I own a condo in Northern Virginia; it was built in 1968 They won't allow us to have washering machines (we do have dish washers). The reason supposedly -the the pipes are old. I was under the impression plastic lasts forever. Do the pipes need to be replaced?
Thanks in advance
COMMUNITY FORUM
Sorry but nothing lasts forever and I have a junk yard full of plastic piping failures.
The reason plastic is used by some folks ( I only use it under duress and for acid /chemical usage) never for residential or commercial applications.
Plastic pipe cannot be exposed to direct sun light, plastic magnifies sounds like waste flowing through it, plastic uses much shorter radius fittings then its cast iron counter part long sweeps as opposed to short turn ells.
Why do plumbers use plastic?
Because builders want bottom line prices and plastic is fast to install, anyone who can read how to clean and wipe on primmer and glue and use a saw can install PVC.
Labor being expensive for a really qualified journeyman plumber one would want to have the piping thrown in as fast as humanly possible and having a builder saying the lowest priced sub contractor gets the contract there goes a bidding war and the lowest guy normally gets the contract.
So considering you have "plastic" installed you have to also figure the contractor went bottom line code in pipe sizing and 11/2" or 2" pipe can only handle so many fixture units (7.48 gallons is one FU)
So adding a washing machine knowing the plastic installer did not bother to figure a suds pressure zone in the design or consider the possibility of a washing machine added at a later date, I can fully understand the CO-OP's lack of desire to allow any more demand on a system already installed.
The reason plastic is used by some folks ( I only use it under duress and for acid /chemical usage) never for residential or commercial applications.
Plastic pipe cannot be exposed to direct sun light, plastic magnifies sounds like waste flowing through it, plastic uses much shorter radius fittings then its cast iron counter part long sweeps as opposed to short turn ells.
Why do plumbers use plastic?
Because builders want bottom line prices and plastic is fast to install, anyone who can read how to clean and wipe on primmer and glue and use a saw can install PVC.
Labor being expensive for a really qualified journeyman plumber one would want to have the piping thrown in as fast as humanly possible and having a builder saying the lowest priced sub contractor gets the contract there goes a bidding war and the lowest guy normally gets the contract.
So considering you have "plastic" installed you have to also figure the contractor went bottom line code in pipe sizing and 11/2" or 2" pipe can only handle so many fixture units (7.48 gallons is one FU)
So adding a washing machine knowing the plastic installer did not bother to figure a suds pressure zone in the design or consider the possibility of a washing machine added at a later date, I can fully understand the CO-OP's lack of desire to allow any more demand on a system already installed.
