Type K Soft

Type K soft annealed copper coil, 1/2" through 1-1/2", in 60' and 100' rolls, marked in green.

This is the standard material for an underground water service, and the reason is joints. A soft coil runs continuously from the main to the building — under a driveway, through a sleeve, around an obstruction — with no buried connection anywhere along it. Buried joints are what fail, so eliminating them is the whole point.

Soft temper bends with a tubing bender and can be flared, which hard drawn tube cannot. It also carries a lower allowable working pressure than hard drawn tube of the same type and size, and bending thins the outer wall of the bend, so respect the minimum radius rather than pulling it around a knee.

Type K is the heaviest wall in ASTM B88, which is what most codes require for a buried service.

Full dimensions in our copper pipe and tube specifications, including temper and the ASTM B88 tables.

Stocked from Mueller Streamline.