Brain Teaser

What's the difference between tube and pipe?

I would think a tube is straight whereas a pipe can be bent?

But I really don't Know!

JES

Weight!

"That's good, but it's not right!"

Neil

One is spelt T-U-B-E and the other is spelt P-I-P-E

ISIHAC fans will cry , in unison, Mornington Crescent!! ... but, of course, the answer is - tube gets you from Piccadilly to Leicester Square, underground, while pipe is what you pack your tobacco in! Simple - next, please

rgds

Bill

(All groan!!!)

I believe that tube is small bore and pipe is bigger. Don't know where the cutoff point is though.

Edited By Brian Hutchings on 04/03/2016 15:24:01

Tube is measured by OD Pipe is measured by ID

i hope

Close to Brian's answer, but not quite ...

I think the distinction comes with the 'aspect ratio' of wall thickness to diameter.

Likewise, I don't know the transition point ; and I don't know where 'Hollow Bar' comes into it.

MichaelG.

[pretty useless today ]

GIYF

When go-karts (as they were called then) were just becoming the latest craze, a few of us got together to build one. Another friend (not mechanically minded) suggested that the chassis would be stronger if we made it out of "solid tube"!

John

+1

Jon

It is to do with manufacture. tube has a seam - albeit welded after manufacture- pipe is extruded

So your copper pipe is extruded & your steel pipe will have either a butt joint or a welded seam

but sam you are forgetting that you can get seamless pipe in stainless - I use it for my solvent installations, and I think there is also the seamless Black pipe

cheers

Is this just the English language playing games with us again?

English has upwards of 250,000 words happily stolen from just about everywhere in the world. So I can say "I pulled a full-on schadenfreude haka outside the bungalow's gazebo when I saw the naff old-school henna tattoo on that hooker's derriere. " English is a complete mongrel and all the stronger for it, but it's not always consistent or logical.

Pipe is Old English and Tube is Latin. They have similar root meanings. Over the years english speakers have used both to to add subtle meanings to their blatherings. That's why we need ducts and conduits as well

I worked at Corby steel works (BSC, Tubes Division) in the mid 1970s.

There is no difference.

JA

I think in plain English there is no meaningful difference as JA says, however as a few folk have pointed out

"Tube is measured by OD Pipe is measured by ID"

Good example is BSP threads which confuse all beginners as they appear much toe big for the sizes quoted - beacuse these are the bore sizes of the pipes they are used with.

I'm sure there are exceptions - plastic drain and waste 'pipes' come to mind.

Neil