape. Such a configuration change during bending reduces the throughput of the water supply pipeline. This is especially critical in small rooms. Therefore, when arranging a water supply system in the country, give preference to metal-plastic products. Indeed, when laying a pipeline in small-sized private houses, which today is the majority of cottages, you will have to work in hard-to-reach places and will not do without bending pipes.
Plastic pipes easily bend, this will save on the purchase of corner fittings
Water pipes created on the basis of this material easily tolerate severe frosts. This is due to the fact that the metal-plastic water pipe in the context is a structure that includes three layers:
- the outer layer of the polymer;
- aluminium foil;
- inner polymer layer.
Reinforcement with aluminum increases resistance to pressure produced by frozen water, and the pipe itself, used for external water supply, remains as flexible without compromising its service life. With this in mind, pipe products of this type can not be insulated. Therefore, already knowing what water pipes are, and having found out their pros and cons, it is obvious that it is better to choose metal-plastic products for cottages.
Advice! When working with such flexible pipes, protect them from thermal (ingress of sparks, contact with an open flame, etc.) and mechanical (kinks, impacts, etc.). So you extend the life of the water supply.
In conclusion, it should be noted that during the arrangement underground highway For a long time, only steel pipes for external water supply were used. However, now in this area they are replaced by polymer products. But in any case, the landlord has the right to choose.
