FlowGuard Gold CPVC was invented in the United States and designed to meet North American drinking water standards and treatment practices. The resins and compounds used in FlowGuard Gold pipes and fittings are all manufactured in the U.S. at the Lubrizol plant in Louisville, Kentucky to ensure the highest level of quality and consistency.
Our long-standing U.S. and Canadian partners—the companies that use those resins and compounds to produce FlowGuard Gold pipes, fittings and solvent cements—are committed to quality and consistently meet the highest quality and performance standards.
That consistent quality of raw materials through finished product is one of the reasons FlowGuard Gold CPVC has been the most proven and trusted non-metallic plumbing system for more than 65 years.
Generic CPVC simply doesn’t match up to FlowGuard Gold CPVC. Generic CPVC can be extremely inconsistent, not only between manufacturers but even between batches from the same company. Compared to generics, FlowGuard Gold pipes and fittings deliver:
FlowGuard Gold CPVC also benefits from the FBC™ Compatibility Program, which identifies products that are compatible and incompatible with FlowGuard Gold CPVC. This resource gives contractors the confidence that ancillary construction products that come into contact with FlowGuard Gold CPVC will not damage the pipes or fittings. Because generic CPVC is made with resins and compounds that differ chemically from FlowGuard Gold CPVC, the FBC Compatibility Program cannot be used to determine the compatibility of generic CPVC with other products.
Globally, the vast majority of generic CPVC resins and compounds are manufactured by low-cost, low-quality manufacturers in Asia, especially China where products are not required to meet U.S. quality standards. In addition, generic CPVC often has a complex and risky supply chain, where the resins are manufactured by one low-cost producer in one country, then sold to a second low-cost compound producer in another country, before ultimately being sold to a 3rd company who converts that compound into generic pipes and fittings. As these generic CPVC materials flow through this supply chain, the risk of inconsistent ingredients and manufacturing processes skyrockets, leading to unreliable quality in generic CPVC pipes and fittings.
Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen more generic CPVC products imported into the U.S. from China, Mexico and other foreign countries with lower product performance standards and less regulatory enforcement than the United States.
When we test these imported generic CPVC products, they have not consistently met ASTM-D2846 standards.
As a result, they cannot be trusted to consistently meet the standards contractors expect when using CPVC. In our testing, some generic fittings currently sold in the US had a quick burst pressure 60% lower than FlowGuard Gold fittings. When tested for sustained pressure per ASTM D2846, 50% of the tests failed to meet the ASTM requirement. And if you try to make a warranty claim, you may find yourself dealing with a company located outside the U.S. with little if any customer support.
Even more disturbing, while the low-cost, low-quality foreign generic raw materials may cost as much as 50% less than high quality FlowGuard Gold materials – opportunistic manufacturers and distributors will sell these low-cost, low-quality generics at only 10-20% less than FlowGuard Gold products, pocketing the difference while sticking contractors with inferior and potentially sub-standard pipes and fittings.
It’s easy to recognize FlowGuard Gold pipes: they are clearly marked with the FlowGuard Gold brand name and trademarked gold stripe, ensuring authenticity, quality and traceability. Generic CPVC pipe will never bear the gold stripe or FlowGuard Gold name and will typically be plain in appearance with only text on the print line.
With fittings it can be a little more difficult. When purchasing CPVC fittings, make sure you ask for FlowGuard Gold CPVC by name. These fittings will be marked with the names of our FlowGuard Gold CPVC manufacturing partners. These are the only companies in North America that use FlowGuard Gold CPVC to make their fittings:
Specialty FlowGuard Gold fittings are also manufactured by:
When you ask your distributor for FlowGuard Gold fittings, check the packaging for the FlowGuard Gold name and logo, which will be displayed on the product packaging if the fittings were produced by one of our partners.
Only FlowGuard Gold pipes and fittings offer consistency, quality and performance that comes with more than 65 years of proven reliability.