Orange sewer PVC - Carlon "Super sewer"

[Terry Beck]

Found some orange colored PVC today. It's the end section (about 15') of the main sewer line that runs out under the foundation to the yard.
Wall thickness looks to be about half of normal PVC.

Label printed on the material is Carlon "Super Sewer" VANTAGE, and this cute phrase, "ASTM 2729 Performance". Ok, but in the IRC tables for drainpipe material I do not find a listing for ASTM 2729 (or UPC, or NEC, etc).

Found a CarlonSales on the internet, but they seem to only produce PVC for electrical conduit.

Has anyone seen this "SUPER SEWER" material before? See pic.

[Jeff Remas]

That is approved subsoil drain pipe. Probably spec'd out and installed by the sewer authority or one of their subcontractors and run into the house for connection by the owner.

[Terry Beck]

Ok, that's nice to know. I did a different search in the UPC and did find it afterall. I also got thrown by being unable to find it under that manufacturer's name.

This is a old rural home with a septic system, house has major renovations. In this area I tend to find all sorts of weird materials used for weird purposes, so nothing ever surprise me, except seeing things done right. (you ought to see the electrical panel).

Thanks for the help.

[Jerry Peck]

That is approved subsoil drain pipe.


I don't have the UPC, however, I could not find it in the IRC.

That said, though, if it is "approved subsoil drain pipe" then it is not approved for that exposed location out of subsoil, unless also approved for that specific stated use.

[Matt Fellman]

There's some main waste line used in my area (and maybe others) around the 60s/70s era called 'Orangeburg' - I've never seen the outisde of it but the descriptions I've read don't look like what your picture shows.

I've seen a few camera scopes of this stuff and it gets squished into an oval. It looks pretty funny on a camera. Have you guys ever seen this stuff?

[Denny L West]

I guess the markings say it all . super sewer if it was hooked up to a water pressure line then I would be worried . You find all kinds of after market and obsolite things out there . . I see no problem with it .

[Jerry Peck]

There's some main waste line used in my area (and maybe others) around the 60s/70s era called 'Orangeburg' - I've never seen the outisde of it but the descriptions I've read don't look like what your picture shows.

I've seen a few camera scopes of this stuff and it gets squished into an oval. It looks pretty funny on a camera. Have you guys ever seen this stuff?

Yeah, it was quite common in many areas. That stuff was a lot cheaper ... in more ways than just price, it was basically, as I recall, "paper" (wood pulp) treated with asphalt and other stuff, and formed into pipe.

Other areas used terracotta pipe for that main sewer line from the house to the street. Of course, with all the joints just covered with felt, it did not take long for tree roots to find that nice nutrient rich water and totally clog up the pipes - which is where the plumbers came in with their roto-rooter cutters, keeping the roots cut out of the pipe. Eventually, many (if not most) of those lines have been replaced.

[Ron Hasil]

There's some main waste line used in my area (and maybe others) around the 60s/70s era called 'Orangeburg' - I've never seen the outisde of it but the descriptions I've read don't look like what your picture shows.

I've seen a few camera scopes of this stuff and it gets squished into an oval. It looks pretty funny on a camera. Have you guys ever seen this stuff?

Orangeburg pipe is bituminized fiber pipe made from made from layers of wood pulp and pitch pressed together. The name comes from the fact that most Orangeburg pipe was manufactured in Orangeburg, New York by the Fiber Conduit Company, which changed their name to the Orangeburg Manufacturing Company in 1948.

It was very common here in Illinois especially in Hoffman Estates. It also was nicknamed 20 year pipe due to the pipe usually disintegrated in 20 years. We still come across it every so often, but on the most part it 99% of the homes that had it , has had it replaced.