The principal advantages and disadvantages of cement concrete pipe sewers may be summed up as follows:
Advantages of Concrete Pipe.
(a) Cement concrete pipe is usually less costly than vitrified pipe.
(b) It can be formed in any shape desired.
(c) It is not cracked by vibration, and resists impact better than vitrified pipe, for which reason it is a better material to lay near the surface of a street in which there is heavy traffic.
(d) It is not affected by ordinary sewage.
(e) The cost of repairing and maintaining is about the same as for a vitrified pipe sewer.
(f) It can be made in the city or town where it is to be installed, thus giving the locality the advantage of having some of the money paid for labor in its manufacture spent in the place where the sewers are being put in, where it is raised as a tax, etc.; also saving freight charges, etc.
(g) It can be made under the most careful local supervision and inspection, of selected material, by the engineer who is responsible for the success of the work. Vitrified pipe can seldom be made in this way.
Disadvantages of Concrete Pipe.