No products in the basket.

Home / Blog / Steam Pipe Fittings Available Since 1840

Steam Pipe Fittings Available Since 1840

Mild steel pipe fittings BS EN 10241

Steam pipe fittings have been manufactured in the United States since 1840 and possibly before; apparently, the first steam and hot water heating systems were new in 1844 when they were used and patented by Walworth & Nason Company later to become The Walworth Manufacturing Company, this business was still a separate entity till 1962. Steam pipe fittings were better known as wrought iron fittings and many people still use the term although wrought iron has not been commercially manufactured since the early 20th Century.

One of the early pioneers in the UK was Lloyd and Lloyd formed in 1859 and manufacturers of pipe and wrought iron fittings as well as many other casting products associated with the Victorian industrial era. The word wrought is an old verb for work or worked, so the term in context means worked iron. What we term wrought iron fittings in the modern day are steel fittings and are still used when installing process steam lines. Here at Besseges (Valves, Tubes & Fittings) Ltd we still offer steel pipe fittings for steam lines to the current standard BS EN 10241:2000 which was previously BS1740 dating back to 1951 and possibly earlier. For more information on the subject of steam pipe fittings please click read more to continue to read this informative blog or contact our sales team.

Steam Pipe Fittings BS EN 10241:2000

Steam pipe fittings are now categorised as steel fittings BS EN 10241:2000 and are available in what is termed as black and galvanised. The so-called black steam pipe fittings are just bare metal and the galvanised versions are hot-dipped galvanised fittings. We recommend when installing threaded steam pipework that steel fittings BS EN 10241:2000 are used in conjunction with red heavy steel tube BS EN 10255:2004 for low-pressure steam and condense systems. These installations tend to be in 50mm nominal bore or smaller, for larger bore installations flanged and butt weld systems are in our opinion the better options. Although steel fittings BS EN 10241:2000 are rated to 25 bar we have not come across installations above 12.5 bar where these fittings are used.

Our reasoning for recommending steam pipe fittings BS EN 10241:2000 is because historically in our experience they have been used extensively in industry across our region and have a proven track record for achieving quality installations and excellent longevity. The tensile strength of the product lends itself to the everyday issues associated with process steam systems such as water hammer and erosion that in our opinion other similar products do not. Please contact us to discuss your next steam or condense installation and we can offer guidance on pressure and temperature issues associated with your system. For higher-pressure steam systems, we can offer other products including welding fittings, flanges and seamless steel tubes. Besseges (Valves, Tubes & Fittings) Ltd is also a distributor of TLV steam products which include steam traps, stop valves, pressure-reducing valves, control valves and condense recovery systems; we look forward to hearing from you.