A Copper Tubing Primer, Please

  • posted

Just had a new central air unit installed and it had to be moved to a new location, so a new line set was required. I had a coil of 3/4" copper that I had traded for, so I offered it to my HVAC guy for the line set. He looked at it and said that he couldn't use it because it was "plumbing copper" and was manufactured with a seam. If you tried to run R-22 through it, it would leak like a sieve.

He is completely trustworthy and I have no reason to question him, but I started wondering about the types of copper tubing.

If you can't use "plumbing copper" for refrigerant, can you use "refrigeration copper" for plumbing? What tubing do you need for natural gas? What are the correct names for the different types of copper?

Can someone school me please?

John

Reply to
John‰]                        
Loading thread data ...

This will be a start

formatting link
There are many differences in materials, annealing, and sizing for different uses. Refrigeration tubing is generally soft, seamless, and purged with an inert gas to keep it clean and free of oxidation. Cleanliness is very important on a sealed system.

Plumbing tubing had different wall thickness for supply lines and drain lines.

Soft copper is often used for propane, but some areas do not allow it for natural gas.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

I hate to think what the handyman tubing is; or what it might be used for, for that matter.

Reply to
Toller

My father was an AC mechanic, so of course our house was plumbed with AC copper. Thicker walls as I remember it, because of the pressure.

When we were all out of the house and my father was in the hospital for something, my mother had some plumbing problem and called a plumber. His fittings and such wouldn't work and he was confused. My mother called me and asked if I knew what was up and I suggested that the plumber go back to his truck and get his AC equipment. All was then fine, but we had one confused plumber. Thankfully the guy also did a little AC on the side.

Reply to
Pat

Plumbing copper Yellow stripe is DWV ( drain waste vent ) Thin walled. Red stripe Type M little thicker wall used for condensate line low pressure but have seen it used for water, Blue stripe type L most common for water lines above ground. Green stripe Type K very thick underground High pressure not used very often. Then there is soft rolled mostly for underground no joints. Most plumping copper is measured by inside diameter, Refrigeration tubing is measured by outside diameter.

Reply to
Sacramento Dave

Copper tubing is not manufacturede with a seam. It likely had some other attribute that made it less than optimum for the installation, though.

Reply to
lwasserm

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.