Flex hose and building codes

[South_Texas_Sun]

Day 23 of our inground gunite pool construction.......

<<So far, the hole is dug and most of the rebar is installed and spaced 4" from the dirt with pieces of brick. No trenching or trench slits have been dug for plumbing, so far.......>>

Today was the plumber's first day and I wasn't home to watch.

When I came back, he was gone, but I noticed that he's using FLEX hose for routing around the hot tub, AND down to the main drain.

It's my understanding that FLEX hose is not suitable for underground or embedding in gunite.....

Should I be worried? I'm a little bit apprehensive about "making waves" because I've already called attention to the PB's skimpy measurements and adherence to documentation...

Thanks.

[dep78737]

Our builder used flex PVC in the spa walls. I got concerned reading posts on this site and elsewhere. Seems like the consensus was it's OK in gunite but should not be directly buried in the ground. I don't claim to be an expert though.

[beary]

Could you guide me to the discussions on flex hose, or aqre they gone from the crash of 2005? My builder is using a flex type hose on our pool. It looks a lot thicker than the PVC other builders use. Prettysure it meets code since he has been using it for over 15 years. Do I need to worry? I would like to learn more.

Beary

[South_Texas_Sun]

Well, here's something cool.

The old pool forum discussions may have been lost, but I discovered by accident that they're still on GOOGLE!

Try this: Go to google and paste in the following:

site:www.poolforum.com flex

This will search for the word "flex" as in pipe. (which is the subject of this thread)

Hit THE "CACHED" option.........not the header on each subject hit!

Although I appear to have just hijacked my own thread........lol..........this is a terrific source of info. Wonder if there's a way to reconstruct the old forum with this?

[CarlD]

I understand there is Flex 1 and Flex 2--but I don't know anything about it other than Flex 2 is supposed to be rated for underground use.

I don't know if this is true, but a colleague just had to put in a new liner and patch the vermiculite in his IG, and they ran a length of F2 in case he needed to pump ground water away from his pool.

[South_Texas_Sun]

Thanks Carl,

I've spent the better part of the morning trying to decrypt the printing on the flex hose they used. Here is the gist of it:

echo sp 1069 BR 6' LA City RR4110 SBCCI 9526 NSF-50 MDCA

I've looked at least 100 google references to different parts of this id string and even on www.plasticpipe.org .....all to no avail.

I've gotten the contractor to try to reroute using schedule 40 PVC but we're putting a pool in solid rock/ground and they've already got the rebar in and tied.

Now I'm fit to be tied......lol........thanks.

[tphaggerty]

Well, my builder used all Flex, directly in dirt. He has been building for 30+ years and says that is what he has always done. I recently dug up some of the flex in which he had run the light fibers for our pool lighting, the stuff looked brand new and will turn away a shovel.

From what I understand (from reading in the old forums) was that the problem with flex was with termites and other critters, not a strength issue. The stuff my builder used is almost impossible to crush. Anyway, we don't have open ground termites where I live in NY (at least not yet), so I'm not concerned.