service life of heating water system piping

[richardvestal]

Would be interested in opinions, reference information and experiences regarding service life of schedule 40 black iron pipe in 180F heating water systems.

 

[IRstuff]

Is that like the crap in my father's house which dates back to 1926? If so, then it's on the order of about 20-30 yrs.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[GMcD]

If it's been chemically treated properly, flushed and cleaned on initial fill, and the system is flushed and cleaned every few years, and the pipe velocities are below 8 feet per second on the big pipes and less than 6 feet per second on the smaller pipes, then one should expect at least 75 years of useful service life, and even longer. I've seen heating pipe that came out of a 1910 vintage building here that we did renovations on, and it was till in service and working fine.

 

[TBP]

What there absolutely MUST NOT be, is any amount of make-up water. If the system is kept tight, and essentially leak free, then it should last indefinately. If you're talking about a relatively small (residential) hot water heating system, then water treatment is typically not needed.

 

[RossABQ]

ASHRAE has a table that lists "average" service life of common components like boilers and chillers, not sure about systems. Lots of variables...