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John Lansing

@pipedreaming.bsky.social

1.9K followers 550 following 1.7K posts

Plumbing, building codes, engineering design guides, water and nutrient cycle, architecture, embodied carbon, development, cities, and the international variations of them all

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 3h

I found many examples of partition-less urinals in the UK but none as exaggerated as this installation in Glasgow.

Three urinals installed in close proximity to each other with one placed perpendicular to the other

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 4h

Oh yes, but nothing beats the sound of the impact at the stack base.

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8h

Their 1961 publication shown above is also available for download here.

nvlpubs.nist.gov

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8h

Wyly and Eaton’s formulas for terminal velocity and flow capacity in sanitary drainage stacks form the basis of plumbing codes used on every continent today. Hard to overestimate the impact of NISTs work on plumbing internationally.

Formulas showing the equations for terminal length. Image from ‘NBS Monograph 31- Capacities of Stacks in Sanitary Drainage Systems for Buildings’ published in 1961 by the National Bureau of Standards

Formulas and graphs showing maximum flow capacity based on 1/4 and 1/3 filling of the stack. Image from ‘NBS Monograph 31- Capacities of Stacks in Sanitary Drainage Systems for Buildings’ published in 1961 by the National Bureau of Standards

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8h

I wish I knew the details. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) published it so I wonder if they have these records still. The single stack didn’t make it into any of the model codes until the 2010s.

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8h

Yes!!!

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8h

The ASA A40.8 was the national plumbing code that never was. The code committee dissolved before a second edition could be produced due to lack of consensus in the 1960s.
This code was even developed under the guidance of Robert Wyly at NIST, whose work created the foundation for drainage theory.

Cover of the “National Plunbing Code - Minimum Requirements for Plumbing”

FOREWORD
The need for a generally accepted standard code of minimum requirements for plumbing has been recognized in the country for some considerable time. From time to time various organizations in this field have published recommended code requirements and some of these have had considerable influence on local codes.
An early and comprehensive effort in this direction was made by the Subcommittee on Plumbing of the Building Code Committee of the U.S.Department of Commerce. The work of this committee resulted in the publication in 1924 of BH2 "Recom-mended Minimum Requirements for Plumbing in Dwellings and Similar Buildings"
. This was followed by several revisions of
which the last,
entitled BH13 *Recommended Minimum Re-
quirements for Plumbing." was issued in 1932. The National Association of Master Plumbers published its "Standard Plumbing Code" in 1933 and the latest revision of this was made in
1942. In 1940 the Subcommittee of -Plumbing
of the Central
Housing Committee on Research, • Design, and Construction issued a report BMS66 "Plumbing Manual" the provisions of which formed the basis for regulation of wartime plumbing. In addition many states have enacted laws regulating the design and installation of plumbing equipment. Cities also have municipal ordinances and rules goveming this type of equipment and its installation.
The Sectional Committee on Minimum Requirements for
Plumbing
and Standardization of Plumbing Equipment, A40,
was organized under the procedure of the American Standards Association in August, 1928. Therefore, in 1934, when the Subcommittee on Plumbing of the Building Code Committee of the U.S.Department of Commerce was discontinued, the ASA added the task of setting up minimum requirements for plumbing to the scope of Sectional Committee A40.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 15h

Wyoming uses the IPC and Nebraska uses the UPC. Not sure why it was reflected this way here.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 16h

This map is from 2019 and from IAPMO if I’m not mistaken. It shows a more detailed breakdown of code adoption by locality. I think Maryland has fully dropped the NSPC in favor of the IPC since.

Breakdown by county of plumbing code adoption

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 16h

Both IAPMO and ICC publish code adoption maps that conflict with each other. Maine is a more straightforward error but states like Texas are more complicated than shown here, which use IPC and UPC depending on the locality.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

Mt Adams

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

Mt St. Helens and snow covered Mt Rainier

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

Sunset over Portland

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

Arvo Pärt concert!

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

This is a room that was never intended for showers and they managed to get all of this piping installed to support these without penetrating the floor at each shower. No vent piping either.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

What is this… 12 inches off the floor?

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

Also great for masking the relentless noise of Blackhawk helicopters hovering above your home.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

Dishwashers are great because you can use as many bowls, plates, and utensils as you want and it will still take the same amount of time and water to clean them at the end of the day.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

I’d like to know more about this. 👀

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

Agreed. The homes in Busytown have a lot of lead piping.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

Section 101.2 is standard text included in the model IFGC and refers to the scope of the code (not the scope of work requiring a licensed plumber).

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

I’m still not seeing anything in the text that suggests that the replacement of existing appliances (like stovetops) are included within the required professional licensing scope. I’m not saying it isn’t there, but I’m not seeing anything suggesting that the current text is ambiguous.

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 8d

This provides some clarification.

§ 28-105.4.4 Ordinary plumbing work.

Legal publisher offering ordinance codification services for local governments, specializing in providing codes of ordinances in print and on the Internet

codelibrary.amlegal.com

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 9d

What he’s saying at least doesn’t seem to align with what the proposed text says. If this is already required as the comment on the original article states, the text in 429-A would be misleading.

New York City Council
Updating the New York City Plumbing Code
Introduction 429-A, sponsored by Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez, would require inspections of gas piping to be conducted by either a licensed master plumber or a licensed journeyman plumber working under the direct supervision of a licensed master plumber.
Inspections would include the point of connection with gas appliances and would change the definition of ordinary plumbing work to include the replacement of gas furnaces, household gas appliances, and gas appliance connectors. This bill would also reinstate the plumbing and fire suppression license board, amend the definition of emergency work to allow the repair of a plumbing system to protect the public from an unsafe condition or restore water to a building or dwelling unit, and expand the Department of Building's (DOB) ability to seize equipment used for unlicensed work.

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 9d

The universal principle of hot on the left, cold on the right. 👍
The back-outlet and floor mounted tank-type WC is interesting because these are more of a European thing (especially in the Nordic region). That goes for the tank separated by a pipe as well - very un-American but common in Europe.

Zoomed in image from OG post, showing the routing of the red piping and blue piping to each fixture.

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