Do I Have to Use a PVC Pipe That's Listed?

Greetings Douglas,

I am working as a fire-safety engineer. In part of job responsibilities, I have to do inspections at various factories to give them fire-safety compliance certificates. A factory that I visited wants to install an aspiration system. My question is, should the PVC pipe be listed or not, as per NFPA 72?

Thank you, MH

The word Listed means that a nationally known, third-party testing laboratory like UL, ULC, CE, FM, etc. has tested the pipe for use in Aspiration Systems for Air Sampling. Once the testing laboratory knows that the pipe is going to be adequate for this purpose, they say that it is adequate by Listing the pipe For Use with an Air Sampling Aspiration System.

The reason that Listed For Use is so important is that a PVC pipe of one type might have been tested to be adequate for use in a garden sprinkler system, but that same PVC pipe may be highly inadequate to be used in an air sampling aspiration system. A pipe sold for use in a garden sprinkling system may not be good enough for air sampling for an aspirator.

Also, if you can, check with the technical support people that make the aspirator. If the technical support people aren't available, there's some chance that their website has further information.

Douglas Krantz