Does anybody know if PVC was ever allowed for cold water supply piping in the house? The house was built in 1979.

Not to my knowledge.

It was 'not looked at closely enough' in many areas as the codes used to use one chart for both water service pipe and water distribution pipe, and one had to go through the additional step of looking at the referenced sections to determine what was allowed or not.

For example, the old Standard Plumbing code referenced Section P608, which only required "The minimum working pressure of plastic piping installed outside of the foundation walls shall be 160 psi (1103 kPa) at 73ºF (23ºC), with permanent identification markings." - which equals PVC, whereas water distribution piping referenced P611, which required "P611.1.1 Minimum working pressure for plastic hot and cold piping material shall be 100 psi (689.5 kPa) at 180ºF (82ºC)." - which equals CPVC.

If all you did was look at the table, PVC was listed in the table as suitable for use - you also needed to verify its 'suitability for WHAT use', which many did not think of doing.

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

PVC piping for water supply (hot or cold) has been in use for years up here in MI. No problems if done right. You might start to see more of it cropping up with the price of Copper going thru the roof!

__________________
RJDalga
Home Analysts, Inc.
Kalamazoo, MI

Robert,

You mean "CPVC", not "PVC", right?

__________________
Jerry Peck, Construction / Litigation Consultant
Construction Litigation Consultants, LLC ( www.ConstructionLitigationConsultants.com )

Yes (an No). PVC piping was used prior to the 80's, then CPVC.

__________________
RJDalga
Home Analysts, Inc.
Kalamazoo, MI

Prior 1980 which maybe the codes wern't enforced Right?

I would suspect that from a town named Kalamazoo.........

__________________
Mike Schulz License 393
Affordable Home Inspections
www.houseinspections.com