Stainless steel and corrosion - The case of flexible supply hoses

The speedway: what is it?

About half of Stainless Steel Flanges manufacturers insurance claims today are related to water damage. Most of this damage comes from a failure in household plumbing systems. One of the most common causes of damage is broken supply hoses, commonly known as speedways.

These pipes are used to supply cold and hot water to kitchen and bathroom taps. They are also used to supply water to toilets. Sometimes they are found in the water supply systems of dishwashers or refrigerators. Their use has literally exploded over the past decade, despite the very high number of breakages and despite the rise in complaints.

The speedway is essentially a rubber tube covered with a metal sheath made of braided stainless steel wires. Metal end caps are inserted at stainless steel 304 buttweld fittings ends to allow installation.

While the rubber tube provides the flexibility of the speedway, the 304 Stainless Steel Flanges metal sheath acts as reinforcement. In fact, the rubber tube alone cannot withstand the normal pressure of water. Therefore, when the physical integrity of the metal sheath is affected, the normal pressure of the water transported by the speedway leads to the cracking of the rubber tube found below.

The main cause of the loss of integrity of the metal sheath of speedways is breakage caused by a phenomenon of stress corrosion.

Depending on the external dimension, the thickness of the wall and the final application, there are different ways of making tubes and welded stainless steel tubes. Welded and welded tubes for thicker walled pipes are the main methods of manufacturing stainless steel pipes.

Responsibility and good practices

In conclusion, given the complexity of the phenomenon of stress corrosion, it is often very difficult to establish a single responsibility for the damage incurred during the breakage of the flexible supply pipes.carbon steel flanges

In fact, responsibility is occasionally shared between the Stainless Steel Pipe Fittings Manufacturers, the installer and the user. In other cases, one of three key factors - material, environment and constraint - makes a significantly more significant contribution than the other three and, therefore, responsibility can be assigned to one of the three parties involved.

In order to reduce the risk of failure of flexible metal-sheathed supply pipes and extend its service life, you can, as a user, take a few simple steps:

Never store chlorine-based cleaning products under sinks. Note that with the exception of special products for stainless steel, all cleaning products contain chlorine in various proportions.

Run your hand regularly along the 316 Stainless Steel Fittings. If small wires coming out of the sheath prick your hand, it is time to consider replacing the pipe because the stress corrosion process is probably started.

Visually examine the hoses for signs of rust. If rust is present, the stress corrosion process is likely to have started. So it's probably time to replace your hoses.

Observe the deformation of the pipes: if the pipes seem to be bent and deformed, it is recommended to release them gently and put them back in a position avoiding any pronounced deformation.