The Corrosion Threat

The corrosion of steel piping and its related components is a continuous and virtually unstoppable process.  The end product, which is commonly referred to as rust, is simply the result of an electrochemical reaction through which the higher energy processed metal is slowly reverted back to its naturally occurring form – metal ore.  According to NACE, the National Association of Corrosion Engineers, corrosion losses in the United States alone are $275 billion annually.  And the problem is accelerating.

In fact, the United States military categorizes corrosion as the 2nd most destructive force acting against its entire structural and mechanical inventory after warfare.

Even with the proper application of available countermeasures, the estimated cost for replacing corroded piping systems in the United States alone stands well in excess of $75 billion annually – making corrosion one of the most potentially damaging losses to any commercial, private, or industrial property next only to fire.  The financial impact of all metal corrosion on a worldwide scale is staggering – resulting in losses of $1 trillion dollars in the United States alone.

Over $139 billion is spent annually in the United States on corrosion control chemicals, coatings, and other protective systems.  Hundreds of millions more are spent on corrosion monitoring and testing.  An estimated one-sixth of all steel production worldwide is used to replace corroded metal – much of it at cooling water piping systems.  And yet, even with a greater awareness to the issues and potential corrective measures, corrosion problems are increasing in frequency and severity – not decreasing!  Some fire protection systems now fail within 2-3 years.  Entire condenser water and cooling systems within 5-10 years.  Sanitary waste systems – 15-20 years.  For various reasons ranging from declining material quality to engineering design, manufacturing pipe to minimum ASTM standards, to less effective corrosion controls – corrosion activity now presents to many property managers potentially career altering challenges.

• Problems Mild To Catastrophic, An Annoyance To Life-Threatening

Pipe corrosion represents the most serious threat and monetary loss to any commercial or industrial building or plant operation next to fire.  In its less serious form, corrosion can produce problems ranging from lost heat transfer efficiency and constricted pipes – to annoyance pinhole leaks and temporary shutdowns.  More serious failures are often in the form of million dollar catastrophic floods, operating failures, lost production, productivity interruption, personal injury, lawsuits, and even death.

Potentially worst consequences exist for fire protection systems due to the fact that the corrosion product now has the capacity to migrate downstream into the small orifice of the fire sprinkler heads themselves.  Due to the volume of iron rust deposits generated, even a moderate corrosion problem has the potential to clog the pipe and thereby render the entire fire protection system worthless, as has occurred in the past with the loss of life.

In the photograph at left, an approximate 1/2 cup or iron oxide rust product was removed from a 3 ft. section of 2-1/2 in. dry fire sprinkler pipe by just turning it on its end.  With water needing to push past more than 75 ft. of such heavily rust laden pipe before carrying that volume of rust into the first fire sprinkler head, it becomes obvious that this fire system will never function, and that it provides no protection to life or property whatsoever.

This new Internet site provides a useful as well as very scary demonstration to the fact that just 1/4 cup of iron oxide rust product is sufficient to block all water flow to a discharged fire sprinkler head.  More information on this subject is available in Technical Bulletin FP-08.

In extreme, but all too common examples, the failure to recognize and properly address a serious corrosion problem will result in the need to replace some or all of the piping system at extraordinary cost, and possibly with the loss of critical services.  For many clients, they are often too late in recognizing a high corrosion condition.  For others, expensive corrective measures still may not solve their issues.

• Multiple Reasons For Problems

Finding oneself in such a position, however, is not an overnight event.  Most high corrosion scenarios are the result of years of a problem condition which has gone either unrecognized, unaddressed, or ignored.  Often the problem is inherited from a previous building owner or operator.  For many of the worst HVAC related corrosion problems we have been called upon to investigate, a total reliance and blind trust in corrosion coupons have allowed years of high corrosion levels to exist hidden from view.

Through our involvement in the field of chemical water treatment and ultrasonic pipe testing since 1981, we have met a surprisingly high number of facility engineers and plant managers only interested in extending the retirement date of their plant or building piping systems just slightly beyond their own!  The higher turnover of property ownership, management agents, and personnel within those entities seems to noticeably encourage less pride in maintaining anything.  With cutting costs the most frequent phrase heard today, installing, maintaining, or fixing something for less has its inevitable consequences in the future.

“Predictive Maintenance” which had been a primary focus of property management just two decades ago, seems to have returned back to the “Run To Failure” mode of operation for many properties we have been involved.  More information on this subject is available Here.

• Far Superior Quality Older Pipe

Investigations of older building properties from the 1950s and 1960s routinely document low corrosion activity.   Even where poorly maintained and where the chemically treatment is neglected, the high quality and natural corrosion resistance of any older pipe will typically ensure long service life.  Fire sprinkler systems from the 1920s have shown virtually no corrosion loss, a single pipe steam heating riser showing barely a 5% wall loss after 95 years of service, galvanized steel domestic water pipe from 1896 only now showing the need for replacement after 121 years.

In the photograph at right we show an example of 12 in. wrought iron condenser water pipe installed in 1933.  The pipe provided summer service for 30 years during a time when chemical water treatment was virtually unknown.  A new refrigeration plant and cooling tower resulted in the pipe being cut and abandoned in place for 52 years; the example at right fully exposed on the roof to all elements at both sides with no protection whatsoever.  When called in by consulting engineers to explore whether this 83 year old pipe could again be used to tie in an auxiliary tower, we documented the extra heavy pipe as having a wall thickness still exceeding its ASTM specification when it was new back in 1933.

To everyone’s surprise except ours, this 83 year old abandoned pipe was substantially heavier than the undersized standard grade pipe being fitted up to it.  An undersized wall thickness of 0.329 in. for the new 12 in. pipe vs. 0.534 in. for the 83 year old pipe most had expected the need to scrap.  More information on this subject is available Here.

• Poor Quality New Pipe

Today, multiple factors have greatly reduced the service life expectation of almost all piping systems, such as:

• • • Lower quality pipe – carbon steel, galvanized steel, copper, ductile iron, cast iron, stainless steel
    • Greater vulnerability to corrosion
    • Less effective chemical treatment options
    • Pressures toward GREEN technologies and policies
    • Undersized manufactured pipe to minimum permitted ASTM limits
    • The use of thinner piping schedules
    • LEED credits for lower cost foreign pipe
    • Value engineering toward the use of lower quality materials
    • Foreign low quality imports
    • ERW seamed pipe rather than seamless
    • Faster, cheaper, and less rigid joining methods

Combined, we now routinely investigate advanced failures unimaginable decades ago.  The failure of condenser water systems in under 5 years, pinholes through new schedule 40 galvanized steel domestic water pipe after just one year of service, the failure of pre-action fire sprinkler systems in 10 years or less.  This list is endless, and is well represented in our various Photo Galleries.  More information on this subject is available Here.

• Documented Examples

To no doubt, the combination of less effective corrosion control chemicals, lower quality and less corrosion resistant piping metals, undersized pipe, thinner pipe schedules, “value engineering,” and less tolerant design engineering practices, have made the need to closely monitor corrosion losses more critical today than ever before.

This Internet site is dedicated to the issue of pipe corrosion and the identification and reduction of such problems through better monitoring and preventative actions.  Its contains a large volume of useful information based upon hands-on investigations into most of today’s corrosion problems.

CorrView International, LLC offers a series of Photo Galleries taken from decades of past ultrasonic piping investigations broken down into common issues challenging the operation of any commercial high rise, residential, government, or plant property.  A review of the different types of corrosion is often helpful in initially determining the likely corrosion cause to a problem closer to home.

© Copyright 2023 – William P. Duncan, CorrView International, LLC