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.