BLACK STEEL PIPE protection

bob young

ON the job i was working on i saw something i thought odd. the steel steam return piping was completely enveloped in a white powdered susstance. at first i thought it was lime & paid it no mind but then i realized it had a plastic vapor type cover on top & the piping although about fifteen years old was in pretty much pristene condition. never saw a protective barrier like that before but i guess some one might know something that i do not. steel pipe usually does not last more than seven years in soil as far as i know. what say the experts.

JUGHNE

There is plastic coated UG steel gas piping with cathodic protection. Our gas UG steel piping was put in the ground in 1967. It had a yellow plastic shell on it. Today the newer pipe has a green coating. This insulated the pipe electrically from ground. and this lasts quite a while.
It seems like good application for buried UG returns. However to isolate the ends from being grounded requires a PVC or nylon bushing; the equivalent of a die-electric union. The temps could destroy this pretty fast though. Perhaps just being coated would protect the pipe from some corrosion.

By the way, I don't consider myself an expert. JMOP

SWEI

Was this coating tight to the pipe or was it more like an aftermarket poly sleeve?

bob young

coated pipe has been around for fifty years that i know of . we used it in 1963. i am referring to something altogether different but appreciate your input. bob young lic. nyc plbr.

bob young

factory installed . to thread we had to cut it off. tighter than tight.