Poly Tubing for Drinking Water

[samdog]

I've read so far that milky white polyethylene tubing is generally safe for potable water applications like ice-makers and undersink filters.

The better stuff like John Guest LLDPE is stamped with an NSF 51 approval. That's all good.

But how about the sold-by-the-foot tubing in hardware stores and the big boxes. This usually appears to be LDPE and doesn't have an NSF 51 stamp. Sometimes it will say something about "not for drinking water" but often does not.

So for residential pressure, cold water apps like ice-makers and filters is there any reason to need NSF 51, or is most milky white poly OK?

 

[Gary Slusser]

It should be NSF 61; Standard 61 is for potable water use.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

tubing

I use the milky white tubing. The clear tubing does not have the pressure rating to use for that purpose. Tubing, and hose, marked not for drinking water usage is often made with recycled materials.