I'm getting ready to re-do a good bit of plumbing work because, in my ignorance, I turned ALL of the PVC pipes such that the lettering is on the back side, not easily visible.

I should have known better, because this is going to be inspected, but completely flubbed up that.

My question is, in others experience with inspections, how much of the pipe can be turned backwards before they become concerned and possibly red flag it? I realize this will be an inspector-by-inspector situation, I'm just curious in general.

It will be fairly easy to cut out all the large sections of pipe, and turn them to face outward, without needing to mess with my fittings, but I also have a fair bit of pipe between two fittings where there is only maybe 4" to 10" of pipe between the fittings. If I turned all the long runs of pipe, but left those short sections, would that stick out like a sore thumb?

Thanks very much for your thoughts!

there is nothing in any code that i know of that says the lettering must be able to be seen.
the fittings usually have little markings that say sch 40. that should be enough..
anyway, if an inspector can't tell the difference of what he/she is looking at, they need to find a new job..

quote; if an inspector can't tell the difference of what he/she is looking at, they need to find a new job.

In some cases that is why they have THIS job, and not one where they actually work with the materials.

Back when we able to use clear cleaner, most of the inspectors wanted the pipe turned so that they could see where the cleaner had wiped off the lettering near the fittings.
Now that we use purple primer we can turn the pipe however we want to.

Thanks for all the information!

I think based on what I've heard, I might still go ahead and cut, rotate and reattach some of the longer (easy to do) sections of pipe, but not worry about the rest.

I've heard the inspector I'll be getting isn't ridiculously anal, but is in general a bit of a grumpy guy and gets annoyed with things are wrong. (He's not a fan of owner/occupiers doing their own work even though it is completely legal for single family residences.) So I am just trying to make sure I've done everything right and not made any stupid mistakes.

Thanks again!



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