Plumbing
NSF’s comprehensive testing and certification services help ensure your products comply with required performance standards and plumbing codes including NSF, ASME, ASSE, CSA, ASTM, IAPMO, CISPI, AWWA and PDI written standards and the Uniform Plumbing Code®. Our expertise includes faucets, flexible plumbing connectors, grease interceptors, plumbing fixtures and fittings, and backflow preventers.
Additionally, our global network can help you access new markets like the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany and China. Get certified by NSF – the most widely recognized and respected certification mark in the plumbing industry.
North American Requirements
Whether you manufacture valves, faucets, copper tubing, sinks, thermostatic mixing valves, backflow preventers, toilets, septic tanks, showers or practically any other type of plumbing product, NSF provides the testing and certifications you need to gain product acceptance and code compliance across North America.
We test and certify to much more than our two flagship industry standards, NSF/ANSI 14 for plastic piping systems and components and NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 for drinking water system components. Our in-house laboratory is equipped and accredited to test to virtually all plumbing industry standards, including ASME, ASSE, ASTM, CSA and IAPMO. Once in the marketplace, all NSF-certified products are widely accepted by plumbing inspectors and code officials across North America. NSF issues the U.P. Code mark or cNSF mark upon certification.
Lead Content Compliance
As of January 4, 2014, the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires drinking water products sold or installed for use in the U.S. in public water systems, as well as plumbing in facilities, to meet a weighted average of not more than 0.25 percent lead. Third-party certification of these products to the new lead-free requirements will be required in many jurisdictions. Additionally, the states of California, Vermont, Maryland and Louisiana have already instituted these requirements for products currently in the market.
Chemical Inhibitors
To ensure that chemical inhibitors meet performance requirements, manufacturers, test laboratories and NSF (formerly known as BuildCert) developed a chemical inhibitor performance standard for testing the quality and performance of inhibitors. The Chemical Inhibitor Approval Scheme (CIAS) is now a well-known certification scheme in the UK and beyond and is often used as a benchmark by manufacturers and third-party certifiers.
Chemical inhibitors that meet the requirements of this performance standard are tested to show that they both restrict the formation of calcium-based scale and reduce metallic corrosion. Testing also verifies that the inhibitor is compatible with non-metallic components commonly found in a modern central heating system.
This testing is important to meet UK government regulations as stated in the Building Regulations for Conservation of Fuel and Power (Approved Document L – England and Wales) and the supporting document, Domestic Building Services Compliance Guide (2013 edition), both of which are available on the UK government’s website.
These documents require the heating system to be thoroughly cleaned and flushed out before installing a new boiler, and during final filling of a system, require a chemical treatment formulation to be added to the primary circuit to control corrosion and the formulation of scale and sludge.
Certification through CIAS demonstrates compliances with these requirements.
Anti-Scald and Temperature Control Devices
Since the early 1990s, a method to evaluate and certify anti-scald and temperature control devices was in high demand, in both the health care and domestic markets. The demand escalated in 1993, when the United Kingdom National Health Service required an enhanced and robust test regime for thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs) that could react to cold water failure. Since hot water is used as the primary method to control the proliferation of Legionella in the water supply system in many health care facilities, temperature control devices that perform as claimed are extremely important. A need for the evaluation of similar devices for the general residential/housing market came about a few years later.
The BuildCert program (now falling under the NSF name) created a series of successful testing and certification schemes to evaluate anti-scald and temperature control devices, which can help manufacturers of these products comply with regulations and requirements, including:
The UK Department of Health Technical Memorandum 04-01, in that valves comply with the HTM 04-01 Supplement, Performance specification D 08: thermostatic mixing valves (healthcare premises)
Part G of the UK Building Regulations:
By verifying that valves comply with BS EN 1111 (high-pressure thermostatic mixing valves) and/or BS EN 1287: (low-pressure thermostatic mixing valves)
In that valves comply with BS EN 15092 Building valves – Inline hot water supply tempering valves and all applicable requirements
Find out more about specific schemes and services to help prove your product’s quality and performance under the tabs to the left.
Faucets and Accessories
NSF provides all testing and certification needed for faucets and their accessories to gain product acceptance and compliance globally.
Faucets are required to meet strict performance standards in most countries to ensure they are safe, are leak-proof and do not have excessive flow rates. These standards ensure faucets and their components can withstand stresses over time and don’t leach harmful contaminants into drinking water.
Our in-house faucet testing laboratories are always updating and expanding in scope, so if there is a standard you would like to test and certify your product to that you don’t see, that doesn’t mean we don’t offer it. Contact us to find out more!
Roof Drains
NSF provides all testing and certification needed for commercial roof drains to gain product acceptance and compliance globally.
We offer testing and certification of roof drains to the following standards and codes:
- Certification per ASME A112.6.4 Roof Drains
- International Plumbing Code (IPC)
- Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC)
- Testing per ASPE/IAPMO/ANSI Z1034 (Attestation Report)
Roof drains are an integral component to the construction of buildings. Buildings need the correct size and installation because if the wrong size is installed, it can result in safety concerns for the building occupants.
Currently, testing is being conducted by NSF international to the ASPE/IAPMO/ANSI Z1034 method to determine the flow rate capabilities of roof drains being sold into the U.S. The standard requires a simulated roof to be constructed in a laboratory area along with installing pumps capable of introducing massive amounts of water to the testing rig to simulate real-life scenarios for flow.