Try to find out the name of the producer of the lime that will be used for your purposes. You should always follow the precautions and handling procedures specified by the supplier/producer that you will be using.
Thanks SirAl. Very helpful site. Sub brought the lime on, and it ate through the plumbers PVC (we are hoping that the reason was because it was at full concentrate when the load was dropped, if not we have other problems on our hands right now. :-( )....no one has ever seen that happen before. Subcontractor seems to be finding a hard time with getting the MSDS sheets to me...(go figure)....time to hold his payment to say the least! ;-)
Quicklime shouldn't do that to "good" PVC. You need to get samples of the pipe to a plastics expert. I suspect defective pipe, not quicklime.
I've stored strong acids and bases in PVC containers - never had a leak. The plumber (and/or his PVC pipe supplier) seem to be playing the "blame game" - but it shouldn't work.
The problem is probably due to either 1)defective feedstock (probably contaminated) or 2)extrusion problems. At least that's what I've been told about similar failures on some of my litigation assignments -
PVC products could be vulnerable to hydrocarbon based solvents. I can't see pvc conduit compromised by exposure to lime. I suppose if your plumbing utilizes some form of metal connectors or fasteners then there could be a potential problem although I would expect to see such problems develop when in service, not during construction. I agree with Focht3's intuition on this one.
Not being from the US I'm perhaps not in tune with your problem, but have you considered the heat given off in the exothermic reaction of quicklime and water as being the source of your problem?
Sub brought the lime on, and it ate through the plumbers PVC (we are hoping that the reason was because it was at full concentrate when the load was dropped, if not we have other problems on our hands right now.
The expression "it ate through the plumbers PVC" doesn't sound like the pipe melted. And I have a hard time seeing the soil reacting quickly enough - and getting hot enough - to melt PVC. The soil would have to be well above 176&[ignore]deg[/ignore]; (PVC's melting point) in order to really damage the PVC...
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Just to add to the above statements, we have seen lime/soil mixtures hydrate at temperatures above 140 degrees F with only soil moisture. If the pipes were leaking (before or as a result of the loading caused by the stockpiled lime) and more of the quicklime reacted, I suspect temperatures could get above 170 degrees. We've documented in at above 180 degrees when mixed in the presence of free water to form a slurry.