when did they start using pvc for plumbing
Plumbing Plastic pipe is in wide use for domestic water supply and drain-waste-vent (DWV) pipe. Principal types include: Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was produced experimentally in the 19th century but did not become practical to manufacture until 1926, when Waldo Semon of BF Goodrich Co. developed a method to plasticize PVC, making it easier to process. PVC pipe began to be manufactured in the 1940s and was in wide use for Drain-Waste-Vent piping during the reconstruction of Germany and Japan following WWII. In the 1950s, plastics manufacturers in Western Europe and Japan began producing acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) pipe. The method for producing cross-linked polyethylene (PEX) was also developed in the 1950s. Plastic supply pipes have become increasingly common, with a variety of materials and fittings employed.
Drain-waste-vent system In modern plumbing, a drain-waste-vent (or DWV) is part of a system that removes sewage and greywater from a building, and regulates air pressure in the waste-system pipes to aid free flow. Waste is produced at fixtures such as toilets, sinks, and showers, and exits the fixtures through a trap, a dipped section of pipe that always contains water.