Why are water storage tanks made out of stainless steel yet the plumbing in the home is copper?
If you are trying to buy a metal tank for storing potable water then it will almost alway be made out of stainless steel. However, when it comes to plumbing with metal you are normally going to see copper. As a side not it seems like breweries as well as whiskey, scotch and bourbon distilleries seem to prefer copper tanks and pipes while wineries, vodka and rum seem to choose tanks and pipes made from stainless steel. It appears to me that copper can do both jobs yet copper tanks are nowhere to be found when it comes to home use. Why is that?
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Copper is not often used in new construction anymore, but it is used for water systems because of it doesn’t rust and is very easy to bend. It is soft and therefore creates good seals at joints and it also heats up quickly and bonds well with silver solder.
It is not used for tanks in the home because of its softness and its cost. Copper is far more expensive than stainless steel, and to make a tank that wont eventually collapse under its own weight you have to use a lot more metal, making the tank excessively heavy and expensive.
Well, the main reason is cost.. Stainless steel and copper made tanks are both resistant to rust and are thus useful for storing water; however, copper tanks is more expensive and more prone to dents than stainless steel tanks. With regards to you comment that pipings at home are mostly of copper pipe, my observation is that piping recently are mostly using PVC if not rigid galvanized tubing.