Fusiotherm Polypropylene Piping from Aquatherm

There’s a new option for potable-water, hydronic-heating, and other pressurized piping applications: polypropylene from the German company Aquatherm, GmbH. Aquatherm has been producing high-quality Fusiotherm® polypropylene (PP) piping for 30 years with tremendous success—never having paid a claim for damage due to failure of the piping, despite a well-financed guarantee. Now this piping is available in the U.S. from Aquatherm Piping Systems, LLC, the product’s exclusive importer and distributor.

What is immediately apparent when looking at Fusiotherm pipe is the wall thickness. It is thicker than copper and most plastic piping products available here, including cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This gives it tremendous strength and durability, but also makes it less flexible than most PEX piping. The other big difference is the system for fusing joints and connections. A fusing gun, available from Aquatherm, is used to heat both the end of a pipe and the fitting into which it will be secured. After heating for about 10 seconds, the pipe is secured into the fitting, and within about 30 seconds the joint becomes one piece of monolithic polymer. After ten minutes the pipe can be fully pressurized. “You can’t screw it up,” an Aquatherm representative told EBN.