The BWMA makes a big issue about the plumbing standards used in Europe; they
are necessarily the British ones (BSP). They point at German and Dutch use
of inch plumbing standards. The BWMA's conclusion is not that we cannot
simply change because of the very large installed base, no, it proves the
superiority of Imperial. Yes, I hope that in the future we will change to
superior metric plumbing standards. But, how to do it with this installed
base of inch standards?
Quoted from John in USMA 11498: "Pg thread usage will eventually be phased
out in continental Europe. A new metric thread standard (EN 50262) will be
phased in as mandatory beginning on March 1, 2001 replacing the Pg thread.
Metric electrical threads are already in use in the UK where they have
replaced the (now obsolete for electrical use) BSP threads."
I assume that the British and mainland metric standards are the same. It is
sensible if we adopt such British standards. This news is too bad for the
British Warts and Measles Association!!!
The NEMA are those marvellous standards people who invented the
millihorsepower and they were also part of the TABD coalition.
The BWMA also claims that French railway engineers habitually refer to
standard gauge not as 1435 mm but as 4 pieds 8-1/2 pouces. It would be
shocking and crazy if that should be true and it would be a major coup for
the BWMA. I hope that some French railway engineer just and only used it
while explaining its origins to the public on TV and that the BWMA turned
that into a piece of disinformation. Why any metric trained engineer should
prefer this broken foot-inch value to the neat metric value of 1435 mm is
absolutely beyond me.
Han
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian Jadic" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 9:28 PM
Subject: [USMA:11492] Re: NPT vs. PG
This refers to electrical pipe and not industrial plumbing pipe.
I believe it is a lot easier to change the standard for electrical
installations, as these ones are usually either installed new or just
removed and never have to be partially replaced because they leak.
The electrical industry is already dominated by IEC standards as they have
proven to be superior to the NEMA ones. They must be moving "to the next
level" by upgrading the standard.
Plumbing is different though. Maintenance work would become a nightmare of
adaptors etc. As much as I would like to see a replacement I doubt there
would be one. The only way, would be to invent a totally new plumbing system
with different sizes and/or attachments which is superior to the existing
one.
A.
<snip>
