Plastic Pipe Fittings Standards Promote Sound Connection of Gas Lines

摘要

"Thousands of miles of plastic gas distribution piping are installed in the U.S. every year." Said Consultant Raymond Henrich, a retired senior research scientist with Reliant Energy Minnegasco, Minn., and chairman of ASTM Subcommittee F17.60 on Gas. "Reliable joints between pipes are essential for these installations to operate safely. Natural gas pipe joints must resist leaking and pull apart when subjected to seasonal temperature changes, earthquakes, floods, and other natural and man-made assaults on their integrity."The potential for danger from escaping natural gas requires that all joints are sound. To describe and test products for joining plastic gas pipe, two ASTM specifications approved in 1999 complete a set of four critical standards on gas pipe fittings:· F 1948, Standard Specification for Metallic Mechanical Fittings for Use on Outside Diameter Controlled Thermoplastic Gas Distribution Pipe and Tubing;· F 1973, Standard Specification for Factory Assembled Anode-less Risers and Transition Fittings in Polyethylene (PE) Fuel Gas Distribution Systems;· F 1924, Standard Specification for Plastic Mechanical Fittings for Use on Outside Diameter Controlled Polyethylene Gas Distribution Pipe and Tubing; and· F 1588, Standard Test Method for Constant Tensile Load Joint Test (CTLJT).