Released on November 28, 2008

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) last month passed revisions to the standards for the manufacture of cast iron soil pipe and fittings that will require third party certifiers to meet certain criteria when performing inspections.

The ASTM A04 Main Committee passed the proposed revisions to ASTM A888 and ASTM A74, the standards for no-hub and hub and spigot cast iron soil pipe and fittings. The changes outline specific tasks a third party certifier must perform during their inspections. These include inspection of at least 10 different sizes of pipe, measuring every dimension of at least 10 different fittings, review of test reports substantiating that physical, chemical and radiation tests are being performed, and a new requirement that sellers or manufacturers who rely on third party certification provide this information to the design professional and inspector when requested.

These changes come on the heels of other changes to existing standards to more explicitly ensure the quality of industry products. The committee recently asserted that pipes and fittings should not be patched, filled or welded by the manufacturer to repair cosmetic or material defects that occur during the course of manufacturing, and pipes and fittings shall not be coated with paint containing more than 0.06% lead.

“In this age of globalization, it is increasingly important that manufacturing standards meet industry best practices and are uniformly enforced by the code community,” said Bill LeVan, executive vice president of the Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute (CISPI) and vice chairman of the ASTM A04 Main Committee. “Changes such as these are necessary to assure cast iron customers that, regardless of who made the material, the pipes and fittings they purchase meet the threshold of quality they have every right to expect.”