The plumbing and piping fitted in your own home may seem complicated enough, but commercial water plumbing projects are an entirely different animal, creating plumbing networds that may have to serve hundreds or even thousands of users at any one time. Consequently, the increased demands placed on commercial water plumbing systems mean that choosing the right materials for your business's water piping is vital; the cheap and cheerful plastics used to create inexpensive residential plumbing may simply be unable to handle the strain.
If you want to ensure durability, reliability and functionality from your business operation's water pipes, having them made from stainless steel might well be the way to go. This unique alloy has a number of advantages that make it ideal for many commercial plumbing applications:
Rustproof
One of the most striking advantages of stainless steel is that, unlike conventional mild or carbon steel, stainless steel is complete immune to rust and corrosion. As you can imagine, this makes the metal ideally suited to a wide variety of water plumbing applications, and ensures that costs incurred maintaining, repairing and replacing your water pipes are minimised. This rust resistance also means that your pipes will be in excellent condition if and when they are no longer required, increasing their resale value.
Durable
While stainless steel may react different to water than conventional steel, it retains the same durability and strength when subjected to impacts, heavy loads and high internal pressures. Stainless steel piping is particularly well suited for funnelling highly pressurised water, and is subsequently used in both irrigation systems and high-rise building plumbing. This durability also minimises the chances of your pipes suffering damage during remodelling or renovation work.
Relatively inexpensive
Stainless steel isn't exactly the cheapest piping material options out there, and more extensive plumbing systems made entirely with stainless steel piping can be quite expensive. However, stainless steel is generally cheaper than copper, the only other piping material combining the strength of metal with rust resistance. Copper is also much less resistant to high pressures, and its distinctive bronze colouration makes exposed copper piping a target for metal thieves; meanwhile, stainless steel is indistinguishable from conventional steel, a much less attractive target
Recyclable
While plastic pipes can be difficult or impossible to recycle completely, stainless steel is readily recycled by a wide variety of recycling and scrapping services. Stainless steel's second-hand value is so high, in fact, that scrap metal merchants will often pay a decent price for your worn and used-up stainless steel piping, helping your business to (eventually) defray initial purchase and installation costs.
