Pipe Thermal Expansion
Linear expansion (in) for copper, PEX, PVC, CPVC, steel.
Example
You enter
- Material copper
- Length (ft) 100
- Temperature change (°F) 100
You get
- Expansion 1.128 in
- Coefficient 0.0000094
- Length (ft) 100
- Delta T (°F) 100
Details, formula, and sources
ΔL = α × L × ΔT. Linear thermal-expansion coefficient α per material from NIST and pipe-manufacturer technical bulletins.
NIST material properties; manufacturer technical bulletins by name.
NIST data free at nist.gov; manufacturer bulletins free on each manufacturer site.
Estimate. AHJ and licensed plumber / gas fitter govern. Verify against the IPC / IFGC edition adopted in your jurisdiction.
Field names used by the API: material, length_ft, delta_T_F, delta_L_in, alpha_per_F
- Coefficient table from data/plumbing/material-expansion.json keyed to pipe materialNIST + manufacturer
- Reference (cold) temperature 60 °F unless user suppliesengineering practice