21 January 1999

ARTICLE FOR PHPI PLUMBING & DRAINAGE FEATURE: MARCH 1999

This article is about European harmonisation. But don’t be put off. The latest European invasion is a friendly one and it brings a number of welcome British victories. Frank Jones, Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Pipes Group, explains some of the changes that new European standards will mean for plastic underground drainage, soil and waste, and rainwater products – and the people that install them.

We’re all familiar with British Standards. Those bastions of British correctness that govern the plastic plumbing products that we all know and love. But they are currently being replaced by a whole new set of European standards being introduced to cover most of the soil and waste and rainwater products available in the UK.

It all started in 1987 when the Committee for European Norms (CEN) decided to harmonise construction products across the board. This was part of the EC’s efforts to reduce barriers to trade across the Community when it became a single market economy. The European Commission and CEN set the basic, essential prerequisites for all products – such as health and safety and fire requirements – then set up a series of Technical Committees, or TCs, to hammer out the actual details of the new Euro Norm.

In the case of plastic pipes the TC in question is TC 155 Plastic Piping and Ducting Systems. The committee is made up of representatives from the national committees of each Member State – with BSI (British Standards Institution) committee members representing the UK.
TC 155 covers hot and cold plumbing, soil and waste, rainwater and pressure application products manufactured from PVC, polyethylene, polybutylene, ABS, C-PVC and other plastics materials with a variety of different structures such as solid wall, foam core, corrugated, thin wall and solid wall rib so its product remit is very broad. Since the TC was set up it has produced around 80 new test methods and approximately twenty-seven product and system standards.

There is one very simple message that professional UK installers should remember about the new plastic products Euro standards – that in general they will mean very little change. In most cases, the nuts and bolts of the principles enshrined in British Standards and BS Codes of Practice have been incorporated in the new ENs. The new ENs are not written by Euro bureaucrats sitting in an ivory tower. They have been developed to take account of best practice while recognising the real, practical needs of the marketplace. For example, the new ENs have retained the UKs traditional single stack plumbing methods, incorporating swept entry fittings, bosses, large radius bends. And where appropriate inch-based dimensions have also been kept, sitting happily alongside metric based measurements.

So what new ENs will be winging their way from Brussels? The first, BS EN 1401-1: 1998, covering PVC underground drainage pipes and fittings in sizes from 110mm to 1000mm, is already in effect. It was introduced in the summer of 1998 and is being phased in by the manufacturers, stockists and users of the products over the next eight months. The basic message for underground drainage is that the new BS EN 1401-1 1998 actually means relatively little change. It replaces parts of the existing British Standards BS 4660 and all of British Standard BS 5481 and pipes and fittings manufactured to the new standard will be completely interchangeable with old products in terms of dimension and performance. BS EN 1401 does cover the use of a thinner grade of pipe with reduced stiffness (Stiffness Class 2) in pipes with diameters of 160mm and above than was permitted under the previous British Standards. But the BPF Pipes Group strongly recommends that installers continue to use Stiffness Class 4, since Stiffness Class 2 products require much more preparation and bedding to give the same performance and could cause costly delays and problems on site.

Installers of PVC underground drainage systems can start using the new EN with immediate effect, retaining reference to the existing standards until the changeover is completed in October 1999. The new standard refers to all PVC underground pipes and most fitting from 110mm to 1000mm. Access fittings and gullies will continue to be covered by a new, modified BS 4660.

As for soil and waste, new standards will start being published in March 1999, with products bearing new standard numbers appearing by the end of the year. BS 4514 covering PVC soil and waste products will partially be replaced by BS EN 1329-1. BS 5254 polypropylene pipes and fittings and BS 5255 PVC-U products will be replaced by BS EN 1455-1, BS EN 1519-1 and BS EN 1556-1. Any changes to products will be much more relevant to manufacturers rather than installers, although it is worth knowing about the changes to the numbers since they will start to appear on specifications towards the end of 1999. Don’t panic about all the numbers and their implications. The BPF Pipes Group will be issuing comprehensive but straightforward guidelines on what the new ENs mean for the UK market.

In rainwater systems, existing BSs will remain in place for about eighteen months before a new series of European standards for gutters, gutter brackets and downpipes will be introduced. Products carrying the new numbers will start to appear on the market in 2001 although, once again, there will be no substantial difference in the products’ specifications.

Nothing will happen overnight of course. All of the new standards will have a two year changeover period so that manufacturers can change their tooling progressively and so that merchants can run down stocks of the BS-marked products – especially slow-moving lines. Even then, the old BSs will be kept as reference documents.

In general the message to remember is that these new standards will change everything but change nothing. In your everyday work, you probably won’t even notice the difference! If you do come across any confusion about the new standards, then your preferred manufacturer or the BPF Pipes Group will be pleased to point you in the right direction. As the new standards appear, you can call us at the BPF Pipes Group on 0171 457 5017 to get hold of the technical bulletins that we’re publishing.
The BPF Pipes Group is made up of the UK’s leading PVC pipe and fitting manufacturers and covers rainwater, soil and waste, and underground drainage products. The group was set up to promote plastic and educate the building and construction industries about the benefits of using plastic pipes. It is issuing a series of technical bulletins outlining the changes that the new standards will bring about and what installers need to know about them.

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