Copper plating in steam boilers

Elgordo_2

One of the rants against the use of copper pipe for wet returns is that the copper plates out on the cast iron and causes it fail at or near this plating, or some such notion.

Are there any studies on this in peer review journals, i.e. is there proof, or is this one of those "it's-the-lime-in-the-concrete-that-causes-pipes-to-corrode" beliefs that everybody "knows" is true, that in fact is not so.

Larry Weingarten

not plating exactly

Hello: small, even microscopic bits of copper from the lines can get into the boiler. There they form cells that corrode away the iron, forming pits. The copper is noble to the iron and the latter must corrode away to protect the copper. That's basically how anodes in water heaters and boats work. Hope that helps.

DanHolohan

Very

true.