Can you tell from the color?

I have a roof gutter that drains into a sheet metal down sprout, this down sprout then runs down the wall and "wrap/fold" into a round gray colored elbow which goes under the house to the back yard. The inside diameter of the gray elbow is about 4.5". Is there a way to tell whether it is PVC or ABS?

I want to replace this sheet metal rectangular cross section down sprout which is corroded into a round PVC/ABS pipe. I will post a picture tonight.

Generally, ABS is black in color and PVC is white for plumbing. PVC for electrical is gray. Of course, these are just the norms. I'm sure that other colors exist but aren't nearly as common.

---Ed---

Could be sch.80 pvc, does the fitting wall thickness look larger than your other fittings?

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I have seen old pvc which was grey...it says Schedule 40 on it...around the mid 1970's...it was original and the whole house was plumbed with it except for a cast iron sewer(which was the code until the early 1980's)

abs is always black to my knowledge

Dam Sum,You can change over any pipe size to any pipe size.And rain or shine cement will melt them together.Where is the downspout,no R/rain leader going????Cut out what you wish to replace and use your spare fitting's to size it.



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Found this little tidbit:

What colors are used for PVC pipe, and are they color coded?
Although PVC materials can be made in many colors and there is some pattern to what the industry has done, no established color coding exists. The earliest PVC piping was made in industrial gray, and that product line is still very active. Much of the PVC irrigation piping is white. Most PVC water piping is white, but there have been some manufacturers who use blue as a means to distinguish their product line. Many PVC sewer products are green. Much DWV piping is white, but certain manufacturers have opted for beige or buff colors.

P.S. Might want to paint the PVC if it will be exposed to UV rays.

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This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.

ABS is black and PVC is white, but some specialty products and their piping are made in gray.

There are customary colors, such as black for ABS dwv, white for shc. 40 PVC. But each of those plastics can be made in any color desired. Almost anything you see in the home arena that is plastic...portable radios,cd players, telephones....yada yada....is ABS. It performs exceptionally well in injection molding processes, and has very good strength and impact resistance properties.

So just looking at something, you cannot assume just by the color what it is.

The down sprout that is made of sheet metal is crumbled and corroded in various spots. I need to replace it. I finally cut away the concrete deck and exposed the circular pipe below which is gray color with an inside diameter 4.5". The corrugated rectangular down sprout sort of "fold" into this rounded sheet metal ring, which is then inserted into this I assume PVC 90 elbow that takes the rain from the roof under the house and discharges to the yard.



This metal ring is punctured and very fragile. In fact I can probably break it into piece with my hands.

I want to insert a PVC pipe instead of the rectangular down sprout and attach to the top of this round pipe, a round roof drain.

I have not yet attempted to remove this round metal section, I have no idea how it is attached to the PVC pipe. I hope it's not some sort of stubborn adhesive.



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There is a product that home depot is selling that is half the price of SDR35.


It is 4", has a white exterior and black interior, piping states that it is triple-thick.


It's compares in fitting size to SDR35 and SCH40, and you cannot distort the ID of this pipe.

But for it to be sold so much cheaper is going to be the "how come" situation that no one knows about, yet.

Has an odd built in fitting on one end of the pipe. Next time I'm out, I'll take pictures of it.

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Everything in Plumbing can be repaired or replaced.

Sounds like coex.
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One thing you can be sure of, if that is the pipe and not a fitting, is that if it has a 4 1/2" i.d. it is not any normal pipe and could be some secondary drainage system that has unique pipe and fittings which cannot be used for any other purpose because they would not fit.

HD sells an adapter from the COEX to sch. 40. They also sell a coex round to rectangular for downspout connection. Sheesh....this is not rocket science. Go to the store~!

It's not a pipe it is a 90 degree elbow. I dugged under it but when I washed off the mess I rinsed the sand back into the hole and covered the fitting again.

I just want to make sure I am getting the right pipe to go into that fitting and not guess and end up getting different material pipes that are almost the right size.

The new roof drain will have a round outlet. The bottom outlet as exposed here is round, I don't want to switch from round to rectangular sheet metal back to round, I think it's better to just go round all the way.

if the id of that fitting is 4 1/2" then you should be able to use 4" pvc or abs. it is a storm drain and not subject to the same codes as your sanitary plumbing so mixing and matching materials should not be a problem as long as the sizes are the same

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As I replace the entire section from that fitting up to the roof, would it be a good idea to put in a "test tee" coupling above that fitting to use as a cleanout access?

you can never have to many clean outs

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