bronze fittings and copper fittings

[diyfun]

when will you use bronze fittings, such as cast bronze tee, when will you use copper tees in a copper pipe hot water heating system?

[MACPLUMB 777]

Check my reply on the ridgid forum as i am not going to retype it all here !

[jimbo]

By the magic of cut an paste, here is jerrymacs dissertation!
For DIYfun, you may be confusing wrot copper or cast copper fittings, with brass , or bronze. No problem using ANY of those. Brass is more expensive, bronze fittings are not readily sold in this market and would be VERY expensive.


Re: bronze fittings and copper fittings

you have your terms mixed up, plumbers do not use bronze pipe fittings they use " brass " fittings
if i am running a copper water system then i use all copper fittings
but if you are talking about a hydronic heating system then i might use brass fittings
the main difference between the two is cost as the brass cost more
on the other hand if i was trying to finish a solder job and all i had was brass fittings then i would use them rather then taking time to go get copper fittings

• Thanks

[MACPLUMB 777]

Thank you JIMBO
for the assit should of thought of that myself

[diyfun]

you have your terms mixed up, plumbers do not use bronze pipe fittings they use " brass " fittings
if i am running a copper water system then i use all copper fittings
but if you are talking about a hydronic heating system then i might use brass fittings
the main difference between the two is cost as the brass cost more
on the other hand if i was trying to finish a solder job and all i had was brass fittings then i would use them rather then taking time to go get copper fittings

The cast bronze is the label I copied from Lowes.

I found all the tees in my existing hot water heating system are "cast bronze". I noticed those "cast bronze" tees are more expensive. The copper tees are easier to solder and cheapier. So I was thinking there must be a reason for a plumber to use hard to handle and more expensive fittings.

[hj]

quote; So I was thinking there must be a reason for a plumber to use hard to handle and more expensive fittings.

Not really. He may just have them handy, and some specific hydronic fittings only come in cast brass/bronze. Just because Lowes CALLS them cast bronze, does not necessarily mean that is what they are.

[ballvalve]

Typically, nowadays, you get a cast bronze or brass fitting that is a transition or has attachments that would cost more to fabricate onto a copper tube. Also, copper does not like to be threaded and machined.

http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/52...ap-251819.aspx

And here is the bible telling you the metalllurgy and apps of cast fittings:

http://www.copper.org/applications/p...ttgs_stds.html