Stainless Steel Pipework

Hi all,

There is an increasing trend in our neck of the woods to replace carbon steel pipework and valves with stainless steel. Mostly around evap cons and wall penitrations. You would have to be carefull around the presence of chlorides I guess???? Tower treatments???? I have read SCC is not an issue but will S/S work harden if exposed to vibration? Gas pulsations?

I would be interested in hearing others opinions on this matter and if it is common place elcewhere as this is not my area of expertise.

Cheers

Superfridge,
All I know is pipework has to be purged with Argon or inert gas to get quality weld.
If you don't, you may expect problems like not X-ray quality, porous weld.
I would contact your stainless supplier & inform them of what you want to do, as also a paper trail if something happens.
We have used schedule 10 stainless on low temp applications, condensers more common these days.
I do think vibration will cause problems if vibration excessive, like piston compressors.
Flexible joints can be used in that area, as have done this on mezzanine floor compressors.
Stainless tube can cause issues on some compressor packages with VSD.