Thursday, June 25, 2015

Plumbing Services Los Angeles - Copper plumbing pipe

Richards Rooter and Plumbing since 1994 providing Plumbing and Drain Cleaning Services 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year.

In regards to your plumbing pipes made of copper, never let copper pipes touch any other kind of steel, Aluminum, Cast-Iron of any Ferrous metals. Or you will find the leak one day.
When two different metals are in contact in a corrosive environment, one of the metals experiences accelerated galvanic corrosion while the other metal remains galvanically protected.

Replace your water heaters Anode Rod  every 3 years and this will help prevent your water heater and your copper pipes from deteriorating from the inside out.
The water heater anode rod is usually made out of magnesium or aluminum.

Metals near each other in the galvanic series have little effect on each other. Generally, as the separation between metals in the series increases, the corroding effect on the metal higher in the series increases as well.

Relative surface areas of contacting dissimilar metals is also relevant in determining which metal exhibits accelerated corrosion. It is undesirable to have a large cathode surface in contact with a relatively small anode surface.

Galvanic corrosion occurs when two different metals are in contact in a corrosive environment: one of the metals experiences an accelerated corrosion rate. The contacting metals form a bimetallic couple because of their different affinities (or attraction) for electrons. These different affinities create an electrical potential between the two metals, allowing current to flow.

The metal higher in the galvanic series of metals, the “anode,” provides protection for the metal lower in the series, the “cathode.”

As can be seen from the galvanic series, zinc protects the lower-order steel.

With respect to contacting surface areas of the two metals, although the corrosion current that flows between the cathode and anode is independent of area, the rate of penetration at the anode does depends on current density. Thus, a large anode area in contact with a relatively small cathode area is generally not problematic. Regardless, environmental conditions remain large determinants of corrosion rates.


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