How much water in a copper tube?

[fredfighter]

yourself),

No, not to me. Further, I have never heard anyone else refer to pipe that way either. It is referred to as I did above, by nominal size and schedule. '3/4" nominal ID pipe' is an oxymoron. Nobody calls it '3/4" nominal ID pipe. They call it '3/4" pipe', or '3/4" schedule 40 pipe', or whatever schedule they are using.

They are all 3/4" pipe. I've never heard anyone refer to pipe as 'nominal pipe', 'nominal ID pipe', or 'ID' pipe.

The nominal size for pipe does NOT corresond to a specific ID, it corresponds to a range of IDs. Without knowing the schedule you cannot determine the ID for pipe from the nominal size. However if you know the nominal size you do know the OD, that is unambiguous. Therefor to say that pipe is 'sized by ID' is wrong.

? Are we arguing over

"called"?

something

Again, pipe is not mesured by ID and it is never called 'nominal ID' or even 'nominal' either. 3/4" pipe is called 3/4" pipe, understood to be schedule 40 unless otherwise specified and also understood to have no dimensions equal to 3/4" unless the speaker or the listener does not understand pipe.

I suspect, though I cannot verify this, that nominal pipe sizes were established by taking the actual ID and subtracting an allowance for accumulated scale (corrosion allowance). Since I haven't verified that, I didn't suggest it befor now. I think my GUESS is as good as yours. The fact is that for any given nominal size AND schedule the standard SPECIFIES the OD and the wall thickness, from which the ID may be calculated. Without knowing the scedule you do not know the ID. Pipe is not sized by ID.

Further, if you are doing a flow calculation, as I have, you will use the ID appropriate to the schedule and not a 'nominal' ID.

The actual ID for schedule 40 pipe is ALWAYS larger than the nominal size so calling it nominal ID makes no more sense than calling it nominal OD etymology notwithstanding. Adding 'ID' or 'OD' to the word 'nominal' does not convey any additional information and may, in fact, mislead people as to the dimensions of the pipe.

And I have not, as someone suggested, confused tubing with pipe.

[Doug Miller]

For a given material, perhaps. As a general rule regardless of material, definitely not: 3/4" steel, copper, and CPVC all have different OD.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[fredfighter]

What was the ID?

[fredfighter]

What is the ID?

[fredfighter]

material,

After writing this:

I was so sure you were confusing pipe with tubing that I almost didn't look for this:

Amusingly enough the actual ID for copper tubing is ALSO larger than the nominal size.

Copper and CPVC pipe indeed is made to a common dimentional standard that is different from the ASTM standard for steel, SS, or PVC.

E.g. Two standards, ASTM D-1785 for steel (including Stainless), and PVC, but ASTM D-2846 for copper and CPVC.

However, it appears that ASTM d-1785 refers to PIPE while ASTM D-2846 refers to TUBE, and the sources for CPVC refer to it as CPVC PIPE in copper-TUBE sizes and far too many sources on the web use the terms pipe and tube interchangeably for copper and CPVC. E.g. according to THOSE people, pipe IS tube for copper, regardless of the meaning of 'is'.

SO I think I'll stick with my earlier contention that the copper and CPVC in your basement are TUBE (though 3/4" tube, not 7/8" while the galvanized and black steel, and the PVC are PIPE for those of us who distinguish between the two.

This looks like it might be a very good source:

[ReRe]

How much water is in a 100 foot by 1/2 inch copper tube? How much water is in a 100 foot by 3/4 inch copper tube? How much water is in a 100 foot by 1/4 inch copper tube?

I am too lazy to look it up - I am wondering if any of you experts on here have the info off-hand. I am thinking of putting thinning tubing to the kitchen because less water would be in it to cool down etc.

Right now I am running two 50 gallon electric water heaters in a house for two adults - I am wasting alot of energy keeping all that water hot

- and the tanks are far away from where the hot water is needed anyway running thru a cold concrete slab.

Harry

This is ReRe

1/2" = .0158 gallons per lineal foot or 1.58 gallons in 100' 3/4" = .0277 gallons per lineal foot or 2.77 gallons in 100'

[ceaseroreo]

=================================================================

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: TYPE K

3/4" has a .875 Outer diameter...inner .745

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: TYPE L

3/4" has a .875 Outer diameter...inner .785 .251 CONTENT PER FT

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: TYPE M

3/4" has a .875 Outer diameter...inner .811 .269 CONTENT PER FT

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: Medical Gas, K and L

3/4" has a .875 Outer diameter...inner .785 .336 CONTENT PER FT

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: ACR

3/4" has a .750 Outer diameter...inner .666 .242 CONTENT PER FT

(ACR)Copper tube for air-conditioning and refrigeration field service is designated by actual OD, outside diameter.

[ceaseroreo]

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: TYPE ACR

3/4 OUTER IS .750 INNER IS .666 CONTENT GAL .242 PER FT

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: TYPE M

3/4 OUTER IS .875 INNER IS .811 CONTENT GAL FT .269 PER FT

Dimensions and Physical Characteristics of Copper Tube: TYPE L

3/4 OUTER IS .875 INNER IS .785 CONTENT GAL FT .251 PER FT

[Stormin Mormon]

Nine years later, did we find answer?

[bob haller]

I would run PEX homeruns to each fixture, no joints buried in walls. PEX with sharkbites in easy to work with, far cheaper than copper and no one will steal it from your home. If it freezes it will be undamaged when thawed.....

the electric tankless sound like a good idea, but have major disadvantages.

I would run PEX with recurcliating lines, insulate with expanding foam, and keep the existing tanks...

even if you install tankless keep the existing tanks for easy reconversion

[bob haller]

It would be intersting to see how this project worked out for the OP, did he love it or hate it? has the now 9 year old tankless failed? questions like this....

[Scott Lurndal]

100' of 1/2" copper holds 4.07 gallons.

$ printf '%f\n' $(( (3.1415926 * (.5 * .5) * (100 * 12)) / 231 ))

4.079990

FWIW

[Mark Storkamp]

It's length * pi r^2, not d^2. 1.02 gal.

[CRNG]

Is the above "1/2" diameter the internal or external diameter of the tube? I would think it's the internal diameter so the radius should be less than 0.25".

[Mark Storkamp]

You're right, it is internal diameter. Or at least close to it. 1/2" nominal copper has an OD of 0.625". Type K has a wall thickness of

0.049", and type L has a wall thickness of 0.040". The ID is either 0.527" or 0.545". So it's either 1.13 or 1.21 gal.