Pipe (fluid conduit)

“ Samples taken from pipes in use from three to nine years are quite sound, and it is concluded that the wood will last as long as cast-iron if the pipe is kept constantly charged. The bands are the only perishable portion, and their life is taken at from fifteen to twenty years. Other portions of the second conduit for a length of nearly 3 m. were formed of concrete piping, 38 in. diameter, formed on a mould in the trench, the thickness being 21/2 to 3 in. ”

“ The hot-water flow pipe close to a water back or coil frequently becomes thickly covered with scale. If the pipe is brass, it may be disconnected and treated with acid and then washed out with hot water. If the pipe is galvanized iron and in bad condition, it will probably be more satisfactory to replace it with new pipe. ”

“ It would be infinitely better to run the pipes at once through the wall to the outside. Few persons have any idea of the carelessness of plumbers’ work—of the bad junctions, and of the rapidity with which pipes get out of order and decay. When a leaden pipe carrying water is led into a water-closet discharge pipe, it is frequently simply puttied in, and very soon the dried putty breaks away, and there is a complete leakage of gas into the house. Even if well joined the lead pipe will, it is said, contract and expand, and thus openings are at last formed. ”

“ A fire pressure is much greater. Therefore, all direct-pressure pipes of lead should be extra strong. Tank-pressure pipes, those which connect with a tank in the attic or above a water-closet, may be medium strong. The terms “extra strong” and “medium strong,” as here used, are definite in their meaning, and apply to regular grades of pipe. The interior fixtures of an ordinary dwelling-house are supplied with lead pipe five-eighths of an inch in diameter, or iron pipe three-quarters of an inch in diameter. ”

“ This ventilation of the soil, waste, and house drain pipes prevents the bad effects on health from the odors, etc., given off by the slime and excreta adhering in the pipes, and it is accomplished by two means: (1) by extension of the vertical pipes to the fresh air above the roof, and (2) by the fresh-air inlet on the house drain.
By these means a current of air is established through the vertical and horizontal pipes.
Every vertical pipe must be extended above the roof at least two feet above the highest coping of the roof or chimney. ”

“ When a body of water sufficiently large to nearly fill a pipe is discharged into it, it drags air along with it, and exhausts the air in all branch-pipes to a greater or less extent. When this exhaustion amounts to a diminution of the pressure in the pipe of about 1/350, the water in an ordinary trap (with a one-inch seal) will be forced out of it by the pressure of the external atmosphere, or in other words will be sucked out of the trap into the pipe, leaving no water-seal in the trap, and, therefore, allowing free exit for sewer-air. ”

“ Such pipes have usually, but not invariably, a smoother inner surface than those which are unlined, hence, when they are used, less friction is presented to the flow of water, and there is less tendency for the pipe to leak. ”

“ The pipes used should be larger than would be demanded by considerations of economy alone, both for the purpose of reduction of head loss and ease in cleaning. No pipe less than 6 inches in diameter should be used, and the average velocity of flow should not exceed one foot per second. Cast-iron, concrete, or vitrified clay pipe may be used, but cast iron is the material commonly used. The system should be arranged for easy flushing and cleaning and the pipes so sloped that the entire system can be drained in case of a shut down in cold weather. ”

“ Another arrangement is to employ, instead of a cast or wrought-iron pipe, a number of round or flat-iron bars, fastened together at the top and bottom by rivetting to metal hoops in such a manner that intervals are left between each bar, through which the water can pass. Sometimes a solid pipe without the openings is used, but it is not found to be so satisfactory as the perforated pipe, because the latter allows a greater amount of water to pass through it into the soil, thereby furnishing a larger area of moist earth. ”

“ This friction between the sides of the pipe and the water, which must be duly considered in a pipe of small size, increases very rapidly as the velocity of the flow increases. It is always a great temptation to use a small pipe, since the cost of the pipe increases rapidly as the diameter increases, but it is penny wise and pound foolish to lay a line of pipe several thousand feet long to furnish water to a house and find when completed that the amount of water furnished by the pipe is on account of friction only a small dribble. ”

“ The middle of a frozen pipe should never be thawed first, because expansion of the water confined by ice on both sides may burst the pipe. When thawing a water pipe, work toward the supply, opening a faucet to show when the flow starts. When thawing a waste or sewer pipe, work upward from the lower end to permit the water to drain away. ”

“ All the fittings in the pipe system of a plant should be of the best quality, and the piping for high pressures should be extra heavy to withstand the test of time and usage. Water pipes, when of commercial wrought iron, should be galvanized.
In laying out a line of piping or in replacing a portion of an existing line the measurements should be taken from center to center of the various fittings; the allowance for the threaded part of the pipe can be made after the center-to-center and over-all measurements have been made and before the pipe is cut. ”

“ These obstructions are now removed by boring tools forced through the pipe by the hydrostatic pressure. The Superintendent of the Halifax (N. S.) Water-Works records the cleansing of a 12-inch main, 32,000 feet long, in three-fourths of an hour. The preservation of cast-iron pipes, and the prevention of these concretions, are now accomplished by carefully dipping the pipe, previously [129] heated to a temperature of 300 degrees, in a bath of distilled coal tar, mixed, to a proper consistency, with linseed oil, or an oil of the tar. ”

“ Their overflow-pipes are coated with soap and with the exuviæ of the skin to a degree which makes them usually the seat of an offensive decomposition. Their plugs and chains are almost invariably foul, and those devices which provide for closing the outlets by valves or plugs, somewhat removed from the strainers at the bottom of the bowl, bring the water in which the face is washed into an interchanging communication with a considerable length of foul and uncleanable waste-pipe—a communication that is made active by the bubbling of the contained air as the pipe fills with water. ”

“ There is no advantage in coating the surface of the pipe. To prevent decay, such pipe should carry water under pressure or be laid in a saturated soil, so that the wood of which it is made will always be saturated, and coating the wood may interfere with this. Under these conditions the life of such pipe is not known, but it is evidently very great. Large quantities of wood pipe have been removed from trenches in Boston, New York City. Philadelphia, Baltimore, and elsewhere, usually in perfectly sound condition. It was commonly made of logs of spruce, yellow pine, or oak, from 12 to 18 ft. ”

“ The lead is put on the thread and when the thread is made up the lead will have been forced into any imperfection that may be in the threads and the joint will then be water-tight. White lead and oil should be used on nickel-plated pipe as other pipe compounds are too conspicuous and look badly. A pipe compound should be used with discretion, for if too much is put on a burr of it will collect in the bore of the pipe and reduce it considerably. ”

“ The purifying breezes should blow through in summer and winter without let or hindrance, and to promote their circulation I would, if possible, place the pipe beside a warm chimney. Yet if the air it contains should sometimes move downward it will do no special harm; anything is better than stagnation. Into this open pipe, which should be not only water-tight but air-tight through its entire length, all waste-pipes from the house should empty as turbid mountain torrents pour into the larger stream that flows through the valley. ”

“ Pipes connected with the mouthpieces called the ascension pipes conduct the gas to the hydraulic main, this is a large pipe at the back of the ascension pipes partly filled with water, when the works are started into which the ends of the pipes from the retorts are made to dip, and by this means forms a seal by which the gas is prevented from finding its way back either by those retorts which the workmen may be re-charging or to other parts of the bench that for the time may be out of action. ”

“ This smaller pipe again discharges the water through an apparatus, attached to either end, into the distributing pipes, for immediate usage upon the banks. The latter-named pipes are still smaller than the others, and are capped with nozzles, the mouths of which are about three inches in diameter. The nozzles are thus small, because larger ones would make the stream of water so large that it could not be thrown against the bank, and yet smaller ones would not furnish enough water for washing away the débris. ”

“ That form has descended to all modern piping for water, steam, and gas, because the best that a pipe can take. No other shape has, proportionately to capacity, so little surface for friction inside or rust outside. A locking-bar water pipe, devised by Mephan Ferguson, of Perth, Australia, is made of two plates of equal width, curved into semi-circles which are pressed at their ends into channel bars of [46] soft steel. As the locking-bars and joints are opposite each other, their joints can be tightly closed by a simple machine which exerts pressure in a straight line. ”

“ The light-weight pipe, though extensively used by plumbers, is generally prohibited by most municipalities, as it is not strong enough for the purpose, and it is difficult to make a gas-tight joint with these pipes without breaking them. ”

“ Wrought-iron pipes, with screw joints, are used by the Durham House Drainage Company, the joints being gas-tight. They have the advantage of being very durable and impervious to gases, but the disadvantage of being too permanent. If it is desired to change the position of a fixture, or to connect a new one, it is easy to break a hole in a cast-iron pipe, or to remove a portion of it, but where wrought-iron pipe is used this is almost impossible. ”

“ Fig. 60.—Fresh-air inlet.
When the pipe passes through the foundation wall, the same care should be exercised as with other pipes. That is, if the pipe is 4 inches, a sleeve 6 inches should be cut in the wall for the 4-inch pipe to pass through.
Points to Remember about Fresh Air.— [107]
First, never should be smaller than 4 inches. Second, one size smaller than trap. Third, location, directly back of trap. Fourth, leads to outer air. Fifth, keep away from windows and intake of heating system. Sixth, always have end of pipe covered with strainer, cowl, or return bend. ”

“ Now suppose the plunger to move to the right, and as no more air can get into the pump, that already within it will expand, and will therefore become lighter, hence there will be less pressure on the surface of the water within the suction pipe than there is on the outside of it, and as a result the water will rise up the pipe, not because the plunger draws it, but because the air outside the pipe presses it up within the pipe. ”

“ The foul air within the pipe may escape freely through a dozen openings, while the heavier liquid flow takes its easiest and most direct course downward from the point of one pipe through the bell of the one below. When we come to the horizontal run of the soil-pipe in the basement, if an imperfection of the joint occurs on the lower side there is an obvious drip, which continues at least until closed by rust. ”

“ In the low pressure two pipe system the flow pipe is carried to a sufficient height directly above the boiler to allow of its gradual fall to a little beyond the most distant point at which connexion is to be made with the return pipe, which thence slopes towards the boiler. Branches are taken off the flow pipe, and after circulating through coils or radiators are connected with the return pipe. In a well-proportioned system the pressure need not exceed 2 or 3 ℔ per sq. ”

“ Add more thaw pipe at the outer end until a passage is made through the ice. Withdraw the thaw pipe quickly after the flow starts. Do not stop the flow until the thaw pipe is fully removed and the frozen pipe is cleared of ice. A small force pump is often used instead of a funnel and is much to be preferred for opening a long piece of pipe. If available, a jet of steam may be used instead of hot water; being hotter, it is more rapid. ”

“ When water from a well is pumped to an elevated tank there is the same necessity of providing about 20 feet difference in level between the tank and the highest fixture, but the length of pipe involved being small, the friction losses are not great. It should be noted even here that too small a pipe may reduce the pressure, a 1/2-inch pipe causing a loss of 47 feet in a 100-foot pipe line. ”