Building plumbing system

 Entire system of piping, fixtures, appliances for providing

water supply and drainage of a building
 Objectives
 Supply water to various points
 Remove liquid waste
 Requirements of supply
 Sufficient quantity
 Acceptable quality
 Pressure
 Requirements of drainage system
 Removed WW as soon as possible
 Entrance of foul gas from sewer into house must be prevented
 Terminology

 Plumbing system  entire system of piping, fixtures,

appliances etc. for water supply and drainage
 Plumbing fixtures  receptacles, devices or
appliances which are designed to receive pure water
and discharge waste water
 Fixture unit (F.U.) is a quantity in terms of which
the load producing effects on the plumbing systems
of different kinds of plumbing fixtures are expressed
on some arbitrarily chosen scale
 Flush tank  a chamber in which water is
accumulated and then discharged rapidly for flushing
out water closets and urinals
 Flush valve  a flash valve is a device located at the
bottom of a tank for the purpose of flushing water
closets and similar fixtures and is closed by direct
water pressure or some other mechanical means
 Use of valves

 Gate valve  on / off valve

 Globe valve  throttling the flow of water
 Check valve  prevents the backup of water
 Shutoff valve  used when repairs are necessary or
when emergency occurs (used for lavatories, sinks,
showers etc.)
 Building service connection

 In urban areas  from water supply main

 Service pipe
Pipe connected between water supply main and building
plumbing system
“Goose neck”  to accommodate undew subsidence of
underground soil, a flexible service
Corporation stop and curb stop
Water supply system in Building

 Direct supply system

 Overhead tank supply
 Underground overhead tank
 Direct pumping system
 Direct supply

 Water is supplied to all desired point directly from city

main
 Effective only when city main has sufficient quantity
and pressure of flow
 Suitable piping system from city main
 Meter is installed with connection pipe
 Does not required storage tank (no contamination)
 No need of pumping inside building (economic gain)
 Water pressure at city main at least 20 psi
 Over-head tank supply system

 When pressure can not be maintained in city main

round the clock
 Water is kept in overhead/roof-top tank
 Water is distributed through a piping network
 Water flows by gravitational force
 Top floors pressure may not be sufficient
Need sometimes booster pump in distribution pipe
 Underground overhead tank system

 When pressure in city main is always low

 First storage of water in underground storage
 Water then pumped to overhead tank
 Water is supplied to different points in similar to
overhead tank system
 Direct pumping

 Water can be supplied by an automatic pumping

system like a Hydro-pneumatic system
 Pressure in supply pipe is boosted through booster
pumps that supplies water from the underground or
ground level tank to the desired locations.
 Water distribution system in building

 Through horizontal and vertical piping from source to

point
 Depending on location of supply wrt source
Up-feed
Down-feed
 Up-feed two types
Booster pump
Hydro-pneumatic tank system
 Up-feed system direct pumping

 Low installation cost but high O&M cost

 No overhead tank  no weight to structure
 Sophisticated control system and knowledge is
required
 Supply interrupted due to power failure
 Instantaneous pressure fluctuation may be greater
 Down-feed system

 Simple and economic method

 Easy to maintain, low O&M cost, pumping cost is
also less
 Uninterrupted supply
 Pressure fluctuation is small
 Overhead tank – looking bad, extra load to structure
 Pressure at highest floor may be inadequate
 Tank might be a source of contamination
 Principles governing design of water supply in
buildings
 There should not be any risk of contaminating water supply
 No cross connection between potable water and polluted water
 No back flow from any cistern
 Water supply and drainage pipe should not be laid very close
 Pipe and fittings should be thoroughly water-tight
 Pipe work should have protection against possible damage
 Water supply pipe should carry water with sufficient pressure
 Water supply in buildings

 Pressure is an important criteria in designing

 Pressure in the public main does not able to supply
water to upper portion of tall buildings
 Faucet has a min and max allowable pressure
Min 10 psi, max 65 psi
 1 ft water column exerts pressure of 0.434 psi
 If water pressure is 40 psi in the main line it can
serve 40/.434 = 92ft height
 How many floors can this pressure cover??
 10 psi should be available at each faucet
 15 floors is the maximum height of a downfeed zone
15*10 = 150ft, 150ft*0.434 = 65 psi which is max
pressure for faucet
 Upfeed zone and downfeed zone
 Each fixture group is served from the main or riser by
a branch then fixture branch
 Each group should be valved from the rest of the
system
 Fixture branch dia same as fixture supply dia
 Supply line should not cross connect drainage line
 Be careful about siphon action of faucet terminating
in a pool
 Water supply piping
 Demand estimation is the first
 Estimation must include recognition of the number
and kind of fixtures and their probable simultaneous
use
Pipe size
Pressure loss for water meter
 Problem

 25 story building, 10 ft floor to floor

 50 psi at public main
 Men’s and women’s toilet at alternate floor
 3 water closet or 1 WC + 2 PU and 2 lavatories on
each floor
 Flush valve fixture except 24th and 25th floor
 Max pressure at any fixture is not to exceed 50 psi
 Check how many feet can be saved for installing
overhead tank due to flush valve and flush tank
when flush valve needs 15 psi min pressure, & flush
tank needs 8 psi
 Total load: 34 FU/floor (1st to 23rd floor) & 19 FU for
24th and 25th floor; total 820 FU
Demand is 184 gpm
 Zoning
For upfeed zone: P=p+0.434*h+f
50=8.5+0.434*h+15 h=61ft [5 psi drop in piping
and 3.5 psi in meter, 15 psi for fixture]
If water main is very deep, 5 floor would be up-feed
 Down-feed zone
Max pressure at fixture 50 psi
50/0.434 = 115 ft, tank would be around 20 ft above
So max down-feed zone 115 – 20 ~~90 ft/10 ft = 9 floor
 So, how many down-feed zones? 2 or 3??
If 2 then pressure will increase in the fixtures. How much
increase? Is that a problem?
 Next, is to know the pipe size
 Available pressure minus loss & requirements will
provide the max pressure to be lost in friction
For up-feed zone, main pressure minus sum of water
meter drop, static head loss and min fixture pressure
including pressure drop in branches from the riser for
which allow 1 psi
P=50 – [3.5+60(0.434)+15+1] = 4.46
4.46 psi is available to utilize for friction.
 Now, we do not know the size of the pipe where
friction would occur
 Assume/estimate length of pipe
 Riser = 60 ft, main to foot of riser (assume) 60 or 70 ft
Assume 50% of this length for fittings friction (need to
estimate equivalent length for the fittings and checked
afterwards)
Total length 180 ft
Loss allowable = 4.46*100/180 = 2.4 psi per 100 ft
Floor Fixture Accumulated Demand Pipe size
unit fixture unit (gpm) (in)
Service
pipe
820 184 3½
1 34 170 85 3
2 34 136 77 2½
3 34 102 68 2½
4 34 68 58 2½
5 34 34 43 2
 Equivalent length of fittings
is required to calculate
 Available pressure for friction at the top floor (25th floor)
P = 24(.434) – 8 -1 = 1.4 psi
1.4*100/51=2.8 psi/100’
 At 23rd floor extra static pressure gain 20*0.434 = 8.68;
pressure required 15+1 = 16
9+8.68-16 = 1.68
1.68*100/30 = 5.6 psi/100’
 Later on, 10’ static head gain would be lost for friction
4.34*100/15 = 28.9 psi/100’
Flow Fixture Accumulated fixture Demand Pipe length Length for Total Pressure Pipe size
unit unit (gpm) (ft) fittings (ft) length (ft) drop (in)
psi/100’

25 19 310 110 34 17 51 2.8 3

24 19 291 107 10 5 15 5.6
23 34 272 103 10 5 15 5.6
22 34 238 98 10 5 15 28.9
21 34 204 92 10 5 15 28.9
20 34 170 85 10 5 15 28.9
19 34 136 77 10 5 15 28.9
18 34 102 68 10 5 15 28.9
17 34 68 58 10 5 15 28.9
16 34 34 43 10 5 15 28.9
 Drainage

 General requirements about installing of drainage pipes

Provision of adequate support for drainage pipe during
construction
Pipe should be laid in straight line
Abrupt change in flow should be avoided
Installation not to be done so as to impair structural safety
Drainage pipe should be sufficiently strong
Pipe joint should be strong and leak proof
Entire network should have ample means of cleaning
Traps for every fixture
Each stack should be covered on top by copper/iron wire dome
 Design of plumbing drainage

 Size of pipe is function of the load from all the

fixtures that might operate at any one time
 Once we know the load, then select the size
 Soil and waste stack are the same size throughout
their length
 Piping that makes up a sanitary system is generally
as follows:
House sewer
House drain
Soil, waste, vent stacks
Fixture branches
Fixture traps
Fixtures
Fixture vents
 Piping system
 House sewer – from public sewer to house. Min dia is
3 in. if more fixtures then larger dia pipe. A back water
pressure valve is installed at the point where the
house sewer enters the public sewer. Horizontal house
sewer slope ¼ in per foot
 House drain – the horizontal pipe inside the house into
which the vertical soil and waste stacks discharge
 Soil, Waste and vent stack – vertical pipes of the
drainage system. Lavatory and tub drain into waste
stack, WC drains to soil stack and vent stacks for
ventilation
 Fixture branches and branch vents – horizontal pipe line
running from fixture trap to vertical stacks. Branch vents are
horizontal piping that run from near fixture trap then overhead
of the fixture to vent stack.
 Branch vent should be graded so that moisture that may be
collected in them can flow back to fixture branch.
 Branch vent are arranged so that waste matter flowing through the
fixture branch can not clog and foul the vent
 Branch vent are not connected to crown of traps, and should never
be taken from fixture branches below hydraulic grade line
 Hydraulic grade – a line from high water level of a fixture such as
lavatory to lowest branch connection at the soil stack
Single stack Divided stack
 Fixture trap – a water seal @ every
fixture directly below the fixture.
Water seal height 2 – 4 in.
 Strength of trap – is the ability of its water seal to
resist the passage of air or gas through it and is
determined by the vertical height to which water in
the trap can rise above the dip.
 Cleanout – it is customary to provide horizontal drainage
piping with a cleanout at its upper terminal
Additional cleanout on each run of piping that is more than 100ft.
Cleanout is required when there is a change in direction exceeding
1350.