Tips for Plumbing With PVC

• PVC pipe is used in household sewer lines. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

  PVC is a hard plastic used to create sewer and vent pipes in the home. The pipes are joined together with plastic couplings, which come in various angles. They are glued to the PVC pipe with PVC primer and PVC cement (glue). Once the coupling joint has been installed and the glue dried, the joint is as hard and durable as any other part of the PVC sewer line.

Make Straight Cuts

• PVC pipe usually has to be cut to length, before installing a joint. The cut is made with a hacksaw, and must be made straight so that the pipe end will fit snugly into the coupling. If room permits, make the cut with a power saw to ensure a straighter cut. Any burrs left around the cut should be scraped away with a utility knife or removed with sandpaper.

Apply PVC Glue

• After pipe ends and the inside of the coupling have been primed, glue can be applied to all primed areas. However, PVC glue takes roughly 30 seconds to dry, so the window for pushing the pipes into the coupling is small. Only glue when the joint is ready to be installed, and once the glue is applied, hold the pipes and coupling together for 30 seconds while it dries (the pipe can slip out of the coupling, if not held in place).

Install At Correct Gradient

• Horizontal PVC sewer pipe has to be installed at a slight gradient to allow for water and waste to travel by gravity down the pipe. The specifications for this gradient can change in different districts, so the local city building department should be contacted in the area of installation for the correct gradient, prior to fitting the sewer pipes.

Use Flexible Rubber Coupling

• When replacing a piece of sewer pipe in an existing sewer line, the installation of the new piece of pipe can be difficult because the coupling at each end of the new pipe can't be installed without twisting or bending the pipe out of alignment. This is remedied by pushing a flexible rubber coupling onto the end of one of the existing pipe ends, installing the new pipe in place and then pushing the rubber coupling halfway onto the new pipe end.