Yeah. Apparently there's often the issue that pipes are too tight for the flow in there.
There's a line running to the faucet, containing hot water. Near the faucet, this line splits and one of them continues to the faucet while the other one goes back to the heater where its contents are pumped into the heater. This keeps the water near the faucet warm. There are other methods for that, but that one is common. And because the pipes are too tight for that flow, there's cavitation at bends inside the pipe, which destroys it over time.
Hot water return systems are not part of "normal" residential plumbing. They are energy wasting, obnoxious high-end stuff that you expect to find in what they call a "McMansion". The electric pumps they use last much less than the 10 to 20 years you mention. A plumber who considered himself a craftsman, say having given up a higher paying computer job to build nice plumbing systems, would not install one.
But if he did, it would not cavitate. If you have observed shorter life in the joints near those pumps, it is because the pipe corrode faster there because they are always at a higher temperature, just as the hot water outlet on a water heater always corrodes before the cold water inlet.
