# Gray PCV for water supply line - is this OK?



## Jim S. (Jan 12, 2009)

I recently purchased a rural home built in 1970. I need to splice into the water line from the well to the house to enter the house at a different place and just discovered that most of it is 1" gray PVC. About 50 feet of line on each end of the 400 foot line is normal white PVC but the rest is gray and it is all adequately buried. 

So far there is no problem with the line but I am concerned about the type of cement to use to splice in white PVC. Obviously, the previous owner connected gray to white and it has held up. I intend to use regular PVC primer and cement - am I off base?

I am under the impression that gray PVC was for electircal conduit only. Was it ever manufactured for water? So far I have found no markings on it but I have also not exposed it fully for total inspection.

Once the supply line is through the foundation of the house, I will transition to PEX and eventually convert the whole house to PEX as I complete the remodel.

Thanks,
Jim


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

not for water usage. Electrical only


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Or, it is very possible that you have polybutylene supply lines. They're gray in color as well. Do a quick search for PB plumbing and you'll see a lot of failures and subsequent class action suits. 

I'm skeptical that anyone would use electrical conuit, but stranger things have happened.

Is there any writing on the pipes that you can read? Are all the fittings glued or are any crimped?


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## LaHandyman (Jan 11, 2009)

Jim Pvc primer and glue will work just fine. The guy who did the job before you, no dought did it wrong. Gray pipe is for elecrtical only. There is a good reason pipes are color coded. Much worse than that is a guy that runs wire in a white pvc pipe. Those kind of guys scare me the most. At this point if you are not going to be digging all the gray up across your yard and changing it to white, which isn't realy cost effective, just make sure that anyone doing work on your property knows the water pipe is gray.


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

thekctermite said:


> Or, it is very possible that you have polybutylene supply lines. They're gray in color as well. Do a quick search for PB plumbing and you'll see a lot of failures and subsequent class action suits.
> 
> I'm skeptical that anyone would use electrical conuit, but stranger things have happened.
> 
> Is there any writing on the pipes that you can read? Are all the fittings glued or are any crimped?


I have seen electrical pipe used although we all know it is used inappropriately. Electrical pipe does not hold water very well. Run a pressure test on the line to see if the quoted post is correct or the most likely posts (electrical pipe)


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## zosoplumber (Nov 21, 2008)

Im in agreement with the polybuteyn line, it was used in the seventies as the precursor of pex, but the joints are not glued they are crimped, so if you can find an end to where it transitions to pvc check for a crimped fitting, if its a bell end on the end of the grey line its conduit, if it has a crimped end with somekind of female or male adaptor its the poly.


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## Gus (Dec 24, 2007)

Schedule 80 PVC is a dark gray and schedule 80 cpvc is gray and is the same color as electrical conduit. When you cut into it if it has a thicker wall thickness then the white pvc then it is probably one of the schedule 80 pipes. Schedule 80 CPVC is used in more of an industrial setting. I have seen schedule 80 pvc as a mainline water supply to a house. If it is schedule 80 pvc then regular pvc primer, glue and fittings will be fine.


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## Jim S. (Jan 12, 2009)

*Thanks to all - dilema solved*

Thanks to all who responded. I think I have sch 80 PVC like Gus suggested. After posting, I found a plumber and plumbing supplier who said the sch 80 PVC they use is gray. I'll verify for sure when I fully expose if for splicing next week.

All existing connections are PVC cement to white (sch 40) PVC - no crimped connections anywhere. 

Although he cut corners in many areas, previous owner seems to have got this one right. The sch 80 pipe is laid in the portion of the run that is under the dirt driveway. After it turns off the driveway, it changes to sch 40. A perfectly reasonable approach although with the 18 inch depth, one could conclude that even sch 80 was unnecessary.

Thanks again,
Jim


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## WDR (Aug 6, 2010)

*Pipe*

I have seen this gray pipe before and it was for water. it was in a older house in a farming area however the reson I saw it was because it had cracked and was leaking so it had to be dug up and replaced. however it could have broken do to improper instalation. However your pipe could still be electric conduit. can you find any writing on the pipe?


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## secutanudu (Mar 15, 2009)

I thought PVC pipe was not safe for drinking water at all.


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## WDR (Aug 6, 2010)

*pipe*

I don't know about all areas but I thought it was allowed for cold waterin some, also the pipe that broke was installed many years ago


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## Mr. Green (May 1, 2010)

secutanudu said:


> I thought PVC pipe was not safe for drinking water at all.


5" water wells are made from PVC. SDR 21 for most. SDR 17 for 300 foot +.

We use schedule 80 drop pipe to hang pumps. The PVC is white.


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## VIPlumber (Aug 2, 2010)

I doubt it could be electrical PVC as it has a different OD than plumbing PVC. I did a job where the GC had used electrical for a waterfall drain running through a slab and wanted us to run the drain the rest of the way. We had to use a fernco and got him to sign off on the fact that we would not guarantee our work since he used the wrong type of pipe in the slab.


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## Alan (Apr 12, 2006)

We had a contractor lay a 1" electrical conduit in a ditch from his house to some outbuilding he made, and we told him it probably wouldn't hold water (at least not for very long). We made the connection from house line to his conduit stub-up and the white sch 40 pvc we use mated right up to it. No guarantees on the line, but haven't heard from him in over a year. Not saying I would ever do it, but it's working for him i guess. :whistling2:


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## CutinCorners (Nov 22, 2018)

How about using the grey PVC for sprinklers (not a high pressure line)? 

I've got some extra 1/2 electrical pipe that I don't know what to do with.


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## bfrabel (Oct 22, 2017)

Although it's not right, grey pvc conduit might actually be better than the white plumbing kind. It's UV protected and made to be outside, while the white kind gets brittle and disintegrates if it is exposed to the sun for any length of time. 

Of course it's not approved for potable drinking water, so I'm not sure I would trust drinking out of it, but I would suspect it would be just fine to use for sprinklers or something like that.


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

Q. What’s the pressure rating of conduit ?
A. It doesn’t have one.

Conduit and pipe are two totally different applications. Use the products in the applications they were designed for. You will have much better results.

Swapping the two is hack.


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## HenryMac (Sep 12, 2018)

bfrabel said:


> Although it's not right, grey pvc conduit might actually be better than the white plumbing kind. It's UV protected and made to be outside, while the white kind gets brittle and disintegrates if it is exposed to the sun for any length of time.
> 
> *Of course it's not approved for potable drinking water*, so I'm not sure I would trust drinking out of it, but I would suspect it would be just fine to use for sprinklers or something like that.


Who says it's "not approved for potable drinking water"? Is that reality or an urban myth?


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## CutinCorners (Nov 22, 2018)

I never drink my sprinkler water.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

HenryMac said:


> Who says it's "not approved for potable drinking water"? Is that reality or an urban myth?



It might simply be that it hasn't been submitted for testing by whoever approves potable water plumbing products. If I was a manufacturer of electrical products, why would I bother.
I bought a jug of distilled water a while back for topping up batteries, etc. The jug was labeled 'not for consumption' because the supplier is not certified to sell consumables (some will add a 'bittering agent').


It might be fine . . . or not.


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## HenryMac (Sep 12, 2018)

Stick To The Code... :wink2:

_It appears PVC is acceptable for potable water supply lines, outside the building, but not for distribution lines inside the building..._

*CPC (UPC) 604.1* Water distribution pipe, building supply water pipe and fittings shall be of brass, copper, cast iron, galvanized malleable iron, galvanized wrought iron, galvanized steel, or other approved materials. Asbestos-cement, CPVC, PE, PVC, or PEX water pipe manufactured to recognized standards may be used for cold water distribution systems outside a building. CPVC, PEX water pipe, tubing, and fittings, manufactured to recognized standards may be used for hot and cold water distribution systems within a building. All materials used in the water supply system, except valves and similar devices shall be of a like material, except where otherwise approved by the Administrative Authority.

*2015 International Plumbing Code *https://codes.iccsafe.org/public/document/code/550/9793989

Table 605.3 Water Service Pipe: PVC Pipe is listed

Table 605.4 Water Distribution Pipe: PVC Pipe is not listed


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

_



It appears PVC is acceptable for potable water supply lines, outside the building, but not for distribution lines inside the building

Click to expand...

__I think that has more to do with lack of certification than anything else. My house is mostly plumbed with CPVC but there are portions [cold water only] that have PVC and have been that way for 25+ yrs. While I have had to replace a few sections of the CPVC, I've not had any issues with the PVC. Obviously PVC can't be used for hot water.
_


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

> It appears PVC is acceptable for potable water supply lines, outside the building, but not for distribution lines inside the building...


Not all PVC PIPE is created equal.
If it was a pipe labeled NSF-DWV, it would only be suitable for drain waste vent applications.

If suitable for potable water contact, it should be labeled NSF-61.
(May also appear as NSF/ANSI-61)


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## jacksplumbingvideos (Nov 23, 2020)

All the people calling that poly b or conduit are fools, in the 1970s they had grey pvc.


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