ABS vs PVC DWV plumbing
I have been RVing for going on 20 years. Also, I have been involved with residential contracting for quite some time as well. Many years ago, ABS replaced copper as the preferred material for plumbin...
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Water supply lines, hot and cold, are not going to be PVC or ABS in any building or RV. Instead a flexible line is used and unfortunately this practice has extended to residential construction with PEX where it is a poor substitute for copper piping. Waste lines outside the living space are always done with ABS pipe where the installation is a permanent one and not easily repaired or replaced.
I have a sprinkler system at my house for which I naturally used PVC. All the exposed pipe has become brittle in less than a year's time. I would not want PV used in a RV for pressure lines.
PVC also loses strength with temperature. A pipe that has a PSI burst strength of 450 PSI at 73 F (temp used for standards) will have a pressure rating of 337 PSI at 100 F.
PCV also expands with temperature and a 100' length can expand 4 inches with 140 degree water inside (or less with outside air temps over 100 F) and with an RV a 20' length could still expand an inch and cause a problem.
With an RV the manufacturers err on the safe side to avoid plumbing problems that could be prohibitively expensive to repair with the very limited access with most RV's.
I have a sprinkler system at my house for which I naturally used PVC. All the exposed pipe has become brittle in less than a year's time. I would not want PV used in a RV for pressure lines.
PVC also loses strength with temperature. A pipe that has a PSI burst strength of 450 PSI at 73 F (temp used for standards) will have a pressure rating of 337 PSI at 100 F.
PCV also expands with temperature and a 100' length can expand 4 inches with 140 degree water inside (or less with outside air temps over 100 F) and with an RV a 20' length could still expand an inch and cause a problem.
With an RV the manufacturers err on the safe side to avoid plumbing problems that could be prohibitively expensive to repair with the very limited access with most RV's.
