Gas pipe fittings that are made the USA

[jkmas]

Does any Great American out there know where I can purchase gas pipe and fittings (1/2" , 3/4" rigid black etc.) that are made in America?   Any input much appreciated.

[wpearson]

Google has options on the first page

wes

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Back in CA the good plumbing supply houses had USA fittings. Some of the jobs we did specified USA piping.

[DanielC]

Yea China tends to put crap in their metals. Their brass for example has been known to contain lead in the past. We had to use USA only brass in some of our hospital jobs.

 

Check a plumbing supply house. A mom and pop one would be best.

[DSW]

Yea China tends to put crap in their metals. Their brass for example has been known to contain lead in the past. We had to use USA only brass in some of our hospital jobs.

 

 

As far as I know, almost all brass has some levels of lead added to it to assist when casting.

[BobL]

"Lead free brass" is a matter of interpretation.

 

Just about all brass has at least 2% lead added to it to improve its machinability, but brass may still be called "lead free" even if it contained higher amounts than this - as much as 4% in some places.

In 2010 CA introduced a mandatory max of 0.25% lead on so called "lead free" brass but there is a heap of old stock out there apparently still being used up and I guess one question to ask is, who if anyone is keeping an eye on this?

 

I wonder if it really matters in the case of gas fittings, unlike chlorinated/carbonated water it's not like the lead is going to be that easily leached from the metal.

[petere76]

Jkmas,

W&O wholesales feature all manner of valves, pipe and fittings for industrial applications. You can specify the place of manufacture of most products. Most industrial valves for industry come with specification sheets and testing supportive documentation. Ask for made in the USA if it's not obvious.

Other Internet and 800 number options would include McMaster Carr, Granger and Mariners annual. The list goes on so just Google search any of these companies and you will get more info than you need.

Peter

[jkmas]

Thanks  to everyone for the input.  I did some searching and found " Anvil International" . Big website with lots of stuff (probably expensive).  They have a bunch of products manufactured in the USA.  I am  roughing in the gas valve for a new masonry fireplace that I built for a good customer of mine.  He has the means to pay for USA products in his large addition to his existing home.  I wish all my customers had his frame of mind. (At least I know that all my masonry products usually come from America.)

 

Thanks again,

 

Joe Kowalski

[jcornell]

Grainger Industrial Supply is pretty good about letting you know country of origin - as usual ,the stuff from China is cheaper - but not 100% of the time!

[Yellow Hammer]

I'm a training instructor at an electric utility. I was teaching a piping class and bought some 1/2 inch black pipe and fittings from Grainger. We had multiply issues with cutting the threads on a  new Rigid 535 threading machine with new cutting dies. We changed the cutting oil, we re-adjusted the dies, we changed the dies and still had problems with the threads being broke, and chipped. I did a full day’s work and still could not get proper threads. I contacted Grainger and took examples of the bad threads to them. The pipe was made in China. They quarantined the 4 lengths of pipe I bought and sent them to a lab for evaluation before selling more of that batch. Grainger was more than willing to correct the problem. We bought American made pipe the next day and had no problems with the machine or the threads we cut. It was night and day difference. Be careful to what you buy, especially for gas fittings. All the elbows and 90's were China made and we tossed them out because of poor quality and oversized threads. Grainger did make good on the products, but you do get what you pay for. It's too bad we have to dance around to get quality products... Whatever happened to good Old American Pride and quality American made products?????

[craftsman]

Sorry to revive an old post.  "Ward" is a U.S. company that still makes all of their black iron pipe fittings in the USA.  They are very high quality.  Both the thread machining and the castings are some of the best I've seen.  If you buy them online you will pay roughly what the chinese fittings cost at the local big box store.  I buy all of my fittings from supplyhouse . com.  That website is the cheapest I've seen, and have the best selection.  Unfortunately I usually end up spending about $500 every purchase because they have so much cool stuff.  If someone finds a cheaper plumbing supply website (after shipping/sales tax), please post it. 

Regarding the actual pipe, most of the pipe sold in the box stores is made in Mexico, and is high quality.  Most of the stuff I've used manufactured in Mexico is of equivalent quality to the U.S. Stuff.