Can we talk about Plumbing Fixtures?

The very first encounter I had with a plumbing designer when I started work in this business went like this,  “There’s only 4 things a plumbing designer needs to know: hot’s on the left, cold’s on the right, shit flows downhill and payday is every other Friday. Don’t even try telling me anything that doesn’t agree with those four rules.”  They may not be the dumbest people in our industry, but they are right up there with the most stubborn.  It is the rare “plumber” who thinks that change, of any kind, is ever good.   Combine that with the fact that plumbing still makes people cringe because it’s all about doo-doo and wee-wee and/or doing stuff when you are nekkid – yeah, most haven’t matured past that stage.  It’s just one of those things that still has a strong hook in our lizard brains.    Also, of the three things we do: HVAC, power, and plumbing – plumbing is the one thing most “civilians” have daily, tactile interaction with.  An architect told me the worst clients to work with are on home projects, because everyone lives in one and is therefore an expert.  Everyone puts hands on virtually all the plumbing fixtures every day, so has a very strong opinion about what’s right and what’s wrong with them.   So, here’s my advice/word of wisdom.  We’ve got to let people experience the high efficiency fixtures in a safe, non-judgmental way.  In much the same way that you are YouTubing your way through IAQ sensors, we need a YouTube channel for plumbing*.  Have your vendors bring samples of low flow fixtures and equipment, and let your plumbing staff take them home and try them out – even better, figure out a way to use them in the office so that everyone on your team can experience them first hand.  This practical exercise will engage the hard-heads and allow them to demonstrate their experience and expertise.  And to have some fun with it – like create some sort of public contest or scoring chart.  Or awards to the best video demos/tests of the sample stuff.   *If you haven’t seen them, you need to find the videos of the guys doing the MAPP tests on flushing miso paste “turds” in HETs.  Show those to your plumbers and clients.   And, truth be told, some of the high efficiency fixtures that have hit the market have been TERRIBLE.  Just one example is the waterless urinal.  We have got to have a little water to get things moving into and along the pipes – we have settled on the pint per flush fixtures.   Hope that helps.  Keep fighting the good fight. 

Kim. . . I have also had the experience that many plumbing designers can be stubborn and grumpy.  But I have put in a lot of effort striving to hire competant, professional plumbing designers for our firm.  We treat them as respected colleagues and an important part of the integrated design team.  Our plumbing desigers are generally not being invited to project interviews or corporate strategy meetings, but they are happy, they proactively solve design issues, and they recieve recognition for their contributions. Sarah. . . in California low flow plumbing fixtures (1.28 gpf toilets, 0.125 gpf urnals, 0.5 gpm lavatories, 1.8 gpm showers) have been required by the CalGreen code since about 2011.  Most of our projects have no problems and no complaints with these fixtures.  The big manufacturers (Sloan, Kohler, American Standard, Chicago Faucets) all make products that perform well at these flow rates (although some of the low flow showers are not great).  We put MaP testing requirements in our specs for toilets. Where we do sometimes see plumbing fixture problems relates more to low water pressure than low flow.  An old 6 gpf tank-type toilet works well with just about any water pressure.  A 1.28 gpf flush valve needs at least 25 psi at the fixture to perform properly.  We have some school projets in Los Angeles where appartently the local utility is reducing street pressure to protect old water mains in the street and our plumbing team has found we need to add domestic water booster pumps to provide appropriate pressure to flush valve toilets on the third-floor.  My sense is that a lot of projects with poor plumbing fixture performance need to review available water pressure, settings at any pressure reducing valves, and the design of the domestic water piping to make sure there is adequate pressure at the low flow fixtures.

I’d love to add to this list Composting Toilets and how many of the municipalities that I work with will not allow the use of them. Kristy M. Walson, PE, LEED Fellow, BEMP Principal kristy.walson@tlc-eng.com TLC ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS® 255 South Orange Ave., Ste 1600 Orlando, FL 32801 Direct: 407.487.1118 Cell: 352.514.5920 Main: 407.841.9050 www.tlc-engineers.com TLC is supporting building owners through COVID concerns with recommendations for multiple building types, as well as providing building health and safety rating certification in line with best practices. Click here to read more. [cid:HotFirm_2020-1024x1024_fd37754b-0f7a-4b86-b60d-e956a2817e38.png][cid:BFTWF_2020-01-1024x1024_8a048aff-5295-459f-88a9-c614f5eef475.png] [cid:TLCtriangle_48_5fcae4e3-b2cd-4e9c-88ca-7cc0976751ff.png] [cid:LinkedIn_b59db350-de64-46db-826b-6e945ffd8396.png] [cid:Facebook_eced6e55-89bc-4c58-b1c5-ae1f5b610c02.png] [cid:Twitter_6ce39de6-37fa-451d-bda4-ae51e1e3aabd.png] Fr