Black pipe or Trac pipe?

[infwsdm]

Black pipe or Trac pipe?(or any brand of the yellow flex pipe)?

Which do you prefer?

Which do you think is of higher quality?

Which do you think looks better?

Any other comments you have about it feel free to type away

[Spidy]

The flex saves time,and you dont have to carry a threader and saves room in truck.That said, nothing looks as good as nicely done black pipe.A nice combo of both seems to work the best.


I do worry about the connections, will they hold up and not leak if they get good yank or something...

[Green Mountain]

Originally posted by Spidy
The flex saves time,and you dont have to carry a threader and saves room in truck.That said, nothing looks as good as nicely done black pipe.A nice combo of both seems to work the best.


I do worry about the connections, will they hold up and not leak if they get good yank or something...

Ditto. You can't stop progress, I guess.

[htg guy]

We have in the past used "gastite" on equipment that was added to a home like fireplaces/stoves. Its a tough job to make it look like anything. And as I discovered when I was checking an HO's home for a gas smell, it will not resist nails when it is installed in a wall. (another contractor's install)
99% of the time if there is a way to run black pipe we prefer to do that over the flexible stuff. Simply because we rely on word of mouth to increase our business, and the better the job looks the more the customer will talk about it to others.

[fitter638nyc]

I am old school I guess I like black pipe I think its safer then gastite or trac pipe. I take a lot of pride in my pipe work always have. I over kill ever thing Biger pipe hanged with rod NOT bandiron ect. How many of you guys paint ther pipe work? When ever I install a boiler I paint all the the Pipe flat black. That said I think Gastite and Trac Have ther Place but not on my jobs and not in my house.

[cynic]

Its sorta like flexduct, has some good uses but people run it like spagetti and its almost impossible to get a clean good looking job with it. I'd rather hand thread black iron than use any of the flexible ones.

[bryantman]

Black pipe today,black pipe tommorrow,black pipe forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the smell of pipe dope in the morning,it smells like.......
Quality.
I may be called stupid or set in my ways,but black iron looks better and performs better anyday in my book.I thread my pipe by hand because i'm too poor to afford a power threader,but once i get through installing youll never know the difference.Man i love that black iron...Maybe the best workout a man can get.Threading pipe by hand........
Brang yo ass!And yo lunch......

[hvac student_4063]

The old timers dish out quite the ration of crap if you use flex (ask me how I know)! Besides, isn't flex against Code if you use it inside the cabinet of the furnace?

We carry a lot of fittings and nipples, and hardly ever have to worry about threading something.

[bryantman]

I hope for your sake that you ae not referring to me as an old timer.Cause if you did ........

[bryantman]

LOL, just joking

[fitter638nyc]

I am only 24 I would not think of using any thing other then Black pipe. My dad threads by hand. I use my 300 but I make up all my fitting in my pipe vise. Plus you got to love the smell of Ridgid Dark oil. The only thing I like about Flex is that ther all home runs.

[Spidy]

Originally posted by hvac student_4063
use Besides, isn't flex against Code if you use it inside the cabinet of the furnace?

We carry a lot of fittings and nipples, and hardly ever have to worry about threading something.

Right,you can't make the connection to the appliance with wardflex,black pipe it from there.It's the bright yellow that stands out and makes it look kinda goofy.

[hvac student_4063]

Bryantman,

I was talking about the guys at the shop. Although it's amazing to me how my definition of "old" keeps changing! :-)

[Green Mountain]

"My only mistake is that I got old. And if your lucky you'll make the same mistake." -- Andy Rooney.

[Indoor Comfort]

We do a lot of work for a fire restoration contractor and have seen many homes where the flex was hit by lightning or a shorted wire and blew apart makes for one hell of a fire. I have never seen black iron blew apart even after lightning has hit it. Guess whats in my home.

[infwsdm]

So far the consensus is Black pipe.

Now, is it because that's what you old timers have used all your lives and don't like change?

I spoke with the guy who wrote the code for the 'new' stuff. He says it's rough and tough and you can't blow it down. But you do need to be certified to use it because if you don't know how to use the fittings you can have leaks.

[pdr]

There is an article in this months Journal of Light Construction about flexable ss gas pipe and fires. Talks about lightning strikes and the pipe shorting out to the nearest ground, burning a hole in the tube, igniting the gas. Kind of scary.

[vern p]

Just wondering how lightning could hit the csst piping. All the mfrs info i've read states it cant be run outside. Its supposed to be terminated at the pipe penetration and hard piped to the meter. Also, the gas piping is required to be bonded to the electrical system per Code.
Like anything else if its installed right in the first place per mfr's specs csst is no different than black pipe.

[smjepp]

I work on boiler for a living and black pipe is all I use. I hve threaded by hand an with a auto pipe threader. I perfer the auto threader. Besides as on of the other gentleman stated, IT OLAIN LOOKS BETTER and more professional and after al that is what you looking for, correct?

[BobNH]

Plain and simple,

If Black Iron is installed correctly, it's allot safer.