Pipefitting vs. Plumbing
While installing, upkeep, and repairing pipes are common tasks for both the plumbing and pipe fitting professions, it’s crucial to recognize the differences between the two trades.
Plumbing and pipe-fitting jobs are typically grouped together by most businesses. Is pipe fitting the same as plumbing? Here are the differences.
What Do Piping and Plumbing Technicians Do?
Plumbers set up and maintain the gas, water, waste disposal, drainage, and other systems in residential and commercial structures.
On the other side, pipe fitters install and fix high- and low-pressure pipe systems utilized in industrial or manufacturing, create power, and heat and cool buildings.
The responsibilities of a plumber include:
1. Building, setting up, fixing, and maintaining gas, sewer, and water supply systems.
2. Drain and pipe cleaning.
3. Water fixture repair and replacement.
Overall, plumbers perform many more tasks than clearing clogs from toilets, sinks, and garbage disposals.
While it makes up a significant portion of what they perform, they are also responsible for installing piping systems that have water, removing waste, and connecting heating and cooling systems.
The following are some responsibilities of a pipefitter:
1. Assembling, setting up, fixing, and maintaining pipe systems that generate electricity, heat, and transport gases and chemicals.
2. Use pipes that can accommodate materials under high pressure.
While there are many similarities between pipefitters’ and plumbers’ work, the materials these trades deal with through their pipe systems vary greatly.
Plumbers work primarily with water-based systems, transporting clean water for drinking and bathing while removing waste from toilets and sinks.
The systems that carry different materials, such as chemicals, are typically handled by pipefitters.
Many are high-pressure systems. Therefore the pipes are constructed from more durable materials like metal, as opposed to the copper and ABS plastic piping used in plumbing.
