Stainless steel pipe used in many filed, water supply system is one of them. The most common stainless steel pipes used to supply water are 304 seamless stainless tube and 316 stainless steel pipe. They can meet most of the water treatment and transportation requirement.

Basically, 304 seamless stainless tube is made of austenitic stainless steel. And 316 stainless steel pipe contains molybdenum element. So 316 stainless steel pipe has a better ability of resisting pitting and crevice corrosion than 304 stainless steel pipe. So knowing how to use stainless steel pipe, especially 304 seamless stainless tube and 316 stainless steel pipe is quite important. If the pipe system needs to use welding method, it is better to use 304L stainless steel pipe or 316L stainless steel pipe which contains low carbon steel or 316i stainless steel which contains titanium. If we use 304 seamless stainless tube and 316 stainless steel pipe, some necessary processing measures should be adopted, such as controlling welding current and welding speed. The best welding effect is silvery or golden welding lines.

We can also use the chloride content to decide how to use stainless steel pipe. When the chloride content in the water is less than 200ppm, we can use 304 or 304L stainless steel pipe. When the chloride content in the water is between 200ppm to 100ppm, we can use 316 or 316L or 316Ti stainless steel pipe. In Europe, the chloride content in drinking water is around 30ppm although the limit is prescribed to 250pmm. So both the 304 seamless stainless tube and 316 stainless steel pipe can be used in water supply system. Stainless steel pipe is commonly used in German. The 316 stainless steel pipe works very well in the cold and hot drinking water whose chloride content is at 250ppm. In China, the chloride content of the drinking water in most of the middle and large cities is about 50ppm. Although chlorine is usually put into the drinking water for sterilization, but the free chlorine in the pipeline would not do any harm to the performance of stainless steel pipe.