PVC verses colourbond downpipes

Budwah · Jan 24, 2007 9:08 pm

Hi everyone,

In our plan as a fixed price site cost it says :
" stormwater drainage to an above ground water tank, providing painted PVC downpipes in lieu of standard coloubond, to suit a charged stormwater system, including overflow to the street".
We live in NSW and were wondering what this is, why pvc downpipes instead and what are the benefits?

ecosse · Jan 24, 2007 10:00 pm

hi

Be wary of painted pvc pipes, unless prepared and done very well, the paint can peel off quickly. Seen plenty of poor paint jobs in the past.
If the builder is using them you can assume they are cheaper....

happy building

ecosse

newhomebuilder · Jan 25, 2007 12:28 pm

Hi Budwah,

I have had a similar issue regarding downpipes and water tanks.

As we were going to have an above ground water tank, you cant have the normal rectangle colourbond down pipes as they wont be able to hold the water, and the only way to get around this is to have 90mm (or another size) PVC plactic piping.

When it rains the water will go into the downpipes and always be at the same level as the water tanks (providing the water tank is below the gutters) , so when your water tank is full, so will your down pipes.

The normal rectangle downpipes wont be able to hold the water as you wont be able to join them to prevent any leaks.

@ ecosse, I wouldn't assume the builder is using these pipes just because its cheaper, they are actually doing the owners a favor by making the change now to PVC pipes, instead of leaving it, and then when the owners want to hook up the rain water to their tank, they wont need to replace the colourbond downpipes.

Might sound a little confusing, its a little hard to explain but feel free to ask some more questions

ausdesign · Jan 25, 2007 12:56 pm

As 'newhomebuilder' says, a charged system holds water in the line & up the downpipe to the same level as the point where the pipe enters the tank.
Rectangular 100*75 UPVC downpipes can be used & visually will look the same as 'normal' metal downpipes.
Often in rural situations where looks aren't a priority the 90mm diam stormwater pipe will be continued through to to the gutter pop. - a round downpipe.
I'd check with your builder to clarify what you want & what the're proposing.

hiccup · May 07, 2010 11:41 am

Any updates on this?

PVC vs colorbond?

Tornado_ALIVE · May 07, 2010 3:13 pm

Newhomebuilder has it.

We have standard colorbond on the front and alfresco side of the house, however the rear and garage side are round PVC. Only the rear will be plumbed into a tank, however our plans are to put tanks on the garage side in the future so this is ideal.

barker · May 07, 2010 3:31 pm

Newhomebuilder,

Read what you said and made sense. When I build next year, I will be on tank water and planning to have a 60000L concrete tank put in the ground. Would I still be able to use colourbond downpipes for this (all piping to the tank will be underground and then pop up where the pump is located)?

ausdesign · May 07, 2010 3:37 pm

If the volume of water can get away through the 90mm inground pipe without backing up through the system then in theory yes.

barker · May 07, 2010 3:42 pm

Well when it rains, the roof area is approximately 370sqm. While there would be a few downpipes, they all have to feed in through the same hole in the tank (which I think is bigger than a 90mm inground pipe as the 10000L tank we already have has a bigger pipe from garage to top of tank) so there could be a risk of the water backing up in heavy rain.

ausdesign · May 07, 2010 4:03 pm

You need to determine the amount of water a single 90mm pipe can handle in the worst case scenaio as far as rainfall goes. This will be affected by the distance of the pipe from the house to the tank. Installing a second pipe. if it's a long run, could solve any issues with water overflowing at the downpipe connection point.(with metal downpipes) Personally I'd use PVC in any case & 'weld' the joints.

barker · May 07, 2010 4:25 pm

If it is going to be cheaper and less likely to not work properly, then I would too. I wasn't too romantically attached to colourbond downpipes.

Thanks for the info, so many things to consider...