Vinyl Tubing Leeching Dangerous Chemicals

[Sykou]

Okay you've read the title. That's what this is about. Went to the local hardware store to buy some Vinyl Tubing. The clerk told me "Don't get the clear vinyl Tubing, it's not safe for drinking...You have to use the white Tubing instead..."

This got me thinking. The vinyl Tubing gives off a "plastic" smell that seems to go away after a few weeks of use. Anyone else notice this smell?

Putting a clear vinyl hose on my ultrasonic humidifier, you can sure smell that "plastic" odor of the vinyl tubing.

Is this smell purely olfactory? Or is it indeed potentially harming our Chameleons????

For reference I have googled numerous "home brewing" forums for tube material choices and reasons why. Some say don't use vinyl as it leaches out toxic chemicals when water is passed through it. On the other hand, some say go ahead and use it as the smell is purely olfactory and poses no potential health risk.
This is from people brewing their own beer at home and using these lines for the beer transfers, so for their uses the hose must be potable to be used.

So I pose the following questions...
How many of us are using clear vinyl tubing for drippers, misters, foggers, humidifiers, or any other water source for our chams?
Have any of you noticed this "plastic" smell?
Has anyone been successfully using clear vinyl tubing for any extent of time without negative results?
What are the alternatives to the cheap, semi-ridgid, easily obtainable, moldable, Clear Vinyl Tubing for water uses involving our chameleons?


I'm putting together a humidifier for my Cham that would include using a length of clear vinyl hose to route the output of the humidifier to the cage itself. Upon testing said hose I immediately noticed a strong plastic odor emitting front he output from the hose. This smell is exactly the smell of the vinyl hose itself.

Chime in everyone. I've searched the forums for answers and can't find anything. I think this would be a good future reference regarding hose material choice.

 

[Blang]

You need tubing that's food grade! Google food grade tubing, used specifically in the food industry!

 

[Lathis]

I've had this concern myself. It's really difficult (impossible?) to find large diameter food grade tubing in short lengths.

Homebrewer here! With homebrew, you'll get plastic flavors in the beer if you use the wrong tubing, so there is definitely leaching going on, probably of the plasticizers. One of my first beers I made the mistake using PVC for cooling the hot wort, and the beer had a strong whiff of plastic in the nose. Tasted fine but terrible smell. Now, food grade vinyl (PVC) (usually clear) is what I use for cool applications and food grade silicone (usually white) is what I use for hot applications. The vinyl is much stiffer and will take higher pressures than silicone, fyi. Not an issue for hand pumped liquids or for your application here, but it can be a problem for people who try to use silicone tubing for their ice makers or pumped systems, etc. There is also polyethylene tubing, which is what Mistking uses, that has higher pressure ratings than silicone. All these are relatively small diameter (3/4" or less) - the 3/4 PVC tubing is extremely stiff and difficult to work with.

For my humidifier, I don't use tubing. It gets gross and it's one more thing to have to clean. My two cents:. Make it easier on yourself and set it up so that the mist falls in the right place without tubing.

 

[WAMBO]

Kinda strange that all aquarium tubing is clear. Oh well, beer party at Lathis's house!

 

[Lathis]

I wonder if aquarium safe tubing is quietly food grade? It wouldn't surprise me since fish are so sensitive. I'll bet reef keepers could talk about this in great detail.

There's always enough beer at my house for a party... Come on over!

 

[Decadancin]

There's always enough beer at my house for a party... Come on over!

This is dangerous. Very dangerous.

 

[Sykou]

I've had this concern myself. It's really difficult (impossible?) to find large diameter food grade tubing in short lengths.

Homebrewer here! With homebrew, you'll get plastic flavors in the beer if you use the wrong tubing, so there is definitely leaching going on, probably of the plasticizers. One of my first beers I made the mistake using PVC for cooling the hot wort, and the beer had a strong whiff of plastic in the nose. Tasted fine but terrible smell. Now, food grade vinyl (PVC) (usually clear) is what I use for cool applications and food grade silicone (usually white) is what I use for hot applications. The vinyl is much stiffer and will take higher pressures than silicone, fyi. Not an issue for hand pumped liquids or for your application here, but it can be a problem for people who try to use silicone tubing for their ice makers or pumped systems, etc. There is also polyethylene tubing, which is what Mistking uses, that has higher pressure ratings than silicone. All these are relatively small diameter (3/4" or less) - the 3/4 PVC tubing is extremely stiff and difficult to work with.

For my humidifier, I don't use tubing. It gets gross and it's one more thing to have to clean. My two cents:. Make it easier on yourself and set it up so that the mist falls in the right place without tubing.

Good idea about just setting up the humidifier in the right place so there's no need for tubing. I'll try and see how much of the mist gets into the cage from the side

 

[Sykou]

I wonder if aquarium safe tubing is quietly food grade? It wouldn't surprise me since fish are so sensitive. I'll bet reef keepers could talk about this in great detail.

There's always enough beer at my house for a party... Come on over!

Considering the tubing has the same smell, I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same stuff sold at Home Depot or the likes.

 

[ZacharyLeesWife]

You should definitely try aquarium grade tubing, it's pricier but it comes in all different diameters. My reef setup was absurdly sensitive and I never had any problems with it, and never noticed a smell. It was so sensitive that my mom accidentally killed it down to the bacteria by using windex in the next room!

 

[Sykou]

Just as a reference. I searched on amazon for food grade tubing and there were a bunch of different sizes available. They have FDA approvals and NSF approvals as well. Listed as for use with potable water so I'm guessing that's what we all should be using for our water lines.