#1 What is a Pipe?

The pipe is a hollow tube with round cross-section for the conveyance of products. The products include fluids, gas, pellets, powders and more. The word pipe is used as distinguished from tube to apply to tubular products of dimensions commonly used for pipeline and piping systems. On this website, pipes conforming to the dimensional requirements of ASME B36.10 Welded and Seamless Wrought Steel Pipe and ASME B36.19 Stainless Steel Pipe will be discussed.

#2 Pipe or Tube?

In the world of piping, the terms pipe and tube will be used. Pipe is customarily identified by "Nominal Pipe Size" (NPS), with wall thickness defined by "Schedule number" (SCH).

The tube is customarily specified by its outside diameter (O.D.) and wall thickness (WT), expressed either in Birmingham wire gage (BWG) or in thousandths of an inch.

Pipe:  NPS 1/2-SCH 40 is even to outside diameter 21,3 mm with a wall thickness of 2,77 mm.

Tube:  1/2" x 1,5 is even to outside diameter 12,7 mm with a wall thickness of 1,5 mm.

The principal uses for the tube are in Heat Exchangers, instrument lines and small interconnections on equipment such as compressors, boilers, etc..