Free Second Opinions – Orangeburg Pipe in Virginia Homes.
Orangeburg Pipe Explained: How to Identify Failing Sewer Lines in Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia homes use various types of pipes to dispose of daily waste in a sanitary manner. The type of pipes in your home indicates the decade it was built in. For instance, if your home is over 10 years old and has all PVC piping, it’s often a sign that the home was built in the late 80s or early 90s. If your home has all-cast-iron underground and is older than 10 years, it is usually an indicator that it was built in the mid to late 60’s, primarily in the 70’s to the mid 80’s.
Homes with a main waste line made of Orangeburg Pipe are typically built between 1945 and 1965. This particular type of pipe was usually installed from the front of the house up to the street curb. However, that is not the case for all homes built in those years. It has been seen in certain areas of Northern Virginia where the Orangeburg may start under the house near the main vent stack and continue all the way to the middle of the street.
To keep things simple, Orangeburg was typically installed from the house to the curb by the street. Orangeburg should not be repaired. Once you find out you have it, you get rid of it all!
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Typical signs of a sewer pipe gone bad are:
- Frequent and repetitive clogs of the main sanitary sewer line.
- Indentations in the front yard that line up with where the sanitary sewer should be.
- You notice your neighbors excavating their front yards. If your neighbor has Orangeburg, most likely so do you.
The best way to determine whether you have Orangeburg pipe is to conduct a video inspection of your sanitary sewer. This inspection will let you know whether you have Orangeburg pipe, where it is located, and its condition.
Here are some facts about our drain & sewer pipes:
The first known use of fiber pipe was in an experimental water-delivery system in the Boston area. The pipeline, completed in 1867, measured 1.5 miles and was in use through 1927. Bituminized pipe was not in widespread commercial use until the late 19th century, when it was utilized exclusively as an electrical conduit.
In 1893, Stephen Bradley, Sr., founded the Fiber Conduit Company in Orangeburg, New York. Bradley’s neighboring Union Electric Company electric power plants used exhaust steam from their steam generators to dry the fiber conduit before they were sealed with pitch.
In turn, the Fiber Conduit Company’s conduits were used to run electrical wiring throughout numerous newly constructed buildings across the country for the next forty years. Bradley, along with several competitors, laid miles of the fiber electrical conduit in skyscrapers, such as the Empire State Building.
Orangeburg pipe, showing its characteristic delamination in layers of compressed oil tar pitch-impregnated ground wood fibers
The early 1900s brought massive expansion of the telephone, telegraph, and electrical industries, along with subway construction along the eastern seaboard. This expansion in the use of electrical and telecommunications wiring brought with it a rising demand for fiber conduit to contain this wiring within buildings and in subway tunnels. In addition, fiber conduit was increasingly being used to create underground ducting for distributing wires under streets and roads, as well as along railroads.
Fiber was next adopted by the booming oil industry to pump salt wastewater from drilling sites to treatment and disposal areas. This industrial use quickly yielded the insight that while long-lived and incredibly durable in normal draining operations, bituminized fiber easily ruptured under pressure. During this trial usage by the oil industry, the fiber conduit pipe tested was called “Alkacid” by the Fiber Conduit Co. of Orangeburg, New York. Owing to the issues mentioned above with pressurized usage, the oil industry soon stopped using the fiber “Alkacid” pipe and started using cement–asbestos pipe.
While a variety of companies competed with Fiber Conduit Company, it was by far the largest producer of bituminized fiber conduit piping throughout the early 20th century, and demand for fiber conduit only increased during World War II, driven by the need for electrical conduit for new airfields and military bases.
In 1948, the Fiber Conduit Company changed its name to the Orangeburg Manufacturing Company. As World War II ended and the post-war housing boom began, demand for cheap housing materials was at an all-time high, and available drainage materials were scarce.
Orangeburg Manufacturing produced a thicker-walled, sturdier, round version of fiber conduit, selling it as “Orangeburg pipe” for sewer and drain uses.
Cured-in-Place Pipe (CIPP) lateral lining is one of the many trenchless or no-dig sanitary lateral rehabilitation methods.
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Freedom Plumbers & Pumpers is a leading provider of underground utility, septic, drain, and trenchless solutions serving Northern Virginia and surrounding counties. We pride ourselves on professionalism, quality workmanship, and #TheFreedomWay of service.
