Why 14 inch pipe is not 14 inches
Nominal Pipe Size is a label, not a measurement. NPS 14 pipe has an outside diameter of 14.000 inches, and it keeps that outside diameter in every schedule made. What the schedule number changes is the wall: at extra strong (xs) the wall is 0.500 inches, so the bore comes out at 13.000 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 14 inch extra strong (xs) pipe?
0.500 inches (12.70 mm). The outside diameter is 14.000 inches (355.60 mm) whatever the schedule, so this wall leaves an inside diameter of 13.000 inches.
What is the inside diameter of 14 inch extra strong (xs) pipe?
13.000 inches (330.20 mm). Inside diameter is outside diameter minus twice the wall: 14.000 - 2 x 0.500 = 13.000 inches.
Is 14 inch pipe actually 14 inches?
No. NPS 14 is a trade size, not a measurement. The pipe measures 14.000 inches across the outside and 13.000 inches across the bore in this schedule. Only the outside diameter is fixed across schedules.
How much does 14 inch extra strong (xs) pipe weigh?
72.09 pounds per foot plain end (107.4 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. Sources give different walls here - 0.5 in (b3610m-etb), 0.469 in (b3610m-fbc), 0.5 in (b3610m-wikipedia). The figure printed is 0.5 in (12.7 mm), the value the majority of the sources carry. This is a real conflict, not a rounding difference, so check it against your own copy of the standard before ordering or calculating from it.
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.