Pipe vs. Tubing: Benefits, Costs, and Fluid System Performance
Choosing between piping and tubing can have a significant impact on the performance, reliability, and total cost of your fluid system. While threaded pipe is commonly used to transport process fluids in chemical plants and industrial applications, it can be labor-intensive to install, maintain, and modify over time.
In this video, you'll learn how tubing can provide a practical alternative by reducing installation time, minimizing potential leak points, and simplifying maintenance. Explore the advantages of stainless steel tubing, including improved corrosion resistance, lighter weight, fewer connections, and smoother flow paths compared to traditional pipe systems. You'll also discover how tubing can help lower labor costs, improve system reliability, and make future modifications easier.
Whether you're designing a new fluid system or evaluating upgrades to an existing one, this overview will help you understand the key differences between piping and tubing so you can make an informed decision based on your application's performance, maintenance, and operational requirements.
Video Transcript
You have a choice to make between pipe and tubing. Let's compare the two to see which is right for your application. Threaded pipe is a frequent choice for chemical plants, refineries, and equipment manufacturers to move processed fluids from point A to point B.
At a time when reducing labor and maintenance is critically important, the challenges of pipe are even more apparent. Pipes can corrode and leak, especially around threaded connection points. They can take dozens of man-hours to weld, assemble, disassemble, and reassemble to perform maintenance of bearings, pumps, filters, and other precision components.
The 90-degree angles used in a threaded pipe system create a tortuous path, which restricts flow at elbows. Pipes can also increase vibration, requiring more frequent replacement of the system. These inherent challenges have led many companies to rethink their fluid system design.
By using stainless steel tubing instead, the risk of corrosion is mitigated, and there's no need to paint the exterior of the tube to prevent corrosion. Additionally, 316 stainless steel provides a general upgrade over carbon steel, and internal corrosion concerns are greatly reduced.
Fewer connection points are needed with tubing, which reduces potential for leaks from threaded connections or the need for welds and having a welder on site. It's lighter weight and can cost up to half as much to install versus pipe. Flow rates are increased with the larger radius of tube bends as compared to pipe connections.
Tubing configurations are easily repeatable at different locations with commonly available tools. Pre-bent tubing runs can be stocked so that any line changes only require retightening fittings on either end of the run.
Making the right choice between pipe and tubing often depends on evaluating the specific needs of your application. You might ask yourself: Will the system be in a remote location where it's difficult to maintain? Do I have the time or resources to devote to building and maintaining complex
