Welcome to John’s Blog. Answers to frequently asked questions are periodically posted here. The objective is to share information about PVC pipe with readers as well as with utilities, design engineers and pipe installers. The blog provides the latest information on PVC pipe design, installation, and application for water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
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John Houle: Senior Technical Consultant, PVC Pipe Industry
John Houle holds a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri and an MBA from the University of Oregon. He has more than 25 years of experience in the plastic pipe industry in applications engineering, market development, forensic analysis, technical writing, and standards development.
Back in 2007, the AWWA C900 standard for PVC pipe was revised. The most important change was the reduction of the standard’s safety factor from 2.5 to 2.0. A significant factor in the decision was more than 40 years of use of PVC pipe in ASTM pressure pipe applications with a safety factor of 2.0.
Fast-forward to 2013 – the HDPE industry is proposing to reduce its safety factor for a new material from 2.0 down to 1.6. This material does not have a long history of usage and therefore has unknown longevity – paradoxically, it would also have the lowest safety factor of any AWWA pipe used for transmission/distribution applications.
The attached technical brief discusses the contrast between the evolution of safety factors for PVC and HDPE. Click here to read.
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