Plumbing

Standards

• Backflow Prevention

  The assemblies and devices that keep water from flowing backward into a potable supply, in commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings served by a utility or by a private source. Covers the building water service assembly at the point of entry, the premises isolation assembly on it, the isolation assemblies at internal cross-connections such as equipment makeup water, chemical feed, laboratory, and irrigation connections, and the detector and non-detector assemblies on a fire service supplied from a potable main. Establishes how the degree of hazard at each connection is classified, which assembly type that classification admits, the construction, listing, and lead-free certification of each assembly, its orientation, height, clearances, support, relief discharge, outdoor enclosure or vault, and the initial field test and certification by a certified tester that puts it in service.

• Commercial Water Heaters

  Equipment that generates and stores domestic hot water for commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings — fuel-fired and electric storage water heaters, instantaneous and semi-instantaneous water heaters, heat pump water heaters, and indirect-fired storage vessels heated by a boiler plant, a solar loop, or recovered heat. Covers the storage vessel and its corrosion protection, the combustion air and vent system, the fuel gas and electrical connections at the equipment, condensate handling, thermal expansion control, temperature and pressure relief, the master mixing valve, the recirculation pump and its controls and balancing, equipment anchorage, startup, and field performance testing.

• Domestic Water Piping

  Potable cold water, hot water, and hot water return piping inside a building — the pipe and tube, the fittings and joints, the valves and water hammer arrestors installed in the line, and the supports, expansion provisions, insulation, freeze protection, identification, pressure testing, flushing, and disinfection that go with them. The scope runs from the discharge of the building water service assembly to the stop, union, or rough-in connection at each fixture and each item of equipment, in commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings served by a utility supply or by a private on-site source.

• Grease Interceptors

  Grease interceptors that pretreat the fats, oils, and grease carried by the drainage from commercial kitchens, cafeterias, commissaries, bakeries, and other food-service operations before that drainage reaches the sanitary building drain: hydromechanical grease interceptors rated under PDI G101 and ASME A112.14.3, automatic grease removal devices under ASME A112.14.4, and gravity grease interceptors of precast concrete, cast-in-place concrete, fiberglass, or polyethylene. Covers the interceptor types furnished, the sizing method and the inputs it needs, the flow control fitting and air intake, body and tank materials, structural loading and anti-flotation of buried tanks, inlet and outlet fittings, access risers and covers, venting, the effluent sampling point, which fixtures and appliances connect to the interceptor, the grease waste pipe material and slope between those fixtures and the interceptor, setting and testing, and the pump-out program the Owner carries after acceptance.

• Natural Gas Piping

  Field-installed fuel-gas piping conveying natural gas or undiluted liquefied petroleum (LP) gas from the utility meter or LP-gas second-stage regulator to gas-fired appliances and equipment, including interior distribution piping, exterior aboveground piping, and buried exterior service piping within the property line. Covers system pressure tiers (low-pressure systems at or below ½ psig and elevated-pressure systems at 2 psig and 5 psig with line-pressure regulators), pipe and tubing materials by service and location (Schedule 40 steel, polyethylene for underground use, corrugated stainless steel tubing, and copper where the gas sulfur content permits), threaded and welded joints, gas valves, line-pressure regulators with overpressure protection, sediment traps and appliance connections, corrosion protection of buried steel, electrical bonding of metallic piping and CSST, and the complete pressure-test and purging sequence required by NFPA 54.

• Plumbing Fixtures

  Plumbing fixtures and their trim, carriers, supply stops, and exposed waste connections in commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings. Covers water closets, urinals, lavatories, service sinks and mop basins, hand-wash sinks, break room and office kitchen sinks, showers, drinking fountains and bottle fillers, and plumbed emergency eyewash and drench shower equipment. Establishes the fixture material and construction, the flush and flow technology, the consumption rates measured against the federal EPAct maximums and the EPA WaterSense specifications, the mounting and carrier requirements, the accessibility criteria, the scald-protection arrangement at the fixture, and the acceptance testing that proves each fixture performs at its rated volume or flow.

• Plumbing Insulation

  Thermal insulation, jacketing, vapor retarders, and ADA protective covers for plumbing piping inside buildings — domestic hot water and recirculation (energy conservation), domestic cold water (condensation control), and storm and roof-drainage bodies and overflow piping (condensation on cold rainwater). Covers material selection by service (mineral/glass fiber with all-service jacket for hot lines, closed-cell elastomeric for cold and condensation control, phenolic where space is limited), insulation thickness by the adopted energy code, continuous vapor-retarder construction on cold and storm piping, jacketing by exposure (all-service jacket concealed, PVC fitting covers, metal jacket in mechanical rooms and outdoors), insulation inserts and shields at hangers, and molded protective covers on the hot, cold, and waste/trap piping below accessible lavatories and sinks.

• Roof Drainage

  Roof drainage on and within the building for commercial, institutional, industrial, and multi-family projects: primary roof drains with their domes, clamping rings, underdeck clamps, extensions, and deck accessories; deck, balcony, and planter drains that discharge to the building storm system; the secondary drainage system provided by overflow roof drains or overflow scuppers; controlled-flow and siphonic primary drainage; vertical leaders and horizontal storm piping inside the building; expansion provisions, hangers, cleanout locations, identification, and testing; and the building storm drain out to five feet beyond the foundation wall.

• Sanitary Waste and Vent Piping

  The sanitary drain, waste, and vent piping inside a building and the building drain out to five feet beyond the foundation wall, in commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings: the pipe, fittings, joints, and couplings in cast iron, PVC, ABS, copper, galvanized steel, stainless steel, and polyethylene; the fixture traps, trap arms, and the venting that protects them; the slope and the changes of direction of horizontal drainage; the indirect waste receptors that take equipment discharge; the connections to fixtures, floor drains, cleanouts, grease interceptors, sumps, and ejectors; hangers, vertical support, seismic restraint, thermal movement, acoustic treatment, sleeves, and firestopping; below-slab bedding and backfill; and the rough-in and final tests that prove the system tight.

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