In the USSR, almost all pipelines were made of steel. In special cases, galvanized or even stainless steel was used. These trends are due to the powerful pipe-rolling industry of the Soviets.
Accordingly, in the apartments of those times, the pressure pipes were made of steel. The author of this channel found the times when, when repairing steel pipes, as part of a brigade, they had to rush with hoses from an acetylene generator. It is especially fun to pull them to the extreme floors of high-rise buildings.
Well, the most relish this work with a galvanized pipe, during gas welding, the zinc coating, which performs a protective function, burned out. Zinc compounds being in the smoke were sure to be deposited in the light of the assembly team. And if you do not drink about a liter of milk per person after the shift, then the next day the team was out of order, especially welded. Because he could not leave the place of work, unlike locksmiths.
At the moment, pipes for hot and cold water, at their core, are made of polymer pipes:
- In apartments, polypropylene, less often metal-plastic. In the last five years, cross-linked polyethylene, which has good performance characteristics, has been used in apartment installations.
- For outdoor installation of cold water pipes, a low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE) pipe is widely used.
The installation of these pipelines does not require special transportation and installation costs. Working with plastic pipes is easier and more fun.
Why have steel pipes been pushed out of high-rise apartments for cold water and hot water supply?
This is due to two factors:
- Low operational characteristics of steel pipes for the delivery of cold and hot water, specially untreated and not depleted in oxygen. From this, the pipeline quickly corroded, clogged and rusted. That led to the appearance of fistulas and flooding of the premises.
- Appearance on the market, in the late 90s, of Turkish and Czech polypropylene, relatively cheap. Easy to install and at the same time not requiring special labor costs. And not amenable to corrosion, the service life of which, declared by the manufacturer, reaches 50 years.
Eventually
The teams of gas welders in housing offices have been significantly reduced. At the moment they work with heating pipes, but their number is minimal. Household spending on the maintenance of a large number of brigades has decreased. Now a small team and even one or two locksmiths for 10 houses are coping with the tasks. But an amazing fact: The rent does not decrease from this. Housekeeping rates have been high and have remained. Despite the fact that the cost of "maintenance" has decreased, much.
P / s
In the USSR, they could have previously massively produced polymer pipes for the population, but not the farsightedness of the tops, weak chemical the plastics industry and lobbying the interests of steelmakers did not allow the development of polymer industry. Therefore, now we use imported technologies and materials. But it could have been different... Eh.