Soil Pipe Discolouring

[RussellS]

Hi, I just wanted a little advice about the soil pipe on the outside wall. As can be seen in the pictures the fittings have become very discoloured from the sun and in a relatively short space of time.
These were put in before we moved into the house but I believe they are about 5 years old and put in by the builder who renovated the house. Has this happened because non UV stabilised fittings were used.



Is this purely a cosmetic issue or could there be other issues down the line like the fittings becoming brittle and cracking etc.


Thanks for any advice.

 

[Bosswhite]

They look like some sort of direct burn marks to me,

 

[blup]

The sun would make them go lighter not darker, so some sort of applied heat.

Blup

 

[RussellS]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

There has definitely not been any directly applied heat other than the sunlight in the three years we have lived here. I have to say that the the heat from the sun is very intense along that side of the house and the soil pipes do get extremely hot where you cannot put your hand on them. Also, those pipes are from our on-suite bathroom which doesn't get much, if any, use during the day so there is no water flowing through them to cool them down.

They have darkened considerably over the recent couple of months where the sun has been extremely intense.

 

[bobasd]

the grey Osma fittings are UV stabilised so Osma claim. ive never seen what you have ther.
is the soil pipe Osma?
why not send your post/pics to Osma tech dept?

thers a line of staining on the brick course at the level of the finished deck surface.cant be sure from the picbut it doesnt look like typical damp or splash?
have you ever treated the deck or the wall with any chemicals?

 

[bernardgreen]

They look like fittings that may have been recovered from some other place and re-used.

This elbow does not have it's original retaining ring.

Or something very strange happened to discolour all but the ring.

 

[RussellS]

The pipe fittings are Osma.

As far as I'm aware neither the decking or the walls have been treated with anything, certainly not in the three years we have been here. The whole house was renovated and extended shortly before we moved in and the soil pipe and decking was only put in less than a year before we moved in.

The line of staining looks to me damp but here is a closer picture.



I will do as you suggested and send the pictures to Osma and see what their view is. I really just wanted to know if it is something I should be worried about or if it is just cosmetic.

 

[RussellS]

They look like fittings that may have been recovered from some other place and re-used.

This elbow does not have it's original retaining ring.

Or something very strange happened to discolour all but the ring.

View attachment 145202

Yeah, I wondered about that. However the pipe itself is not discoloured either so I assumed that maybe the pipe and the retaining ring were made from a different material.

This is a picture of the same fittings over the other side of the house that doesn't get any sun and you can see that the retaining rings are a different colour.

 

[bobasd]

i dont think its any big deal because its not leakin an like you suggest it could be just cosmetic.

still cant tell what the brick stains are, if youve not got any inside dampissues then forget about it.

bernardgreen, well spotted.looks like they have changed the retaining rings at both ends of the soil pipe?

 

[RussellS]

No, we have no damp issues inside the house.
Even if the discoloured pipe does become an issue in the future it won't be a particularly big job to replace it all. The toilet is just the other side of the wall with a straight pipe going from the elbow straight into the toilet connector.

Thanks for your input though guys, I will send the pictures off to Osma and see what they say. I will report back any response.

 

[opps]

Wondering if something has landed on them and then discoloured as a result of the sun light, eg. brick waterproofing.

If it were simply the result of UV light, why isn't it more consistent?

You could always sand off the staining and see if it reappears.

 

[SandyLyon]

As already mentioned, UV usually takes the pigment (colour) away and makes the pipe / fittings lighter, Osma are one of the “better” performers when it comes to fading.

The pipes are made by an extrusion process and the fittings are injection moulded and are different mixes of PVC-u, this is why you often get fittings and pipes fading at different rates.

I don’t know what has caused this but I doubt it’s due to UV exposure otherwise you would see it everyday, chances are something has sprayed nearby (weed killer, brick cleaner etc) and some has reacted with the fittings.

 

[Hot&Cold]

I will send the pictures off to Osma and see what they say.

They may say something like " from the photo we suspect an unknown external influence"

Picture 2 shows what looks like a mottled effect on the soil pipe and the osma fitting but only on the top and front of the pipe & fitting,dont think the sun alone will do that.

Its only the pvc-u osma fittings discoloured,the end ring seal carriers are a different material possibly polyproplene,the osma soil pipe could be there recycled product or from a different manufacturer.
can a part of the discolouration be lightly sanded off ? just to see how deep the colour change is. eventually paint them with decent solvent paint.

External soil fittings can fade over time,might be something about the pigment concentration.From the photos it seems different makes of pipes and fittings have been used.

just paint them

 

[SandyLyon]

the osma soil pipe could be there recycled product

Wavin “Recycore” pipe has virgin PVC-u on the outside and the inside, with a “core” of recycled material sandwiched in between so shouldn’t perform any differently to any other soil pipe.

 

[RussellS]

The fittings in question are along the side path of the house with a fence about 1m away. So the fence limits the amount of the surface affected. So first thing in the morning the fence stops the sun reaching the fittings until about 10am or so when the sun does hit them. I have just taken this photo at 2pm and if I put my hand on the discoloured part of the fitting it is extremely hot to the point I can't keep my hand on it. However if I move my hand round the fitting slightly to the non discoloured part the fitting is cool to the touch.

As I said earlier, in the three years we have lived here absolutely nothing has been sprayed to the fence, decking or walls. Obviously I can't speak for what happened prior to this. However it is only in this recent hot weather that the discolouration has become so bad.

Anyway, I have now sent the pictures to Osma and I'll wait and see what they say. I'm not loosing sleep over it and as you say I could always paint it or even replace the pipework and fittings completely.

I'll keep you posted.