Alden Banniettis
New Member
Ok, I made a mistake: In setting up a pedestal sump pump for a crawl-space-cellar in northern Maine, the task entailed connecting a 1.5" PVC pipe to the pump's discharge port to take the water up and out of the cellar. I cemented a 5' PVC riser to a 90 deg. PVC elbow, and then cemented that elbow into a 10' PVC lateral that goes to the outside. Once outside the house, I attached a flexible hose to carry the water further away from the house. The foregoing was simple and easy enough. I used Oatey purple primer and Oatey Regular Clear PVC Cement.
My headache came when making the connection from the sump pump to the riser. The discharge exit is part of the steel base of the sump pump. The connection must include a one-way-valve so that water remaining in the riser after pumping does not return to the sump basin. (Without the one-way-valve, that water would simply be made to go back and forth between the basin and the riser and the pump would operate non-stop.) The plumbing supply store had only one such valve- a black plastic item with no indication on it as to the type of plastic it is made of. The salesman, who impressed me as an experienced, knowledgeable plumber, advised that the PVC riser is connected to the valve using a PVC coupler. Indeed, the PVC coupler mated to the valve with a nice interference fit -just as nice as it mates to the PVC pipe. I asked whether I could use the Oatey cement for welding these pieces and I was assured that I could- even though no one knew the plastic composition of the valve. I was even told that "everyone does it this way and no one has reported any problem." So, not being a plumber myself, I did as I was advised. And the sump pump has been performing for the last several days without any problem.
The valve issue nagged me a bit so I did some research online and learned that one may not use the cement I used when connecting PVC to ABS. Now, I am not perfectly sure that the valve is ABS. But it is black plastic and I somehow feel that PVC would not be black because black is used for ABS. Furthermore, when I applied the purple primer to the black valve, the sponge brush became black. I understand that primer is not used with ABS.
So I now need to decide what to do about this. The pump has been working nicely. The connection seems nice and tight. But I am having nightmares of the connection failing and a jet of water shooting up at the cellar ceiling-bedroom floor. I would appreciate any advice.
My headache came when making the connection from the sump pump to the riser. The discharge exit is part of the steel base of the sump pump. The connection must include a one-way-valve so that water remaining in the riser after pumping does not return to the sump basin. (Without the one-way-valve, that water would simply be made to go back and forth between the basin and the riser and the pump would operate non-stop.) The plumbing supply store had only one such valve- a black plastic item with no indication on it as to the type of plastic it is made of. The salesman, who impressed me as an experienced, knowledgeable plumber, advised that the PVC riser is connected to the valve using a PVC coupler. Indeed, the PVC coupler mated to the valve with a nice interference fit -just as nice as it mates to the PVC pipe. I asked whether I could use the Oatey cement for welding these pieces and I was assured that I could- even though no one knew the plastic composition of the valve. I was even told that "everyone does it this way and no one has reported any problem." So, not being a plumber myself, I did as I was advised. And the sump pump has been performing for the last several days without any problem.
The valve issue nagged me a bit so I did some research online and learned that one may not use the cement I used when connecting PVC to ABS. Now, I am not perfectly sure that the valve is ABS. But it is black plastic and I somehow feel that PVC would not be black because black is used for ABS. Furthermore, when I applied the purple primer to the black valve, the sponge brush became black. I understand that primer is not used with ABS.
So I now need to decide what to do about this. The pump has been working nicely. The connection seems nice and tight. But I am having nightmares of the connection failing and a jet of water shooting up at the cellar ceiling-bedroom floor. I would appreciate any advice.
