Unpopular opinion: The push for all new builds to be stainless steel is overkill

I was at a supplier meet in Pittsburgh last month and a guy said, 'If it ain't 316L, it's junk.' That stuck with me. For a lot of the low-pressure heating systems we work on in older buildings, carbon steel is still the right call and lasts decades if you treat the water right. It feels like we're just adding huge cost for no real gain in some jobs. Has anyone else priced out a full stainless retrofit on a 50-year-old boiler room and found it hard to justify?

3 comments

3 Comments

averymartin22d ago

Yeah @reese124's soda story makes more sense than worrying about what pipes are made of.

the_elliot1mo ago

Totally agree, that's just wasteful!

reese1241mo ago

My buddy Jake bought a 12 pack of those fancy sodas last week. He left them in his hot car and they all exploded.