If you want to be in this industry, you have to talk like us

The PVF industry, like many others, have their own “language”. To sound knowledgeable, you need to know some of the basic lingo that is used for describing Pipes, Valves and Fittings (PVF … see what I mean!)

Not only does knowing how to talk about pipes, valves and fittings get you street cred when talking to others in our industry, it helps you get the right items for your customers. Here is a a list of some of the abbreviations you may come across:

Industry Associations

ASTM – American Society of Testing and Materials
ASME – American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ISO – International Standards Organization
ANSI – American National Standards Institute
API – American Petroleum Institute

Flange Terms

FF – Flat Face
RF Raised Face
RTJ – Ring Type Joint face type
WN – Weld Neck type flange (also called a Butt Weld or BW)
SO – Slip On type flange
SW – Socket Weld type flange
THD – Threaded type flange
BL – Blind type flange
LJ – Lap Joint type flange
FLG – short hand for “Flange”
(ANSI) B16.5 – the commercial standard for flange dimensions and ratings
OD – Outside Diameter
ID – Inside Diameter
BC – Bolt Circle of the drilled bolt hole pattern

Materials:

CS – Carbon Steel
SS – Stainless steel. Sometimes called CRES
A105 – Common type of carbon steel used in flanges
A182-F304(/L), -F316(/L) – Common types of stainless steels
A182-F11, -F22 – Common types of chrome-molly steels
CuNi, 70/30, 90/10 – Copper Nickel grades
5086, 6061 – Common grades of aluminium

Pipe Terms (also used with valves and flange descriptions)

SCH 10, 40, 80, 160 – Refers to the wall thickness of a pipe called “schedule”
STD – Standard wall thickness pipe
XH – Extra Heavy wall thickness pipe
XXH – Double Extra Heavy wall thickness pipe

These are just a few of the more common terms used in the industrial piping industry. It’s really hard to know everything and we are learning all of the time. We put a lot of our reference material on a page for you to use. If we can help you decipher some crazy description, contact us any time and we will do our best to help.

New Hires Teach Us

We have been very fortunate. In the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic thing, we are doing very well and just hired a new CNC machinist in the shop. I find it amazing how much a new hire teaches us. After reviewing the manuals, we began teaching Brandon about our primary product line; pipe flanges. It’s amazing just how much there is to know about this “simple” product.

First, there is all of the industry specific terminology. The nominal pipe size that each item will be used for is easy enough but try to explain to someone why a 2″ pipe is not 2″ on any dimension?!? Then there is the pressure “class” which determines the flange dimensions but has no other relationship to what actual pressure the flange connection will hold. I don’t even want to talk about Navy flanges. The Navy, who when they come in for an audit of our QA system, wants every part of your operation to be uniform, has prints that are all over the board and then they deviate or modify those prints even more when ordering to meet their needs. Try explaining that logic to a new person anywhere in your operation!

Second is the machining terminology that we casually throw around in the shop. From cutting tool geometry and grade like “oh, I used the CNMG 643 15 degree corner in the 25B grade to form the hubs on the duplex stainless parts for Charlie”. What did he just say and who is Charlie? And it gets weirder from there.

Brandon is a good hire and I am sure he will be talking just like us soon and not even be thinking about it. He listens well, takes notes and asks the right questions. All important things.

I’m sure Brandon isn’t the only one who needs more information about pipe flanges. Here is a great link for the basics. https://www.theprocesspiping.com/introduction-to-flanges/

Any detailed questions … call us. Maybe we can help. Enjoy. Joe