PE pipe buying guide: job, diameter, then pressure
Updated: October 2026
You have typed PE or MDPE because a length of plastic is on the job, and the same three letters cover a buried house supply, a garden coil and a short tube behind a fridge. This PE pipe buying guide puts those jobs in order before you open a listing. The kept amazon.co.uk rows are on the [PE pipe comparison](/hub/rods-and-pipes/pe-pipe). A purchase through those links can earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Nothing here is a measured install.
You have typed PE or MDPE because a length of plastic is on the job, and the same three letters cover a buried house supply, a garden coil and a short tube behind a fridge.
You have typed PE or MDPE because a length of plastic is on the job, and the same three letters cover a buried house supply, a garden coil and a short tube behind a fridge. This PE pipe buying guide puts those jobs in order before you open a listing. The kept amazon.co.uk rows are on the PE pipe comparison. A purchase through those links can earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Nothing here is a measured install.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Outside diameter | Length | Pressure | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Gardena Gardena connecting pipe 25 mm, 50 m | 25 mm | 50 m | 6 bar | 8.6 | about £96.95 | View offer |
| Best value |  ilauke ilauke 15 m supply tube with fittings | 6 mm | 15 m | 5 bar | 7.9 | about £13.99 | View offer |
| Alternative |  B2C B2C black LDPE tube, 16 mm | 16 mm | 50 m or 1 m | PN6 | 6.0 | about £36.28 | View offer |
On this page
Three pipes that share the name PE
Start with the job, because the diameters in this set do not share fittings. A buried wholesome supply is blue PE80 or PE100 service pipe, still sold as MDPE, often 20 mm, 25 mm or 32 mm outside diameter. A garden branch is black PE or LDPE from about 12 mm to 25 mm, and black is not a drinking-water approval by itself. A fridge, ice maker or filter wants cold tube around 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch. That detail is on PE pipe for a fridge. If you are treating colour as a quality grade, the argument is on blue MDPE or black PE pipe.
None of the seven kept listings prints a WRAS number or BS EN 12201.
PEX and yellow gas are not this coil
PE here is cold polyethylene: service pipe, garden tube, or small-bore appliance tube. PEX is the cross-linked plastic for hot and cold water inside a building. A 16 mm LDPE coil is not that pipe.
Yellow polyethylene is gas pipe. Work has to be competent under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, and a business has to be Gas Safe registered. Barrier pipe is for ground that fuel may have contaminated, because ordinary PE can be permeated.
Outside diameter, then pressure
Match the fitting to the outside diameter, and read the bore as a separate number. A 16 mm pipe with 13 mm in the title does not take every fitting sold as 13 mm. Test one connector on the pipe you received.
PN6 on the B2C bullet is only that listing’s pressure mark, not the 4 bar figure on Access Irrigation’s own 16 mm pipe. Do not copy a trade bar table onto Gardena or B2C.
Gardena prints 6 bar and also 87 psi. Those agree. The same block prints 1 inch nominal wall, which is not a measured wall. Nothing kept here is hot-water pipe.
What the print must say for drinking water
For water you will drink, require a WRAS number and BS EN 12201, plus PE80 or PE100 and the outside diameter. Food grade, or WRAS with no number, is a claim. The ilauke bullet names NSF, WQA and WRAS and prints no number, while the specification says POM and another bullet says PE.
Cover is separate from diameter. Water Regs UK says 750 mm to 1,350 mm from the boundary stop tap to the tap, with notification outside that band. A trade blue coil sits outside this set.
Conflicts already on the listings
If the title and the specification disagree, do not average them. B2C’s title says 50 metres and the specification says 1 metre, at £36.28. Gardena’s title says 25 mm and 50 m, and the specification also prints 1 inch outside diameter and 1 inch wall. Do not buy it as 1 inch wall pipe.
NONDK prints 12 mm outside, 9 mm inside and a 1.5 mm wall at £9.09, and the length sentence only names 10 m. The Qrity tubes are 2 m, with no fittings and no pressure figure.
Common questions
What diameter should a house supply be?
Check the water company. JDP treats 25 mm as the usual new domestic supply under 40 m of buried run, and says local practice differs. An Anglian Water table gives 25 mm up to 40 m and 32 mm from 40 m to 100 m for their stated 0.4 litres per second. That is one company’s guidance, not a rating of any amazon listing here.
Is PE the same plastic as PEX?
No. In UK plumbing guides, MDPE is the cold pipe outside, up to the stopcock, and PEX is the cross-linked pipe for hot and cold water and heating indoors, often 15 mm and 22 mm. BS 7291-3 is the British Standard title for those PE-X systems. A black LDPE garden coil is not a substitute for either.
What does SDR 11 tell you that PN6 does not?
SDR is outside diameter divided by wall, so SDR 11 is a shape as well as a pressure class when a maker pairs it with PE80 or PE100 and BS EN 12201. PN6 on the B2C listing is only the pressure mark printed there. It does not state the standard, the polymer grade or a WRAS number.
Why does a 16 mm pipe not take every 13 mm fitting?
Outside diameter and bore are different measurements. B2C’s title says 16 mm outside and 13 mm inside, and a UK review measured about 14 mm inside. Soft LDPE can let a barb in and then let it pop out. Test one fitting on the coil you received.
Does a star rating mean the pipe is WRAS approved?
No. Stars are the amazon.co.uk review line. WRAS approval is a named product against BS 6920, with a temperature limit and a time limit. None of the seven kept listings prints a WRAS number or BS EN 12201. A bullet that says WRAS without a number is still a claim.
When do you stop and ask the water company?
Stop when the pipe is the company’s side of the boundary stop tap, when the cover cannot sit between 750 mm and 1,350 mm, when the ground may be contaminated, or when you cannot tell old alkathene from a garden tube. Any yellow gas pipe is a stop as well.
Related pages
Sources
Public sources from the research digest. amazon.co.uk prices are captured shelf prices, not a live crawl on 16 October 2026.
- Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 (retrieved October 2026)
- Water Regs UK: installing pipework (retrieved October 2026)
- Water Regs UK: installing below-ground pipework checklist (retrieved October 2026)
- BPF Pipes Group: specifications for PE pipe, fittings, water supply, drains and sewers (April 2024) (retrieved October 2026)
- WRAS: guide to the materials directory (retrieved October 2026)
- Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 3 (retrieved October 2026)
- HSE: gas safety domestic FAQs (retrieved October 2026)
- Screwfix: MDPE pipe (trade blue coil, not an ASIN in this comparison) (retrieved October 2026)
- Kalsi Plastics: blue versus black MDPE pipe (retrieved October 2026)