Bending Schedule 40 PVC pipe ?

[G McCall]

Does this tool work ?

Has anyone used a Pipe Viper brand bending tool to bend small diameter Schedule 40 PVC pipe, 1/2" to 2" and some larger daimeter pipe ?
Where can you buy the tool ?

I saw a video where a man placed the tool ( a heavy duty spring) inside a schedule 40 PVC pipe and bent the pipe over his knee. Then the man pulled the spring out of the pipe and "presto" the pipe will bend to the angle you wanted. No kinks in pipe.

 

[Jimbrown]

I do not see how that can work unless you heat the pipe. They did that to some 3 inch pipe when they built my pool. The installer told me he could only do it on pools cause it weakened the pipe and did not meet code for houses and other construction.

 

[Kays Supply]

I have been a plumber for over 30 years. All I can say is " ain't no way". You have to heat it very carefully. Pluging the ends and filling with sand will do pretty much the same thing if heated. What is the reason for bending anyway? There are conduit bends for conduit and 90s 45s etc for plumbing.

 

[G McCall]

Kays Supply

This past weekend, I laid a 1-1/4" water line, starting at a new water meter and ran about 100 feet of pipe through the trees. I rented a trencher that would not dig straight for one thing and then I had to go around a few trees. I ended up with one sharp 22-1/2° (+-) bend and one gradual bend. I had to go back and forth to the supply house a few times to find the fittings I needed. I am new to laying PVC pipe for sure.

For the long bend I simply bent the pipe gently and laid it in the ditch. I have not pressured the line up yet.

I will have more plumbing to do in the future and the bending tool advertised looked like a good tool when the supply house does not have the bends I want.

 

[brandoro]

I have never seen PVC bent without heating it first. If you need a special bend, like an offset, one way is to use a hot plate or electric kitchen range, turn the element on high and hold the area of the pipe over the heat and keep turning it so it heats evenly then when it becomes quite flexible lay it on some plywood or similar that you have already marked the bend you want. Form the pipe to your pattern and hold it there until it cools enough to hold the pattern. Cooling can be assisted with wet rags. Almost any heat source can be used as long as you can spread it evenly over the area to be bent and not scorch the pipe. I am referring only to PVC used for electrical installations.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I used a lot of PVC conduit to wire a 120x56 horse barn that I had. With all the stalls having recepticals, inside and outside lights having mulitple switching points, fans, etc., I used a lot of conduit. No way I was going to purchase all the elbows I would have needed.

I took three 500W halogen lights and made a fixture to hold them in a triangular shape. I would hold the pipe in the center a few seconds, perhaps moving it back and forth if it was a 90 degree bend. Then I would pull it out and bend it by eye.

I needed to make a lot of suttle bends to follow the transition over 2x lumber, etc. and my method produced a nice clean look.

I bent up to 2 1/2" pipe using this method.

 

[ray66v]

Why not just buy the bends and glue them in???????
Certainly would be faster.

 

[kenacp]

I have bent 3/4" schedule 40 pipe by holding it in near boiling water for about 10 min. then gently bending,then let cool.No kinks and no sign of any loss of strength. (used a large seafood boiling pot)

 

[RedDirt]

Electricians on site have a heat blanket used specifically for heating and bending conduit. I have had success simply using my propane or mapp gas torch. Hold the flame back from the pipe; it scorches easily. Rotate the pipe continuously. Use leather gloves to handle the hot pipe. I've done this w/ elec conduit and water pipes to 80psi and have had no problems with either except an occasional scorch dot when I've napped too long in one spot. The water application was above grade, outside, and accessible; so I figured if it failed I could fix it. It's been in service five years now, no problems. If it was in a trench I'd make an as-built of the location so I could locate it in the future if needed.

 

[Kays Supply]

I didn't mean to offend. The DIY mind set is hard for me to remember. All I have to do is walk to the truck and pull out the fitting. In my area PVC for water is very popular. However, I have had to make many repairs on lines snapped by settling backfill, tree roots snapping it, female adapters cracking, etc. I would have to do some home work , but I am almost positive heating and bending PVC water line or DWV is against code in Illinois.

 

[johnnylight]

You are all correct to say it has to be heated.
I saw the same show this weekend on a show called-- Cool Tools--
The spring mentioned was used to help bend the pipe after it was heated..

 

[johnnylight]

I have to correct myself I did some research without heat and this is what I found:Pipe Viper Bend PVC and Conduit

This one is different from the one in the show.

 

[Jimbrown]

Well its gonna take one strong dude to bend a piece of 2 in schedule 40.

 

[SLOBuds]

Doesn't that change the structural qualities of the PVC??? That you won't get Schedule 40 performance after a Schedule 40 PVC pipe has been processed in one of these ways???

It just seems to me that either heating or brute-force bending will weaken the PVC and therefore make the performance spec less than original. Similar to heating metal versus what happens to the metal's hardness.

So, if you cold-bend the PVC, you will end up with stretched material on one side at least. Same with heat-bend, but probably leading to more consistency than cold-bend.

Well anyway, I don't get how this works and leaves the same performance as how the PVC came from the factory. And I'd guess that Building Departments would have the same reservation.

 

[jdfire]

After watching the video I notice two things: 1) They don't actually show him removing the tool from the pipe. You see him give an initial tug, but never see the tool come out. I bet it's stuck in there pretty good. 2) At the bend the pipe seems to have flattened out somewhat. I doubt that the full diameter is maintained throughout the radius. Just my two cents.

 

[kmdigital]

Talking about heating PVC pipe, last summer I was in Ecuador doing some plumbing on restrooms for a church. Their PVC pipe for drainage is about 1/2 as thick as our SDR 35 pipe, which is about 1/2 as thick as Sch 40.

Anyway, they don't have couplings for drainage pipe, other then one end having a bell on it from the factory. Other than that, you can't buy couplings anywhere. What they do is take a piece of paper, like part of a cement bag, light it on fire, and use it to heat the end of the pipe where you want another bell. You keep heating and rotating it until it gets pretty soft, and then force it over the end of another peice of pipe and keep turning these until it gets pretty stiff, and then pull them apart. If you don't take them apart, the male pipe will heat up and be compressed. After it cools, you glue the new female hub on the pipe or fitting, and you're done. Works pretty well actually, and saves the cost of couplings! But it would never pass any kinds of codes in most of the U.S.!

When the average wage is only $10 - $20 per day, and with PVC pipe and fittings costing almost as much as in the U.S., you don't spend a couple of bucks on fittings that you can certainly do without!

 

[RalphVa]

When you need to bend or curve around objects, the best pipe to use outside is poly pipe like they run from well pumps. This is what I used when connecting to the mail when they put us on city water in Baton Rouge. Had to snake around the basketball pole.

You can convert from poly to PVC and back to poly, if you want PVC. However, the poly pipe is about the toughest stuff around. I've even hung it on my brush hog a couple times and haven't broken it, where I have it laid along the top of the ground. This is where nearly all the 1100 to 1200' of it is from my rain tanks here at the house down to the garden and over to a little stream.

Ralph

 

[Deerlope]

I have been a plumber for over 30 years. All I can say is " ain't no way". You have to heat it very carefully. Pluging the ends and filling with sand will do pretty much the same thing if heated. What is the reason for bending anyway? There are conduit bends for conduit and 90s 45s etc for plumbing.

As an electrian I have bent pvc up to 2" by putting an air tight rubber expandsion plug in each end and heating it in a heater box. The pipe sits on rollers and the heat is made with electric elements. As the pipe heats you have to turn it very slowly and a gas build inside the pvc to keep it from kinking when bending.

 

[Lasgambler]

When you need to bend or curve around objects, the best pipe to use outside is poly pipe like they run from well pumps.

You can convert from poly to PVC and back to poly, if you want PVC.

Ralph

I was hoping someone would mention Poly pipe. That is all I use for supply from wells to new home construction. Does not matter how crooked I did my ditch, Poly pipe is the way to go.

 

[G McCall]

When you need to bend or curve around objects, the best pipe to use outside is poly pipe like they run from well pumps. This is what I used when connecting to the mail when they put us on city water in Baton Rouge. Had to snake around the basketball pole.

You can convert from poly to PVC and back to poly, if you want PVC. However, the poly pipe is about the toughest stuff around. I've even hung it on my brush hog a couple times and haven't broken it, where I have it laid along the top of the ground. This is where nearly all the 1100 to 1200' of it is from my rain tanks here at the house down to the garden and over to a little stream.

Ralph

Where do you buy the Poly Pipe? I assume it is for drinking.