Data Base

Nominal Pipe Size (NPS) is a set of standard pipe sizes used for pressure piping in North America. The same pipe dimensions are used with different names in Europe.

Sometimes NPT threads are referred to as MPT (Male Pipe Thread), MNPT, or NPT(M) for male (external) threads and FPT (Female Pipe Thread), FNPT, or NPT(F) for female (internal) threads. An equivalent designation is MIP (Male iron pipe) and FIP (Female iron pipe).

A list of 15 thread sizes are defined by the standards, ranging from 1/16 to 6. The size number was originally based on the inner diameter measured in inches (25.4 mm) of a steel tube for which the thread was intended, but is in the modern metric version of the standard simply a size number.

The major diameter listed is the outer diameter of the external thread. For a taper thread, it is the diameter at the “gauge length” from the small end of the thread. The taper is “1 to 16”, meaning that for each 16 mm increase in the distance from the end, the diameter increases by 1 mm.

A list of 15 thread sizes are defined by the standards, ranging from 1/16 to 6. The size number was originally based on the inner diameter measured in inches (25.4 mm) of a steel tube for which the thread was intended, but is in the modern metric version of the standard simply a size number.

The above is free as a courtesy – accuracy is not guaranteed.

The major diameter listed is the outer diameter of the external thread. For a taper thread, it is the diameter at the “gauge length” from the small end of the thread. The taper is “1 to 16”, meaning that for each 16 mm increase in the distance from the end, the diameter increases by 1 mm.