Why 1/2 inch pipe is not 1/2 inches
Nominal Pipe Size is a label, not a measurement. NPS 1/2 pipe has an outside diameter of 0.840 inches, and it keeps that outside diameter in every schedule made. What the schedule number changes is the wall: at schedule 160 the wall is 0.188 inches, so the bore comes out at 0.464 inches.
That is the practical consequence. Fittings, flanges, supports and threading dies are sized to the outside diameter, so they fit any schedule of the same trade size. Flow, pressure drop and anything that has to pass through the pipe depend on the inside diameter, which changes with every schedule. Order by trade size and schedule; work your hydraulics from the bore.
Frequently asked questions
What is the wall thickness of 1/2 inch schedule 160 pipe?
0.188 inches (4.78 mm). The outside diameter is 0.840 inches (21.34 mm) whatever the schedule, so this wall leaves an inside diameter of 0.464 inches.
What is the inside diameter of 1/2 inch schedule 160 pipe?
0.464 inches (11.78 mm). Inside diameter is outside diameter minus twice the wall: 0.840 - 2 x 0.188 = 0.464 inches.
Is 1/2 inch pipe actually 1/2 inches?
No. NPS 1/2 is a trade size, not a measurement. The pipe measures 0.840 inches across the outside and 0.464 inches across the bore in this schedule. Only the outside diameter is fixed across schedules.
How much does 1/2 inch schedule 160 pipe weigh?
1.31 pounds per foot plain end (1.95 kg per metre), for carbon steel. Stainless of the same dimensions runs a little lighter, and the figure excludes coatings, linings and fittings.
Where these figures come from
Dimensions are as defined by ASME B36.10M (welded and seamless wrought steel pipe). This site is an independent reference and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by any standards body.
Every value on this page was cross-checked against 5 independent published sources:
Sources disagree here. Published tables split on the last digit here - 0.187 in (b3610m-etb), 0.188 in (b3610m-fbc), 0.188 in (b3610m-wikipedia). The figure printed is 0.188 in (4.78 mm), carried by the majority of the sources. The two readings describe the same wall: they differ by less than a thousandth of an inch, far inside the mill tolerance of minus 12.5 percent on wall thickness.
Last-digit inch walls across the whole table: 0.594, 0.688, 0.719, 0.844, 0.938, 1.094, 1.219, 1.438, 1.969, 2.344 in (b3610m-fbc) against 0.593, 0.687, 0.718, 0.843, 0.937, 1.093, 1.218, 1.437, 1.968, 2.343 in (b3610m-wikipedia). Two families of inch figures are in circulation, one a thousandth of an inch below the other, and they come from rounding the millimetre wall the standard tabulates rather than from any difference in the pipe. The higher family is what the majority of the sources read here carry and is what this site prints; the affected rows say so individually. Nothing turns on the choice: the wall tolerance is minus 12.5 percent, which at a half-inch wall is sixty times the gap.
NPS 14 extra strong (XS): 0.469 in (b3610m-fbc) against 0.500 in (b3610m-etb) against 0.500 in (b3610m-wikipedia). 0.500 in is printed here. Two of the three inch sources give it, both millimetre sources give 12.70 mm which is 0.500 in, and extra strong is a 0.500 in wall at every size from NPS 12 up. The 0.469 in reading looks like a misplaced row in that one chart, but it is recorded rather than deleted.