Steven Folkman
Papers # 2014 Chicago
Several analytical studies have estimated that PVC pipe can have a useful life of over 100 years. The earliest widespread use of PVC pipes was in Germany in the late 1930’s. These early pipes lacked proper extrusion technology. Extrusion technology was greatly developed during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Use of PVC pipe in the USA started in the early 1960’s. It was desired to try to validate the expected long life of PVC pipe. Recently, Utah State University conducted several tests on PVC pipes that had been in use between 20 and 49 years. The tests conducted include acetone immersion and burst pressure or hydrostatic integrity tests. The purpose of these tests was to examine if the pipe still met the quality control standards that were in place when they were manufactured. The results show that when the material has proper gelation, all of the quality control tests were successfully passed. This paper will also review these test results along with testing done by other researchers examining the long life expectancy of PVC pipe.
