Some Like it Hot
To “Find yourself in hot water” has a negative connotation.
Like you broke mom’s favorite vase playing football inside. Or – for a simile that isn’t from an episode of Leave it to Beaver – you cracked the flat screen when your first experience playing a virtual reality game took a bad turn.
Either way – you don’t want to be “in hot water”.
Or do you?
Speaking of Ward, June, Wally and the Beav (look it up), as recently as the 1950s homes used “hot running water” as a selling point. It’s hard to imagine a world where that is seriously a feature that isn’t as standard as the foundation.
In our current age, builders and contractors are seeking safer, more efficient, eco-friendly, long-lasting and leak-free ways to convey hot water that don’t lean on the outdated legacy piping systems.
And they have found their answer in PE-RT pipe.
To be clear, we are not talking about running hot water through a Program Evaluation and Review Technique, a brand of shampoo or a cheeky young woman.
No, no and no. We are speaking of Polyethylene of Raised Temperature resistance.
It is 4710 HDPE pipe that has additives added to the base resin that allow the pipe to handle pressure applications at elevated temperatures.
In simpler terms, you have nearly all of the inherent benefits of high-density polyethylene pipe and fittings, that can handle pressure ratings up to 100 psi at 180°F with no reduction in design life.
Like many forms of PE pipe, PE-RT has been used for more than 30 years in Europe, but was not introduced to the United States until 2003.
The most common applications for the use of PE-RT include district heating and cooling, radiant heating and cooling systems, hot and cold-water plumbing distribution and high-temperature industrial, mining, oil and gas gathering applications. It can be pre-insulated to help prevent temperature loss.
PE-RT can be fused using butt fusion, or electrofusion, with fittings for pipe up to 24 inches, as well as mechanical fusion methods. In addition, PE-RT and 4710 can be fused together using the same fusion procedure. However, with the pipes handling different temperature range, you want to make sure your 4710 pipe is not subjected to elevated temperatures it is not rated for.
A full complement of fittings is available in PE-RT. Molded fittings for pipe that is two to eight inches in diameter, with pipe larger than 10 inches utilizing fabricated fittings.
To distinguish PE-RT pipe from standard 4710 pipe is four platinum (gray) stripes that are placed on the pipe during the manufacturing process.
While the advantages of HDPE pipe that are mirrored by PE-RT are numerous and well-known, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth going over again.
Like HDPE – PE-RT retains these qualities:
- flexible
- light weight
- easy to transport
- conducive to high flow rates
- resistant to chemicals
- impact resistant
- heat resistant
- pressure resistant
- leak-free
- non-toxic and therefore safe for drinking water
- can be recycled and re-used
- rust, corrosion and tuberculation proof
- efficient 50 to 100 years after installation
And if the case for PE-RT was not strong enough, supply chain frustrations with other materials like ductile iron pipe, has put a premium on materials that can effectively transport hot water. Those supply chain frustrations DO NOT extend to PE-RT.
Not only is it the best option, it is the most readily available.
ISCO makes it easy to get into hot water.
The good way.
Still have questions about PE-RT? Visit our PE-RT product page or contact us, today.