1995 abs?

[rdemott (Ron De Mott, 24GI00043800)]

Did a 1995 townhome today and saw black drain plumbing, Only about four foot total was visible. Under the kitchen sink i saw ABS to PVC with a leak on a threaded connector, in the attic I saw three inch ABS used as a sewer vent. Due to no labels being visible I called it out. My question is, were they still using the recalled type ABS drain/vent pipes in 1995. Thanks in advance

[mlarson (Michael Larson, WI Lic. # 1672-106)]

I am unaware of recalled ABS and it is still in common use.

Threaded ABS to PVC is a non issue except for the leak.

[cnorlen (Chad Norlen, CPI)]

I hadn’t heard of this at all prior to your post so I did some Googling and found this site:

http://www.procheck.cc/abs.htm

According to this article, it had quit being used in 1990.

[mlarson (Michael Larson, WI Lic. # 1672-106)]

@cnorlen

I hadn’t heard of this at all prior to your post so I did some Googling and found this site:

http://www.procheck.cc/abs.htm

According to this article, it had quit being used in 1990.

Huh?

Not all of the pipe manufactured between 1984 and 1990 has proven to be problematic and it is possible that pipe manufactured during this time frame by the involved manufacturers is performing as designed. Below is a list of the manufacture’s named in the suit and the time frames over which they may have produced questionable ABS piping…

   Apache: Between November 1984 and December 1990 
   Centaur: Between January 1985 through September 1985  
   Gable: Between November 1984 and December 1990 
   Phoenix: Between November 1985 through September 1986 
   Polaris: Between January 1984 and December 1990

Still available.

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=ABS+pipe&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest#q=ABS+pipe&hl=en&client=opera&hs=W5P&rls=en&channel=suggest&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=shop&ei=f193T_DhMcGtgQeR96j2Dg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=6&ved=0CD4Q_AUoBQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=847e9bb8da2e8026&biw=1600&bih=790

[rdemott (Ron De Mott, 24GI00043800)]

Yes the black ABS is very poorly made it is mostly used in California. I believe five manufactorers were involved in a class action lawsuit and lost. I have seen this stuff split horizontely many times and leak. I was just not sure if any of you guys saw it still being used as late as 1995.

[mlarson (Michael Larson, WI Lic. # 1672-106)]

Ron, if you cannot identify the pipe you saw as coming from one of the problem manufactures, why would you call it out with no other evidence of a problem?

Just sayin’

And it is very possible for old stock to exist in 1995.

[jmckee (James McKee)]

as far as I know it is still commonly used

[mlarson (Michael Larson, WI Lic. # 1672-106)]

@jmckee

as far as I know it is still commonly used

You are correct. Someone is not paying attention.

[cnorlen (Chad Norlen, CPI)]

@mlarson

Huh?

I didn’t see your message until I posted mine.

When I said “it”, I was referring to defective ABS, not ABS in general. Of course it’s still in use.

Maybe if I quit doing 3 things at once, this wouldn’t happen so much…:roll:

[rdemott (Ron De Mott, 24GI00043800)]

I called it out because I see the defective type pipe enough in this area leaking, and the leak was close to a connection all covered in grease which is a textbook area of concern. I dont like taking a chance with this stuff it can cause alot of damage. I dont mind being found to be wrong by a plumber if he can put in writting this black pipe is OK. I informed my client it may be found to be fine by a plumber and they wanted to be safe not sorry down the road

[mlarson (Michael Larson, WI Lic. # 1672-106)]

@rdemott

I called it out because I see the defective type pipe enough in this area leaking, and the leak was close to a connection all covered in grease which is a textbook area of concern. I dont like taking a chance with this stuff it can cause alot of damage. I dont mind being found to be wrong by a plumber if he can put in writting this black pipe is OK. I informed my client it may be found to be fine by a plumber and they wanted to be safe not sorry down the road

But wasn’t the leak at the threaded connection?

[rdemott (Ron De Mott, 24GI00043800)]

Yes but it was a connection consisting of the black ABS male pipe into a female PVC connector with lots of vinyl tape, and I figured the tight fit most likely cracked the weaker ABS pipe. Like I said lots of grease covered these connections and for some reason i have seen alot of the recalled leaking ABS in this past month.

[rdemott (Ron De Mott, 24GI00043800)]

OK I just called my client, I had given him the letters and numbers to google, they are ASTMF628 that is one of the five types of pipe envolved in the lawsuit made by PHOENIX. Going to have to be corrected. keep an eye out for this product. curious to see what the plumber will say.

[John_Griffith]

Ron,

I’m fairly certain that the ABS issue you are recalling is as a result of the class action settlement against Polaris Pipe Co., Gable Plastics, Inc., Centaur Mfg., Inc., Centaur Marketing, Inc. a/k/a Phoenix Extrusion Co., and Apache Plastics, Inc.

It had been a while since I visited the official class action settlement website, but it is still active and can be found at http://www.abspipessettlement.com. when you visit the current site it states that “THE SETTLEMENT CONCLUDED ON JUNE 10, 2009. NO FURTHER CLAIMS WILL BE ACCEPTED”. In reading over your question I was actually interested in seeing some photos of the pipe in question, but considering that the settlement is now over, it appears as though the administrator has limited the sites functionality. Since the site had been online for quite sometime I decided to hop over to archive.org and looked at a snapshot of the site as it appeared back in July of 2007. More specifically I wanted to look at the “How to ID ABS Pipes” section. Here is a link to the page http://web.archive.org/web/20070706223811/http://www.abspipessettlement.com/id.cfm. Hope this helps!

John Griffith