Electrolysis in steel pipe?

greg_47

can you describe what the inside of the nipple looks like?
What is the PH of the system? is entrained air a issue with the system? ie no microbuble resorber of non barrier tubing. Is the steel nipples in the system less than 5% of the copper?

ArcticManiac

Electrolysis in steel pipe?

I have a customer who has an issue with his piping system. Apparently every four years the nipples rot out or a perfarated (pin hole leaks). I suggested he may have Electrolysis. My question to you would be how would you diagnose it and what could cause this to happen to his pipes?

Rich Kontny_3

Artic Man....

Water quality and fluid velocity would be my first guesses.Many a nipple has been Swiss Cheesed by the wrong pump application.

How is the weather??

Rich K.

hot_rod

color of the fluid?

generally if you have a lot of O2 ingress you will see a rust colored water. Typical of the old non barrier radiant tube jobs.

ph would be easy to test but iron pipe should be able to handle a fairly wide range.

Even similar metals, under the correct conditions can corrode due to electrolsis, look for current running through the pipes.

Over sized pumps, un-reamed pipes can cause erosion corrosion also.

Find a water treatment pro and send them a fluid sample first. Do some calcs on the required pump size.

hr

ArcticManiac

Some answers

Well thanks for the replys. I will check with him on the pump sizing. Also the PH of the water and color. Thanks for the advice and i will be back with the Info.

The weather in Alaska still sucks right now. Its supposed to be spring but we keep getting snow!