Hi. My understanding is that, other than for being thicker-walled and hence 'stronger', the only material difference between 'underground' (brown/terracotta) and 'above ground' (black/grey/white) 110 mm soil pipe and fittings is that the 'underground' ones are not UV stabilised, and are therefore said to be unsuitable for use where exposed to sunlight.
However, I have a fair bit of (push fit) 'underground' pipe and fittings left over from previous jobs and it would seem a shame not to use it for some work on an outdoor stack that I will be doing fairly soon. I therefore wonder whether it might be acceptable (for at least 'a good few years'!) if painted - which it will have to be doing, anyway, because of the differing colours. If I do this, do I take it that underground pipes/fittings will work satisfactorily when 'mixed' with 'overground' ones, and vice-versa?
I do wonder how real the UV issue actually is, in practice. We have a similar issue in the Electrics forum, since PVC-sheathed electrical cable is said to be unsuitable for outdoor use (e.g. clipped to outside walls) because of its susceptibility to UV radiation, such that we have to advise people not to do it. However, many of us have had such cables outdoors, not protected from sunlight, for many years or decades, without them coming to any detectable harm.
Whilst talking about soil pipe, a couple of further questions about fittings, if I may ..... Firstly, is there any reason why someone would use a seemingly 'unswept' branch connector such as this:
rather than something like .....
.... since intuition/common sense would seem to suggest that the latter is always going to be preferable? Am I missing something?
Secondly, if one uses an 'access branch/tee', something like this one, can one, through the access opening, get rods down the vertical pipe, as well as along the branch? ...
Thanks to you all for your continuing help and advice.
Kind Regards, John
However, I have a fair bit of (push fit) 'underground' pipe and fittings left over from previous jobs and it would seem a shame not to use it for some work on an outdoor stack that I will be doing fairly soon. I therefore wonder whether it might be acceptable (for at least 'a good few years'!) if painted - which it will have to be doing, anyway, because of the differing colours. If I do this, do I take it that underground pipes/fittings will work satisfactorily when 'mixed' with 'overground' ones, and vice-versa?
I do wonder how real the UV issue actually is, in practice. We have a similar issue in the Electrics forum, since PVC-sheathed electrical cable is said to be unsuitable for outdoor use (e.g. clipped to outside walls) because of its susceptibility to UV radiation, such that we have to advise people not to do it. However, many of us have had such cables outdoors, not protected from sunlight, for many years or decades, without them coming to any detectable harm.
Whilst talking about soil pipe, a couple of further questions about fittings, if I may ..... Firstly, is there any reason why someone would use a seemingly 'unswept' branch connector such as this:
.... since intuition/common sense would seem to suggest that the latter is always going to be preferable? Am I missing something?
Secondly, if one uses an 'access branch/tee', something like this one, can one, through the access opening, get rods down the vertical pipe, as well as along the branch? ...
Thanks to you all for your continuing help and advice.
Kind Regards, John
