BCAB #1444 - Acceptable DWV Pipe and Fittings, Sentence 2.5.10.(1), B.C. Plumbing Code

August 20, 1997

BCAB #1444

Re: Acceptable DWV Pipe and Fittings, Sentence 2.5.10.(1), B.C. Plumbing Code

Project Description

This appeal relates to the use cellular core ABS drain waste and vent pipe used inside buildings.

Reason for Appeal

Sentence 2.5.10.(1) of the 1992 B.C. Plumbing Code requires ABS plastic pipe, fittings and solvent cement used inside or under a building in a drainage or venting system to conform to CAN/CSA-B181.1-M90. This standard does not address cellular core or co-extruded ABS pipe but three brands of such pipe were approved under the plumbing alternates program where the chair of the Building Code Appeal Board approved products after appropriate testing had been performed and a certification program implemented.

Appellant's Position

The appellant wishes to use a specific brand of cellular core ABS pipe, not one of the three approved alternates, because pipe conforming to CAN/CSA-B181.1 is apparently not available in the local area.

Building Official's Position

The building and plumbing official will not approve the pipe in question because it is not identified with the CAN/CSA-B181.1 mark as required by the standard, is not one of the alternates approved by the chair of the Appeal Board and does not display the mark of a certification agency accredited by the Standards Council of Canada.

Appeal Board Decision #1444

The pipe in question does not carry the identification mark required by the referenced standard, CAN/CSA-B181.1. It is not one of the products approved in the past by the Chair of the Building Code Appeal Board, a process which is no longer available because the 1992 B.C. Plumbing Code allows equivalent products to be approved by the plumbing official under Section 1.4, Equivalents. It is the determination of the Board that the drain waste and vent pipe in question is not acceptable unless approved as an equivalent under Section 1.4.

George R. Humphrey, Chair