Copper tubing

It's probably not so much that copper is getting dearer as that the dollar is cheapening. You can't throw a trillion dollars out in the desert to burn in the sun and expect them to maintain their value.

Speculative investing...but fwiw, the bubble appears to be bursting :

Why gasoline has gone up..

Sadly, and with the mass exportation of manufacturing capacity this leaves us precious little in the way of exported goods to trade for to get those dollars back.

In a weeks time,

Why gasoline has gone up.. Because they can and NO other reason. Its not Katrina or a rusted distrubition line or shortages or anything else. Its high because they can. Greedy Bastards and we cant do a thing about it. Bubba

Do you have 20' lengths of copper in your area? I have only seen 12 footers. Just curious.

I would look very carefully at steel pipe. Welded, or threaded.

The only installation precaution is keeping the moisture out of the pipe until the system is charged to avoid inside rust problems (Cap all open ends when finishing for the day.)

You can transition from steel to copper at each end of the run.

snipped

I have never heard of anything but ammonia being used with standard steel. It sure would save money, but if not welded I wouldn't consider it since condensation will eventually cause rust on the threads and also the expansion and contraction causes leaks. This has always been a problem with ammonia systems, and, all steel that condenses must be insulated/encapsulated in Ohio when used in food processing systems. Copper doesn't have to be insulated if in the refrigerated space. However, I always do unless the owner doesn't want to pay the difference.

I have never seen 12 footers, Only 10 and 20 foot lengths

You learn something new every day!!! Googled ACR copper pipe and the first link