Photo Gallery C2: Foreign Pipe Stamps
The early introductions of steel pipe from China and Korea into the American market in the early 1980s was met with severe opposition by most piping steamfitters due to its generally lower quality, difficulty in cutting, welding and threading, and a greater rate of failure during hydraulic pressure tests. With the building industry’s movement from seamless pipe to lower cost ERW seamed pipe, the failure of foreign ERW pipe seams was a common issue beyond just lower quality. This resulted in a prohibition of foreign pipe by many piping design engineers and a “domestic only pipe” clause in many piping specifications regarding the source of the pipe provided. That prohibition still remains in effect for most federal and state building projects.
Later, such restrictions were relaxed, although not due to any improvement in foreign pipe quality. While some prohibitions still remained, the larger the project and the greater the savings provided by low cost foreign pipe products, the greater the probability of finding them installed years later. Many prohibitions were no more than a wink and a nod: discussions regarding the lower quality of foreign pipe and its threat to the project conducted in front of a skid of new pipe labeled “Made in Malaysia.” In fact, all large construction projects are tracked in terms of the materials required – with the larger the project, the more submissions of lower cost foreign pipe from every corner of the globe.
In later years, foreign pipe was given a further boost into the American market by providing LEED credits for pipe using less fossil fuels to manufacture. With the bottom line cost savings, rare was any concern or opinion to the quality of source of the pipe installed until a premature failure occurred – at which time the source of the pipe became the focus of blame.
Foreign produced pipe is still commonly found even where strictly prohibited at federal projects; the result of lax supervision and inspection, or lesser traceable reasons. In addition, the fact that most pipe stamps can be easily removed with acetone or paint thinner and then painted over with USA markings has produced a widespread counterfeiting problem. For one client learning that the accelerated failure of their 6 year old condenser water pipe was due to their contractors unapproved installation of Chinese pipe, their new contractor replaced it with counterfeit American pipe. With the original Chinese lettering removed and new “Made in USA” stamps stenciled on, they were quickly back to square one!
While not an absolute certainty, and even having documented old German high pressure steam pipe operating since the 1930’s in still pristine condition, the finding of foreign pipe today raises a red flag, or it should. Defective ERW seams and especially poor galvanizing seem to be more likely sources of failure for foreign producers. Identifying multiple pipe stamps from different countries, pipe from 28 different foreign countries as we documented in one specific investigation of a single property, further indicates that saving cost was a primary interest of the builder / contractor, and that such interests likely did not stop at lower cost pipe alone.
