Steel piping is commonly used due to its durable nature. It can withstand high pressure and heat alike. For this reason, it’s typically used for plumbing and gas lines throughout residences and commercial buildings.
Identifying whether or not you have steel piping isn’t overly difficult to do. However, there are some things that you want to pay particular attention to so that you can ensure you’re not dealing with fake or poor quality steel piping in your home.
The Pipe Has Obvious Folding
One of the easiest traits that can make an inferior steel pipe stand out from their superior counterparts is folding. Folding is a manufacturer’s defect that happens with inferior steel.
You can easily identify this folding defect by seeing a fold in the steel material longitudinally throughout the pipe. This type of fold makes the pipe more susceptible to bending. When the pipe gets bent, it cracks along the fold.
This type of steel is simply inferior due to its decreased strength from the production defect.
The Pipe Has Pits In It
Pits are small defects in the piping that looks similar to corrosion holes. They make the surface of the pipe uneven and are easy to identify when looking at the exterior of the steel piping. This type of defect occurs during the manufacturing process.
Typically, the inferior steel manufacturer is using a grooved roller that is not effectively smoothing out the surface of the steel. When these pits happen, it decreases the overall strength of the steel pipe.
The Pipe Is Easy To Scratch
One easy way to see if you have a quality steel tube or not is to try and scratch it. The inferior steel will be more prone to leaving scratch marks behind. Take a look at your piping and see if you can identify any scratch marks.
You can try to scratch the piping yourself and see if it will leave behind a deep scratch or not. If the piping allows for a deep scratch, it’s of inferior quality. Realize that the more deep scratches your piping gets, the more its strength will be reduced.
The Piping Is Oval
Steel piping is specifically designed to have a round shape. If you look at your piece of piping and realize that it has more of an oval shape, it’s likely an inferior product.
During the manufacturing process, inferior steel piping producers will skimp out of the rolling of the piping. This results in more oval shaped pipes instead of perfectly round ones.
Try Attaching A Magnet
One material that is commonly used as fake steel is aluminum. It’s typically painted the same color as stainless steel to fool the end user of the fake metal. One easy test you can perform to see whether or not you’re dealing with aluminum or steel is to try and attach a magnet to the pipe.
If the magnet attracts, then the piping is not aluminum. Rather, it’s likely steel or another metal material.
Many home builders will choose steel as their piping of choice for many reasons. It’s durable, withstands heat and high pressure, plus it lasts a long time. When you get true steel piping, these are all traits that you can rely on having.
However, when you get inferior quality steel piping or fake piping that is intended to look like steel, you won’t get these same qualities. It’s important to use the information above to ensure that the steel piping that you get isn’t of inferior quality or a fake knock-off.
