No mold PVC

[philo]

Using some clear flexible 1/4" ID PVC tubing for a warm water jet and after two months, the inside is getting moldy.

Seems insane. Is there some non-mold flex tubing available anywhere such as Home Depot?

[micky]

Are you sure it's mold and not some sort of sediment or dirt?

Use non-clear tubing.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Run cleaner water or sanitize the tubing periodically. Tubing is just providing a place for mold to grow. The spores are in the water.

[gfretwell]

True. It is probably not mold anyway. Algae is more likely, caused by the light hitting the spores in the water.

[philo]

Aha!

I think that's it.

That makes sense as it was fine over the winter but now the room is sunny, I originally had some semi-flexible tube there that was not clear, just slightly translucent and it was fine, so I have now gone back to it.

Thanks.

[philo]

I think gfretwell has the answer

[Frank]

I see you tube videos on cleaning:

You may find better ones.

[invalid unparseable]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2020 10:54:28 -0500, philo posted for all of us to digest...

Maybe you need food grade tubing? Just a WAG.

[Frank]

Would not mean it is mold proof. I see mention of silicone and vinyl tubing in food grades that still get mold.

[gfretwell]

If this is algae, it is growing in the water, the tube is just where you see it. Use opaque tube like PEX and the problem will go away.

[Frank]

Yes and I see they sell black PVC tubing but if you ignore it it may build up to a blockage. I had this happen on the small PVC drain piping on my central AC last year.

[philo]

The only problem with black PVC would be that if algae did grow, I would not see it.

So I am going back to my original tubing.

It is translucent but not clear, It seems to block enough light as to prevent growth of algae but if any did grow, it's just clear enough that that I could see it

[Frank]

I wish I could have seen what was happening in my PVC pipe in the basement. There is no light in the furnace room to prompt growth and I go in and check things every couple of days and found water on the floor instead of in the French drain. The pipe was too clogged to wash out with bleach and too many bends for a small snake so I had to cut it and take it apart to clean it.

[TimR]

We still have fan coils lots of places where I work and they do that too. They blow out okay though.

[Frank]

I had tried that but PVC drain was for AC condensate over furnace and humidifier over flow for furnace and had too many open points.

House is now 45 years old and this is the first time that it happened so I doubt if I will see it happen again.

[invalid unparseable]

On Tue, 14 Jul 2020 19:58:41 -0400, Frank posted for all of us to digest...

I defer to you. I am certainly no expert in that. WAG...

[invalid unparseable]

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 08:36:09 -0400, Frank posted for all of us to digest...

The HVAC guys will hook up their wet/dry vacs and suck it out. It usually collects at low points or elbows.

[Frank]

I'm not an expert either but did do a couple of years of R&D on plastics for food contact but mold issue never came up. I would suspect that if a chemical were added to the plastic to retard mold formation it would not be allowed for food contact.

[Frank]

Cannot recall but might have tried it with my shop vac and did not get a good connection. Pipe was pretty clogged up.

[Vic Smith]

About 18 years after I had a new furnace/AC put in the condensate line to the sump clogged. It's 3/4" PVC, about 15' total with 4 90's. I had some 1/2" clear fish tank hose long enough to reach the sump, so I cut the vertical PVC on the furnace and stuck the hose in, taping it up with duck tape. It's been working for 5 years now. I assumed it was scale build up clogging it, but when I remove the old PVC I'll cut it up and find out, and let you know. Now I have an excuse to do it.