Recently, Engineering & Technology Magazine published a story about vinyl records that contained a number of misleading and false claims about PVC and vinyl. We set the record straight:
The Topeka Capital-Journal recently published a story on the large number of water main breaks that the city has endured in recent years. Topeka’s water system relies on 870 miles of pipe. Since the 1940s, Topeka has diversified its system by adding ductile iron pipe and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe. Today, the system is 39% cast iron pipe, 27% ductile iron pipe, and 25% PVC pipe (figure 1).
Percentage of Pipe Materials Used
Of the city’s water main breaks, approximately 66.8% were from cast iron pipes, 18.4% were from ductile iron pipes, and a mere 4.5% were from PVC pipes (figure 2).
Percentage of Pipe Breaks by Material
In Topeka, all iron pipes have a failure rate that is more than 18x the failure rate of PVC (figure 3). Ductile iron pipe devotees (and their lobbyists) will tell you that ductile iron is a great improvement over cast iron. And yet, ductile iron pipe still fails at more than 4x the rate of PVC pipe (figure 4).
Pipe Breaks: Iron V. PVC (%)
Pipe Breaks: Ductile Iron v. PVC (%)
In fact, Topeka has seen a significant number of ductile iron pipes grossly underperforming their expected life span:
“Ductile iron pipe should have a lifespan of 100 years, but [Deputy Director of Utilities Braxton Copley] said the city has seen a large number of breaks in pipes that are only 40 to 50 years old.”
The ductile iron pipe industry wants the public to believe that its product is more reliable than PVC but the facts show otherwise. As demonstrated by this case study, PVC is clearly the more durable material.
A recent piece by Living Building Chronicle, published by the Kendeda Fund, contains a series of broad mischaracterizations about PVC that require correction. What’s interesting is that the author, Ken Edelstein, goes to great lengths to promote a PVC material competitor, raising reasonable questions regarding a possible hidden motivation driving this story. Regardless, we’ll take the opportunity to ensure the facts are reflected for the record.
We here at Vinyl Verified monitor press coverage about vinyl matters every day to ensure the facts about the material prevail throughout the public discourse.
Recently, we noticed a sudden spike in stories containing misleading and inaccurate information about “solar distortion,” a so-called phenomenon where reflected sunlight from a specific type of modern window can melt vinyl siding on nearby structures.
A closer look revealed that many of these segments were exactly the same. They featured the same script and video footage in their stories. And further research showed that a similar report containing the same misinformation was previously aired by numerous news outlets in 2015 and again in 2017.
It turns out these stations simply re-aired a pre-packaged segment provided to them by an outside organization, where reporters failed to do any original research or fact-checking of their own.
That’s not sound journalism. And when it misleads the public, it does a disservice to viewers.
We’ll take this opportunity to clarify the facts.
The Facts on Solar Distortion
Solar distortion happens when sunlight is concentrated and reflected by modern, energy efficient window panes onto a neighbor’s property. These newer windows reflect sunlight at a much higher intensity than older window designs. Heat generated by that reflection can cause damage to a wide variety of materials, including furniture, vehicles, and–under rare circumstances–vinyl siding.
The chances of solar distortion affecting your home? Extremely small. Vinyl siding has been the most popular siding option, due to its durability and affordability, for almost two decades, and only a very small fraction of houses with vinyl siding have been impacted by solar distortion. And it’s nowhere near the epidemic the press desperately wants viewers to believe.
It takes a unique and specific set of circumstances for solar distortion to impact vinyl siding. If your house has not been affected in the past, it is not likely to be affected in the future. This can change, however, if windows are replaced (either on your home or your neighbor’s) with ones that are more likely to concentrate the sunlight, or if something that blocked sunlight (like a tree) is removed.
How the Media Gets it Wrong
The important takeaway here is that this “phenomenon” is not caused in any way by vinyl siding. It’s caused by newer “low-e” windows that are installed on nearby structures where the light happens to reflect in a particular way. And that key fact is often overlooked or under-emphasized by reporters who cover this issue.
As we noted above, news stations across the country are running a pre-packaged, four-year-old report on solar distortion provided to them by Angie’s List. Angie’s List pitched the same video to news outlets back in 2015. Now media outlets are airing the exact same advertisement “story” again – without doing any fact-checking of their own. Our research shows that this exact same segment, word-for-word, ran on almost a dozen stations in 8 cities.
The segment is a recycled, air-time-filler that spends its entirety critiquing vinyl siding. And that’s odd, because Angie’s List has, in the past, touted the many benefits of vinyl on other occasions. The recent report claims there is some ambiguity as to who is at fault when windows damage vinyl siding. But in every case, the evidence is overwhelming that energy efficient windows are at fault for causing the damage.
Contractors and homeowners alike choose vinyl siding because it’s affordable, stylish, durable and efficient. Consumers deserve to have the facts about the material, instead of being subjected to misleading claims by news outlets that have done no original reporting of their own on the issue.
In the last few weeks, EWG has put out a series of alarmist, inaccurate, and misleading posts about vinyl products. In each of these pieces, EWG has claimed, without question or substantiation, that vinyl products are harmful and should be avoided. But this approach of immediately sounding the alarm on certain products without explaining whether and what health risks actually exist lacks the scientific rigor to which EWG claims to aspire.
WDIO-TV (Duluth, MN) made irresponsible claims about vinyl and phthalates in a segment that aired on 12/6/18.
We’re here to expose their alarmist rhetoric and share the facts.
Dear vinyl flooring competitors,
Did you really think the public would be swayed by that anonymous Internet post some of you are circulating about Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) tile? You know … the one containing a slew of factual distortions and misleading statements about vinyl flooring products?
The Center for Environmental Fear Mongering Health (CEH) released a report containing a slew of distortions and competitively-motivated claims about PVC pipe. Here’s what CEH conceals in its irresponsible attempt to mislead readers:
PVC pipe’s safety is well documented.
All PVC pipes in circulation adhere to a strict national standard (NSF 61) to ensure the delivery of safe drinking water. In fact, all pipe materials are tested and screened under this rigid standard. CEH’s claims are merely designed to incite fear, when the facts show PVC pipes are entirely safe for their intended use.
PVC pipe is more durable and affordable than ductile iron pipe – its closest competitor – by a long shot.
PVC pipe has twice the expected lifespan of ductile iron pipe. And it’s far less expensive for municipalities to use.
The life cycle sustainability benefits of PVC pipe are indisputable.
PVC pipe is lighter to transport, requires fewer resources to install, demands fewer machines to manage, and uses less energy because it needs fewer repairs over its lifetime. It is unquestionably the better environmental choice.
The iron pipe industry has spent millions lobbying its agenda, far more than the PVC pipe industry.¹
Since 2012, the iron pipe industry has spent over $2.3 million to push their political agenda. And that doesn’t include lobbying expenses by the individual iron pipe companies. Didn’t see that anywhere in CEH’s report.
Get the facts about vinyl material and PVC pipe at VinylVerified.com
¹ https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000050288&year=2018
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000050288&year=2017
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000050288&year=2016
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000050288&year=2015
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000050288&year=2014
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000050288&year=2013
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000050288&year=2012