When you are getting new plumbing put into your house, your plumber may offer you a variety of things that can be used as piping in your home. One of those options is copper. Copper piping is a good choice because it has a long lifespan. When it comes to copper piping, there are two different kinds of pipes. Those are soft copper tubes and rigid copper tubes. 

Rigid Copper Tubes

When these copper tubes are made, they are hardened so that they can't be bent out of shape. If they need to go around a corner, then an elbow joint must be used. AN elbow joint has a 90 degree angle so that one pipe goes into one side and another goes into the other side so that the pipe goes around the corner. There are other connectors as well, which will let the pipe split or go around different angles. They are often used for water lines. 

Soft Copper Tubes

Soft copper tubes are made the exact same way that rigid tubes are made. They even start out life hardened. However, they go through a further step. They get annealed so that they can be softened again. The annealing process involves heating the metal back up again. It gets heated to a temperature that's above its recrystallization point and then is held there. That allows the crystal lattice in the metal to realign itself. Then the metal is slowly cooled down so that the lattice sets. Annealing a metal means that it becomes more flexible. A soft copper pipe is also used for water lines, but they are able to be bent around angles and into curves without having to add in additional connectors. Because of the extra work that goes into making soft copper tubes, it generally costs more than rigid tubes do, even when counting in the extra work and extra connectors that are involved in using rigid pipes. However, there may be times that the only option is to use a soft copper pipe, such as in tight curves that are at odd angles that wouldn't allow for a rigid pipe and connectors to fit into. 

When you are getting new plumbing in your house, you want to make sure that you are going to have piping that will last for a long time. You don't want to have to replace it often because that can start getting expensive. For more information, contact companies like Monumental Supply Company.