Download - Plumbing Engineer

June 2009 

OWP/P: 

The Design Pipeline 

Phil Gibisch (l) and Daniel Fagan of OWP/P 

at a mission-critical project for an undisclosed 

client outside of Chicago. 

Also Inside 

• Siphonic Roof Drainage: Inside Secrets 

• Field Report: Design software 

helps design-build firm win bid 

• Plumbing & PRV Apps

Circle 1 on Reader Reply Form on page 61

Circle 2 on Reader Reply Form on page 61 

TM

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 

Volume 37, Number 6, June 2009 

FEATURES 

38 OWP/P: The Design Pipeline 

42 Siphonic Roof Drainage: Inside Secrets 

COLUMNS 

6 Editor’s Letter: The German diaries 

12 Designer’s Guide: Green Plumbers ® 

16 Code Update: Fuel gas safety 

21 Fire Protection: Protecting fire sprinklers from 

the human element 

26 Modern Hydronics: Doin’ the math 

32 Solar Solutions: Solar overheat protection 

36 Solar Cooling: Cool it, sunshine: Solar-powered A/C 

OWP/P: 

June 2009 

The Design Pipeline 

Phil Gibisch (l) and Daniel Fagan of OWP/P 

at a mission-critical project for an undisclosed 

client outside of Chicago. 

Also Inside 

• Siphonic Roof Drainage: Inside Secrets 

• Field Report: Design software 

helps design-build firm win bid 

• Plumbing & PRV Apps 

On the cover: OWP/P is a leader in 

providing integrated architecture, 

interior design, engineering and 

consulting services to clients worldwide. 

Read the article on page 38. 

INDUSTRY NEWS & 

OTHER DEPARTMENTS 

8 | WaterSense helps save $$$ 

8 | AO Smith to offer Revit software 

8 | Ames Fire & WW revamps website 

10 | Uponor releases ’09 training 

30 | PLUMBING INNOVATION: CAROMA 

50 | FIELD REPORT: TACO 

52 | PRODUCT APP: AGF 

53 | LITERATURE NEWS 

54-55 | NEW PRODUCTS 

A Member of Our Family 

Since 2006 

www.siouxchief.com 1-800-821-3944 

56 | PRODUCT APP: JAY R. SMITH 

58 | LETTERS/INDUSTRY MOVERS 

59 | Hybrid piping offers flexibility 

60 | Classifieds 

61 | Ad Index 

Circle 3 on Reader Reply Card 

62 | CLSE adds PRV seminar 

Page 4/Plumbing Engineer June 2009


Editor’s Letter 

John Mesenbrink, Editorial Director 

The German Diaries 

A first-hand account of traveling with Viega in Germany 

German coffee is a bit strong and it takes a little getting used to, but it’s 5:30 in the 

morning, and after an eight-hour flight, I need a pick-me-up. It is the beginning of a 

week-long trip to Germany, thanks to the generosity of Viega, an innovative global 

leader in plumbing and heating technology. (The powers that be had invited me to 

accompany 12-15 contractors, wholesalers, engineers and Viega employees to visit 

two Viega manufacturing and logistics facilities, attend ISH Messe Frankfurt and get 

a taste of the German culture. And that we did!) 

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 — At 5:30 a.m., I find myself navigating through the 

labyrinth of what is the Frankfurt airport. I am one of the first to arrive at our meeting 

point and I meet up with our Viega contact, Dave Garlow, vice president of sales 

for Viega North America. A very interesting guy, Dave reminds me of, well, me when 

I was single — never backing down from an adventure. During our early morning 

conversation, I learn that Dave loves to ride anything with wheels. He rides motorcycles 

to motorbikes, and he 

travels internationally any 

chance he gets. If you run into 

him, ask him about riding dirt 

bikes across the Mexican countryside. 

Cool stuff. 

Now we wait until our entire 

posse meets us at the airport, 

which spans the next three hours. 

One by one each personality 

makes his presence. Sean 

McGinnis, junior vice president, 

J.J.M. Plumbing Co. Inc., 

The ISH Frankfurt Show had it all! The Viega 

booth captures it all: size, scale and attendance. 

Glendora, New Jersey — near 

Philly, actually — introduces 

himself. Sean is the most downto-earth, 

happy-go-lucky guy. 

After our tour of Germany, Sean is off to do some snowboarding at Innsbruck in 

Austria. Again, cool stuff. 

Next to the meeting point is Dan Schmierer, president of Viega North America. 

Normally I initially might get nervous sitting across the table from the “head honcho” 

of a major company, but Dan has an uncanny way of making everyone feel comfortable. 

I guess that’s because he likes to talk and he engages you in conversation. 

Running Viega North America for nearly 10 years, Dan should be proud of the fact 

that he is a main facilitator of the opening of a new 439,000,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing 

plant in McPherson, Kan. 

One of the bonuses of the trip is meeting people from across the country, and 

across borders. We have people on the trip who speak English, Spanish, French and, 

of course, German. 

The rest of this story can be found on page 46 

PLUMBING ENGINEER 

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in contributed articles are the responsibility of the authors, not of TMB Publishing Inc., Plumbing Engineer magazine 

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It reduces water flow to 

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therefore protecting bathers 

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Leonard’s new Showermaster ® 

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Leonard...the right mix. 


Industry News 

WaterSense on pace to help builders save money 

WAshiNGtoN — the average newly built, single family home 

in the U.s. can waste 10,000 gallons of water annually. ePA’s 

Watersense program soon will make it easier for builders to 

construct and differentiate homes that use water about 20% 

more efficiently, once its draft specification is final. 

Watersense has refined its draft labeling specification 

(initially released in May 2008) for single-family new 

homes based on comments received from the public and 

additional research. the revised specification addresses 

efficient plumbing fixtures, hot water delivery systems, 

appliances, landscape design and irrigation. 

the revised specification will ensure that future 

Watersense labeled homes still use 20% less water than 

similar new homes, while reducing the burden and cost to 

the builders. the modifications to the previous draft specification 

have built in some additional flexibility; the 

changes include 

• hot water delivery systems — New performance standards 

no longer require specific types of hot water delivery 

systems or insulation of hot water pipes. 

• Landscaping — the revised landscaping criteria 

allow for a wider variety of landscaping options. 

• irrigation systems — Additional requirements for 

minimum distribution uniformity values and rain shutoff 

devices increase the efficiency of newly installed irrigation 

systems. 

• Water budget tool — An improved resource, the water 

budget tool, better reflects growing seasons and plant 

water requirements. 

• inspection guidelines- An optional sampling protocol 

adds flexibility and streamlines the inspection process for 

production builders. 

once the specification is finalized, homes built and 

inspected to the specification will bear the Watersense 

label. homeowners who invest in Watersense labeled 

homes will not only save water, but also money on utility 

bills. Watersense labeled new homes should be achievable 

by builders and affordable to consumers without compromising 

water savings. the Watersense new homes specification 

will also align with existing green building programs 

to ease the cost and obstacles to achieving other 

green labels. 

the updated specification for single-family new homes 

will be available for public comment through July 7, 

2009. ePA anticipates releasing the final Water-efficient 

single-Family New home specification in late 2009. ePA 

welcomes input on the revisions made to the specification, 

and encourages all interested parties to view the most 

recent documents and provide comments. in addition, 

ePA plans to hold at least one public meeting on the revisions 

in June 2009. 

For details on the specification, upcoming public meetings, 

and other program information, visit 

www.epa.gov/watersense. 

A.O. Smith to offer Revit software 

Ames Fire & Waterworks revamps website 

AshLANd City, teNN. — A. o. smith Water Products 

Company is the first in the water heater industry to offer 

specifying engineers and architects complete access to 3d 

building information modeling (BiM) of its commercial 

water heater and boiler products with Autodesk® revit® 

software. By visiting the company’s website, specifying 

engineers can download the 3d revit models to be inserted 

into their building model or drawings. 

each revit product family file allows the selection of the 

individual model and its associated database of critical installation 

information. Now, specifying engineers can easily 

integrate an A. o. smith product into their building designs. 

downloads are available at www.hotwater.com/lit/revit.html. 

Future plans include making the A. o. smith files available 

from the Autodesk “seek site” where product models can be 

directly accessed from within the revit program. 

“due to numerous requests from specifying engineers, 

we knew it was the right time to offer this service,” said 

howard holliman, product manager for A. o. smith 

Water Products Company. 

“We are proud that A. o. smith is the first water heater 

manufacturer to offer revit 3d product models to our engineers. 

it enables us to continue to build our brand message 

of innovation,” said david Chisolm, brand manager. 

revit models are currently available for the Cyclone® Xi 

(Bth), vF Boiler (vW / vB), Master-Fit® (Btr) and the 

Gold series (dre) product families. 

North ANdover, MAss. — Ames Fire & Waterworks 

announced the launch of its new revamped website: 

www.amesfirewater.com. the site’s 

new design makes finding 

information easy and 

fast. New detailed 

product pages 

include photos, 

descriptions, literature, 

approval information 

and warranty 

information. A new 

approval finder application 

lets users search Ames products 

by valve type and approval 

agency. Ames also has updated its 

site to include information on 

California and vermont Lead Free compliance. Lastly, Ames 

also is making available a mobile version of its website, available 

at www.amesfirewater.com. 

Ames Fire & Waterworks, A Watts Water technologies 

Company, is based in sacramento, Calif. Ames is focused 

upon and dedicated to the backflow prevention industry. 

the management team has more than 75 years of combined 

backflow industry experience and is committed to quality 

products and effective customer service. 

More Industry News on page 10 


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transforms light into power. The Sloan SOLIS ® 

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Generating Efficiency Through Technology 

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• sept. 10-11: radiant solutions Controls 101 Workshop 

• sept. 14-16: radiant solutions Fundamentals 101 

Workshop 

• sept. 17: radiant solutions Ads Workshop 

• sept. 21: AQUAsAFe Level 1 

• oct. 6-8: radiant solutions Fundamentals 101 Workshop 

• oct. 9: radiant solutions Ads Workshop 

• oct. 12: AQUAsAFe Level 1 

• oct. 14-16: radiant solutions Advanced 102 Workshop 

• oct. 26-27: radiant solutions Controls 101 Workshop 

• oct. 29-30: radiant solutions Controls 102 Workshop 

• Nov. 2-4: radiant solutions Fundamentals 101 Workshop 

• Nov. 5: radiant solutions Ads Workshop 

• Nov. 9: AQUAsAFe Level 1 

• Nov. 12-13: radiant solutions Controls 101 Workshop 

• dec. 7: AQUAsAFe Level 1 

• dec. 9-11: radiant solutions Fundamentals 101 

Workshop 

For additional information about all Uponor training 

programs, including online webinars, or to register online 

for factory training, visit the Uponor website at 

www.uponor-usa.com/training. 


Industry News 

Continued from page 8 

Uponor releases 2009 training schedule 

APPLe vALLey, MiNN. — the June through december 

2009 dates for Uponor’s Factory training are available 

and ready for online registration by going to www.uponorusa.com/training. 

“this year we’re taking our factory training classes to 

the next level,” said Wes sisco, senior trainer, at Uponor. 

“We’ve enhanced our curriculum to include more in-depth 

education and training for our radiant and multi-purpose 

plumbing and fire sprinkler systems. With this new training 

program, we can ensure our professional partners in 

the industry are well-equipped to meet the demanding 

needs of today’s building market.” 

headed by sisco, and supported by customer trainer 

steve swanson, the Uponor Factory training program 

offers the following training classes for radiant and 

plumbing professionals: 

• June 11-13: radiant solutions Fundamentals 101 

Workshop 

• July 7: AQUAsAFe Level 1 

• July 20-22: radiant solutions Fundamentals 101 

Workshop 

• July 27-28: radiant solutions Controls 101 Workshop 

• Aug. 13: AQUAsAFe Level 1 

• Aug. 17-19: radiant solutions Fundamentals 101 

Workshop 

• Aug. 20: radiant solutions Ads Workshop 

Solar Usage Now launches new system 

hArLAN, iNd. — solar Usage Now, LLC will be releasing 

the s.U.N. equinox heating system, a technology that is 

new to the U.s. marketplace but has been a staple in the 

european and Australian markets for years. solar Usage 

Now is a renewable energy distributor and has the exclusive 

rights to the s.U.N. equinox heating system 

throughout the United states. 

the s.U.N. equinox heating system is a combination 

hot water storage tank and instantaneous water heater providing 

100% of domestic hot water and space heating 

needs while placing special emphasis on water hygiene. 

the system is solar ready and has both residential and 

commercial applications. the s.U.N. equinox heating 

system utilizes the unique rotex atmospheric tank. the 

system is capable of producing up to 18 gallons per minute 

of hot hygienic water with a heat loss of less than 3ºF per 

day in residential installs. Commercial models can be 

assembled to handle large heat loads for hotels, hospitals, 

nursing homes, restaurants, schools and factories. 

For more information about the s.U.N. equinox 

heating system, please visit www.solarusagenow.com. 

More Industry News on page 59 


Engineering a 

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You Looking in 

7 Different 

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Loro-Josam offers the most complete siphonic roof drainage solution available to 

the U.S. market. The Loro-Josam wide range of balcony and roof drainage systems 

made of galvanized steel are combined with the Loro-Josam galvanized steel push-fit 

drainage system and are offered complete with siphonic system calculations to 

ensure excellent results for every installation. 

The Loro-Josam siphonic drainage system offers facility owners, plumbing engineers 

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with support and warranty pointing only in one direction. 

For more information contact your local representative or visit our website at www.josam.com 

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Designer’s Guide 

Timothy Allinson, P.E., Murray Co., Long Beach, Calif. 

GreenPlumbers ® 

Just when I thought I had heard all I could stand about 

everything green, I learned about GreenPlumbers and was 

pleasantly surprised. Something drew me to their ASPE 

presentation last April — call it morbid curiosity — but 

instead of being frustrated with the usual environmental bandwagon 

shtick, I heard creative ideas that promoted industry 

specific concepts that I have been harping on for years. 

GreenPlumbers was created in Australia in 2001 following 

a 10-year drought. The program has helped produce a 50% 

reduction in water use across that continent. In September 

2007 an alliance was established with the U.S. and since then 

the program has educated over 1,500 American plumbers in 

the arena of plumbing efficiency. 

The GreenPlumbers accreditation program includes five 

courses, namely Climate Care, Solar Hot Water, Caring For 

Our Water, Water Efficient Technology, and Inspection Report 

Services. They also offer five elective workshops in Natural 

Wastewater Treatment, Commercial Hot Water Systems, 

Principles in Pumps, Urban Irrigation Systems, and Cooling 

Tower Efficiency. 

What really opened my ears to GreenPlumbers was what 

you might call their vision statement: The ability to bring 

change to an industry that has remained relatively stagnant 

for over 30 years; improving public image, attracting the 

younger generation, and creating champions of conversation. 

Since the 1920s our industry has used the phrase, “The 

plumber protects the health of the nation.” For the 21st century 

this organization has rewritten that: “The GreenPlumber 

protects the resources of our planet.” 

While I take the green movement with a grain of salt, 

believing that global warming is part of a natural cycle that 

mankind has perhaps accelerated a bit - but nothing compared 

to what a really big, naturally occurring volcanic eruption can 

do — I have always embraced water as the most remarkable, 

valuable, and under appreciated gift on our planet. I like the 

fact that this program shares that value and also promotes the 

image of the plumbing industry in an effort to attract the 

younger generation while also promoting good communication 

skills for our trade. 

A more detailed breakdown of the GreenPlumbers curriculum 

is as follows. 

Climate Care 

• Hot Water Heating 

• Energy Consumption 

• Heating Appliances 

• Cooling Appliances 

• Greenhouse Gas Abatement 

Solar Hot Water 

• Solar Hot Water Technology 

• State Rebate Information 

• Sizing and Installation 

• Retro Fitting 

• New Technology 

Caring For Our Water 

• Water Efficient Products 

• New Technology 

The water display at the San Diego Museum of Natural 

History, which depicts the water system serving the entire 

Southwest. 

• Household Water Audits 

• Reducing Household Consumption 

• Stormwater 

Water Efficient Technology 

• Reuse/Recycled Water 

• Rainwater 

• Graywater 

• Wastewater Treatment Systems 

• Environmental, Public Health & Safety Regulations 

Inspection Report Services 

• Water and Energy Audits 

• Commercial, Industrial & Residential Buildings 

• Master Planning for Future Improvement 

While this program focuses on the trade plumber rather 

than the plumbing engineer, it is important for the latter to be 

familiar with the program and terminology in case it is raised 

in a meeting or addressed as a question by owner or architect. 

“What exactly is a green plumber,” you might be asked? It’s 

good to have the answer. 

I like anything that puts plumbing into the spotlight of 

importance for the American public. Take Joe the Plumber, 

made famous during John McCain’s presidential candidacy. 

Unfortunately Joe turned out to be less than the ideal poster 

boy for our trade, but I was still glad that McCain had select- 

Continued on page 14 


He’s not only the reigning chess champ of Cedar Hills Village. 

He’s also our top product design consultant. 

At Moen Commercial, we spend many afternoons with folks like Karl. Because the better we know him, the better we’re able 

to design solutions that meet the unique needs of the elderly. Our faucets, flush valves and shower systems offer ergonomic 

handles for those with limited mobility or dexterity, temperature controls to prevent scalding, and innovative hands-free 

technology. Plus, these products comply with Universal Design principles and ADA standards, and are backed with a limited 

5-year warranty. All to ensure quality, safety and accessibility. You see, we understand that a tough chess opponent isn’t 

the only challenge Karl faces throughout the day. 

To learn more about how our products are built for the real world, visit www.moencommercial.com or call 800-BUY-MOEN. 


©2009 Moen Incorporated Moen and the Crossed Water Drops device are registered trademarks of Moen Incorporated

Designer’s Guide 


ed a plumber to stand as the American 

ideal. This is the person we are trying to 

embrace in our country. This is the person 

the system should work for — the 

hard working American, prepared to get 

his hands dirty for the benefit of others. 

There are many in this country who 

benefit from the system — perhaps 

more today than ever — who don’t hold 

a candle to the Plumber’s ethic. I know 

a bunch of plumbers in my company 

who would have been far better selections 

for John’s campaign. It’s too bad 

he didn’t consult with me — it would 

have saved him some embarrassment. 

In April, my son’s Cub Scout pack 

took a trip to the San Diego Museum of 

Natural History. There again I was 

pleased to see that they had an entire 

exhibit on water, emphasizing its 

importance, its remarkable history and 

its local scarcity. They created a wonderful 

display that I photographed (see 

page 12) depicting the water system 

serving the entire Southwest. They used 

copper pipe to represent the waterways, 

funnels to represent the areas of rainwater 

capture, copper ball floats to represent 

damned reservoirs, and hose bibbs 

to represent major areas of consumption. 

It was brilliant, simplistic, and 

artistic all at once. And it called attention 

to young and old of the importance 

of both water and plumbing. 

As I write this I just received email 

notification that my local water purveyor 

here in So Cal, the Moulton Niguel 

Water District (MNWD), is declaring a 

Level 2 Water Alert effective June 1st. 

This alert is intended to produce a 20% 

reduction in consumer demand. It limits 

residential irrigation to two weekdays 

and one weekend day, alternating days 

from city to city, and commercial irrigation 

to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

Here’s a big one: no potable water is 

allowed for irrigating golf courses. Golf 

courses are required to convert to recycled 

water within 30 days. Now, I’m not 

sure how all the golf courses are going 

to do that. Do all of them have recycled 

water available? If not, a conversion 

would be nearly impossible. This could 

put some of the golf courses out of business. 

Other restrictions are relatively 

minor. 

The MNWD has four levels of water 

alerts. Level 4 requires irrigation only 

once a week, no car washing except at 

commercial recycled water facilities, 

and other measures relatively minor in 

nature. In actuality, even a Level 4 

emergency still does not represent a true 

hardship. Especially when you compare 

it to a country such as Jordan, where 

water mains are turned on only once a 

week, and people are required to collect 

all of their water for the week on that 

one day. I guess that’s what the MNWD 

might call a Level 10 emergency. 

If you are interested in more information 

on GreenPlumbers you can go 

to www.greenplumbersusa.com. ■ 

Timothy Allinson is a senior professional 

engineer with Murray Co., 

Mechanical Contractors, in Long 

Beach, Calif. He holds a BsMe from 

Tufts University and an MBa from New 

York University. He is a professional 

engineer licensed in both mechanical 

and fire protection engineering in various 

states, and is a Leed accredited 

professional. allinson is a past-president 

of asPe, both the New York and 

Orange County Chapters. 


The views and opinions expressed in this 

column are those of the author and do not 

reflect those of Plumbing Engineer nor its 

publisher, TMB Publishing. 


Work Smart 

Get Current with 2009 American 

National Standard Uniform Codes 

The 2009 Illustrated Training Manuals now 

include complete code text and full color illustrations 

Developed by the industry for the industry, 

the UPC includes specific: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The UMC includes specific: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Code Update 

By Ron George, CIPE, CPD 

President, Ron George Design & Consulting Services 

Fuel gas safety 

There are several codes and standards that can apply to 

a given fuel gas installation. Compliance with the 

applicable codes is mandatory, along with some 

common sense when dealing with safety for fuel gas systems. 

Fuel gas systems are covered by the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission and in the International Fuel Gas 

Code, The Uniform Plumbing Code, the National Fire 

Protection Association’s NFPA 54 National Fuel Gas Code, 

the Department of Transportation and state and local laws 

and ordinances. Fuel gases, like natural gas, propane or 

butane, can efficiently and inexpensively provide the fuel 

for common appliances like water heaters, furnaces, clothes 

dryers, ovens, stoves, fireplaces and other commercial and 

industrial equipment and appliances. 

Fuel gas piping must be installed to be leak free to prevent 

a dangerous build-up of explosive gases inside a building. 

Leak tests on fuel gas piping commonly are done by 

pressurizing the piping with air prior to filling it with fuel 

gas and using a spray bottle with a soap and water solution 

to spray each joint to check for leaks, which will show up 

as bubbles. Sometimes you will have people fill the system 

with gas and check for gas leaks with a cigarette lighter or 

a match. They usually only do that once until they find their 

first good leak. Once they have experienced a flash fire or 

explosion they learn quickly not to use an open flame to 

locate a gas leak. I call this the Darwin testing method or the 

explosive test method. If they don’t get burned, killed or 

blow up the building, they learn you should not test for 

leaks with an open flame. They usually learn to keep a spray 

bottle with some liquid soap in their toolbox to test for gas 

leaks by spraying each joint with soapy water. 

Odorant added 

Because fuel gases are odorless and flammable, there 

are federal regulations requiring an odorant to be added to 

fuel gases to help warn of leaks in the piping system; however, 

the specific type of odorant and amount is left up to 

the gas providers. 

To ensure that gas leaks are more easily detected, natural 

gas odorization with Mercaptan is mandated for public 

safety by the Department of Transportation (DOT). 

The DOT requires natural gas distribution companies to 

inject a harmless odorant into natural gas to give it an 

odor. Federal regulations, 49CFR, 192.625, “Odorization 

of Gas,” requires that gas transmitted interstate be odorized. 

The odorants most commonly used are mixtures of 

two general classes of organosulfur compounds — mercaptans 

and sulfides. 

The Code of Federal Regulations has the following text: 

Code of Federal Regulations 49 CFR - CHAPTER I 

S.192.625 Odorization of gas. 

(a) A combustible gas in a distribution line must contain 

a natural odorant or be odorized so that at a concentration 

in air of one-fifth of the lower explosive limit, the gas is 

readily detectable by a person with a normal sense of smell. 

The presence of natural gas at 1.26% in air must be 

detected by smell. 

The odorant is strong enough that it can usually be 

detected by smell at concentrations below the lower 

explosive or lower flammable limit. Since there is no way 

to tell if the lower flammable limit has been achieved, you 

should treat all incidences where gas is detected as a 

potential for an explosion or fire. 

Ethyl mercaptan is a common odorant used for this purpose 

and has the distinctive smell of rotten eggs. There are 

other types of odorants or thiols used to give fuel gases a 

distinctive odor. Ethyl mercaptan is commonly used for 

this purpose since it is chemically stable when mixed with 

natural gas or propane, and it has many of the same physical 

characteristics of propane. One can be reasonably 

assured: if ethyl mercaptan's distinctive rotten egg odor is 

detected, fuel gas vapors may also be present. 

The odorant was required in fuel gas shortly after a gas 

explosion in a New London, Texas school. The explosion 

occurred on March 18, 1937, when a natural gas leak 

caused an explosion, destroying the New London school. 

The disaster killed in excess of 295 students and teachers, 

making it the worst catastrophe to take place in a U.S. 

school building. Experts from the United States Bureau of 

Mines, which investigated the incident, concluded that a 

connection to a gas line was faulty. The connection had 

allowed gas to leak into the school, and since natural gas 

was invisible and at that time was odorless, the leak was 

unnoticed. To reduce the damage of future leaks, and aid in 

detection, the Texas legislature began mandating within 

weeks of the explosion that thiols or (mercaptans) be added 

to natural gas. Federal laws now require fuel gas to be 

odorized, but there is nothing mandating what the odorant 

should be. In Las Vegas, the Mirage Casino uses natural 

gas in large quantities to produce the volcanic eruption in 

the volcano in front of the casino. The facility engineers 

did not want to alarm the public because initially when 

there was a slight wind it was possible to smell the mercaptan 

or rotten egg smell prior to the eruption. The solution 

was to provide a scrubber to remove the mercaptan 

from the fuel gas followed by a resin tank filled with pina 

colada oil. Now the gas smells like pina colada so guests 

smell a tropical coconut smell prior to the eruption. The 

strong odor of many thiols or ethyl mercaptan makes leaks 

quickly detectable. The practice quickly spread worldwide. 

A lawsuit was brought against the school district and the 

Parade Gasoline Company, but the court ruled that neither 

could be held responsible because at that time odorants and 

gas detectors were not required. Natural gas now has an 

odor similar to rotten eggs, or ethyl mercaptan, so that even 




MADE IN 

USA

Code Update 


the smallest leaks can be detected. If you ever smell gas you 

should not turn on any lights, use the telephone or do anything 

that could make a spark. You should open some windows 

and doors for ventilation and get everyone out of the 

building immediately and use a telephone away from the 

building to call the fire department and the gas company. 

Stay out of the building until you are told it is safe. 

Fuel gas odor fade 

Fuel gas odor fade is a serious, yet relatively unknown 

phenomenon. I have been a volunteer firefighter since 

1982 and I am a certified fire investigator. I also have 

investigated several fuel gas and propane explosions and 

in some cases the occupants have said they did not smell 

anything. There is a lot of data on the subject of fuel gas 

odor fade, but it does not seem to be widely known within 

the plumbing and pipe fitting industries. I would like to 

see the UA cover fuel gas odor fade in their plumbers and 

pipe fitters apprentice training programs. 

Natural gas or propane with odorant added has that distinctive 

smell. Natural gas or propane when in its natural 

state is typically colorless, tasteless and odorless. The natural 

gas or propane is often delivered through a high pressure 

transmission pipe to your local gas utility company 

with or without the odorant added where they meter it, 

reduce the pressure and distribute it in their local utility 

distribution system. The gas company also adds an odor- 

ant to the gas before distributing the gas. 

In new piping installations, all new gas-piping materials 

are porous and have the ability to absorb the odorant. 

Black iron pipe is the most likely to cause this phenomenon 

as the iron oxide and porous walls, if colder than the 

fuel gas, can condense the odorant and absorb the odorant 

in the dust, dirt, mud, iron oxide and pores of the pipe 

wall. Simply stated, the odor is absorbed into the walls of 

new pipe. The porosity of the pipe, the joining methods 

used and the temperature variations the fuel gas is piped 

through are three contributing factors to absorption of the 

odorant and odor fade. Oxidation or rust in the piping, 

along with cutting oils, water, dirt or any other foreign 

substances inside the piping system tend to absorb the 

odorant until they are saturated. Until the piping system 

has absorbed enough of the odorant to be saturated and 

essentially coat the inside walls of the pipe, the absorption 

process will continue and the odor fade will occur. 

All new piping systems absorb the odor. The larger the 

system, the longer it takes to “pickle” or coat the walls of 

the pipe with the odorant. 

Purging gas lines 

The proper procedure for purging a gas line should be 

to use a hose with a hose clamp of duct tape and route the 

hose to the outdoors so that flammable gases do not col- 




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Code Update 


lect inside of a building and create an explosion hazard. It 

only takes a very small percentage of gas in the volume of 

the room to reach the lower explosion limit (LEL). 

Natural gas can have a heat content or caloric value of 

950 to 1,100 British thermal units (Btus) per cubic foot 

(CF), and normally we calculate natural gas with the 

caloric value of 1,000 Btus/CF 

The specific gravity of natural gas is about 0.60 - .65 

(Air =1.00) 

Natural gas is lighter than air and it will eventually dissipate 

when released. The lower flammability limit for 

natural gas is 3.9 percent gas to air ratio and the upper 

flammability limit is 15 percent gas to air for the upper 

flammability limit. Below 3.9 percent gas to air mixture is 

too lean for combustion and above 15 percent gas to air 

mixture is too rich for combustion. 

This odor fade phenomenon is not a new issue, it has 

been known and recognized by the gas companies for 

many years. Most gas companies refer to it in their safety 

manuals and websites. Most gas companies are aware of 

the odor fade phenomenon and are required by law to do 

periodic testing of the odorant levels in the distribution 

piping and adjust the amount of additive as needed. The 

odorant must be detectable at a percentage well below the 

lower flammable limit. 

One-call utility location programs 

If someone is planning to dig a post hole for a fence, 

excavate to plant a tree, tear down a building or engage in 

any other underground earth trenching or moving activity, 

they should contact a utility one-call program. The onecall 

programs will typically send out people to locate 

underground utilities in the area of the proposed excavation. 

The one-call services are typically funded by the utility 

companies and they dispatch someone with ultrasound 

or metal detectors to locate underground utilities. They 

typically mark the utilities with paint or flags to show a 

contractor where gas, electric, phone, water and waste 

lines are located to help avoid construction accidents or 

problems. Some one-call programs simply contact each 

utility and they send their own people out to locate the 

underground utilities. Cutting a buried utility line can be 

dangerous, costly and inconvenient. 

When utility locaters respond to a utility location 

request, they usually mark where the underground facilities 

are in the area. If there are no underground facilities 

buried in the area, the locating personnel sometimes note 

this as well. This is often done by painting “OK” on the 

ground and placing a company flag to indicate which utility 

company has responded to the request. This does not 

mean it is OK to dig, it may mean that utility checked for 

their particular utility lines and did not have any underground 

utility lines in the area of the proposed excavation. 

The excavator must then correlate the responses with 

the list of notified companies to ensure that every company 

has responded before beginning the project and wait 

the required 48 hours. When excavating around underground 

utilities, the standard practice is to hand excavate 

until the utility line is located and then carefully expose it 

so the excavation work can continue. 

Color coding of piping systems 

The American Public Works Association (APWA) has 

Uniform Color Codes for temporary marking of underground 

utilities. The color for natural gas, oil, steam, 

petroleum or gaseous utilities such as propane or butane is 

yellow. The color codes are listed below: 

APWA Uniform Color Codes 

Red — Electric Power Lines, Cables, Conduit and 

Lighting Cables 

Yellow — Gas, Oil, Steam, Petroleum or Gaseous 

Material 

Gold — Communication, Alarm or Signal Lines, 

Cables or Conduit 

Blue — Potable Water 

Green — Sewers and Drain Lines 

White — Proposed Excavation Limits or Route 

Pink — Temporary Survey Markings, Unknown/ 

Unidentified Facilities 

Purple — Reclaimed Water, Irrigation and Slurry Lines 

Carbon monoxide detectors 

Not too long ago there was a code battle to try to get 

smoke detectors mandated in residences, dormitories, 

hotels and motels. The idea was to put smoke detectors in 

areas where people were sleeping to wake them if there was 

a fire while they were sleeping. Recently, there have been 

code change proposals to mandate carbon monoxide detectors. 

Carbon monoxide detectors are not currently mandatory 

by code, but they are common on most mechanical 

rooms with fuel burning appliances to monitor for deadly 

carbon monoxide fumes. I suspect that within the next few 

years, carbon monoxide detectors will be required in buildings 

where people are sleeping, because it makes sense. The 

technology is getting better and they do save lives. As a 

volunteer firefighter, I have answered many alarms for carbon 

monoxide detector activations. In many cases, there 

were problems with the mechanical systems where the 

occupants were tired and nauseated and flushed, which are 

all signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. We had our fair 

share of false alarms from low batteries, as well. 

It is wise to have a working smoke detector and carbon 

monoxide detector on all levels of a residence; establish a 

home evacuation plan. Stay safe, and don’t use an open 

flame to look for a gas leak. ■ 

Ron George is president of Ron George Design & Consulting 

Services. He is the former Chairman of the International 

Residential Plumbing & Mechanical Code Committee and he 

serves on the International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical 

Officials (IAPMO) Code interpretation Answers and Analysis 

Committee and the IAPMO Standards Council. He is active in 

Plumbing Code and Plumbing Product Standard development and 

consulting. His company specializes in plumbing, piping, fire protection 

and HVAC system design. He provides plumbing and 

mechanical code consulting, plumbing product standard consulting 

and forensic investigations and litigation support for plumbing 

and mechanical system failures. E-mail: rgdc@ronge 

orgedesign.com. Web site: www.rongeorgedesign.com. 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of 

the author and do not reflect those of Plumbing Engineer nor its 



Fire Protection 

BY Philip M. Awker, 

Futrell Fire Consult & Design, Inc., Osseo, Minn. 

Protecting fire sprinklers from the human element 

Fire sprinkler systems are 

designed and installed to protect 

life and property. Actuation 

of sprinkler heads in the event of a 

fire is desired, but actuation from 

damage or other causes is not. So 

what protects the sprinkler heads 

from us — the human element? 

Each year, some automatic sprinklers 

are damaged or compromised 

through accidents, vandalism or malicious 

mischief. This results in unintended 

discharge of as much as several 

hundreds of gallons of unwanted 

water that can damage property or 

could cause chaos for nearby occupants 

(ever been showered with cold, 

dirty, stale water?). Building operations 

can be shut down for extensive 

periods of time, and when the business 

interruption or temporary moving 

and housing costs are added to the 

costs of the building repairs, the loss 

can be significant. 

Although there have been improvements 

in recent years regarding protection 

of sprinklers during packaging, 

shipping, handling and installation 

(e.g., the protective plastic guards on 

sprinkler heads in the shipping box), 

some sprinklers fail each year due to 

damage caused by people. 

Currently, there are options to minimize 

the potential damage to sprinkler 

heads that have already been 

installed. The most common include 

the installation of the sprinkler at a 

location or height where damage will 

least likely occur, the use of the 

appropriate “Listed” head guard for 

the specific sprinkler, fully concealed 

sprinklers and institutional style 

sprinklers. Each option has its pros 

and cons. However, regardless of the 

options considered, the human element 

always enters the equation. 

Location & Height — Many 

installations can be designed where 

the proximity of the sprinkler head is 

unlikely to be damaged. For example, 

sprinklers can be located in normally 

occupied and/or supervised areas 

(offices, retail sales, etc.) with ceiling 

heights exceeding eight feet high, and 

in areas where equipment, storage or 

machinery are not an issue. Pendent, 

upright or horizontal sprinkler heads 

can be used if positioned correctly in 

areas where the potential for damage 

of any kind will be at a minimum. 

In most applications, sprinkler 

heads are installed in locations or at 

elevations where damage is unlikely. 

However, there are instances where 

protection of these devices must be 

considered and a few of these examples 

are as follows: 

• Warehouses & Mechanical/Service 

Rooms — Sprinklers installed below 

mechanical equipment or ductwork 

may be prone to accidental damage 

from occupants (“head-knockers”, if 

you will). Also, the use of forklifts or 

other equipment may subject sprinklers 

to damage. “Listed” sprinkler head 

guards are generally specified for these 

applications. A thorough review of 

building owner requirements and usage 

should be performed to determine 

where head guards should be recommended 

or installed. 

Sprinkler Head Guards — These 

devices are generally recommended 

where damage could occur to commercial 

sprinklers due to activities, 

operations, the use of equipment, 

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(warehouse forklifts, etc.) or machinery, 

where objects are hit, thrown, 

kicked or batted (school locker rooms 

& gymnasiums), where sprinklers are 

installed below eight feet above the 

floor, or in areas with limited or no 

supervision or where malicious mischief 

or vandalism could occur. 

Sprinkler head guards must be 

“Listed” for use with the automatic 

sprinkler they are used on. In many 

cases generic head guards should not 

be used because they could void the 

warranty of the sprinkler with the 

sprinkler manufacturer. 

Fully Concealed Sprinklers — 

“Out of sight — out of mind” is what 

generally comes to mind when using 

these sprinkler heads. The sprinkler 

assembly is located behind a plate 

that is generally flush with the ceiling. 

Most building occupants don’t 

realize that there is a sprinkler head 

behind the finish plate and won’t give 

it a second thought. The low profile 

of the concealed sprinkler may help 

prevent damage to the assembly as 

opposed to an automatic sprinkler 

that is protruding several inches 

down from the ceiling. 

• Schools, bathrooms, temporary 

residential and minimum security 

areas — Although fully concealed 

sprinkler heads are generally 

installed for aesthetic reasons, utilizing 

this type of sprinkler does not 

draw the attention to itself that a 

recessed or pendent sprinkler head 

might. Plus, the lower, almost flush 

profile of the sprinkler does not lend 

itself to as much accidental damage. 

Also, most people are not aware of 

the automatic sprinkler assembly 

behind the cover plate so there is less 

chance for vandalism or malicious 

mischief. 

Institutional Sprinklers — These 

may be the most misunderstood automatic 

sprinklers when considered for 

protection from the human element. 

When these devices were first introduced, 

manufacturers referred to 

them as “vandal-proof”. It was discovered, 

however, that there may not 

be an automatic sprinkler that is completely 

vandal-proof. Subsequently 

the terminology “vandal resistant” 

was applied to these sprinklers. 

Certain models, such as the old Star 

PH series, were standard response 

sprinklers that were popular for their 

construction features. But, when the 

Building operations can be 

shut down for extensive periods 

of time, and when the 

business interruption or temporary 

moving and housing 

costs are added to the costs 

of the building repairs, the 

loss can be significant. 

National Fire Protection Association 

Standard 13, Standard for the 

Installation of Sprinkler Systems, 

required quick response sprinklers in 

light hazard occupancies, manufacturers 

had to redesign their institutional 

sprinklers to meet quick 

response requirements. This resulted 

in a design change to the sprinklers 

that may not be as vandal resistant as 

their predecessors. Selection of these 

types of devices must take into 

account the usage of the building in 

each specific room or area and not the 

building as a whole. 

• Jails, Detention & Treatment 

Centers and Maximum Security 

Areas — Although designated as 

vandal resistant and not vandal proof 

by the manufacturers, institutional 

style sprinklers are still the choice to 

consider where individuals could 

vandalize or consider doing harm to 

themselves with the assist of an automatic 

sprinkler. The installation of 

these devices must adhere strictly to 

the manufacturers’ recommendations 

or they could fail. The suspended 

load (the link break-off weight) for 

the heat sensors must be taken into 

consideration, as it varies by manufacturer. 

A lower weight might be 

considered where juveniles are present. 

Also, the sprinkler assembly 



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needs to be securely attached in a 

manner where there is no movement. 

A review of the wall or ceiling assembly 

should be performed for adequacy 

of the support system and, if necessary, 

additional supports may need 

to be provided to comply with the 

manufacturers’ installation recommendations. 

Part of the challenge for designers 

is to select the appropriate automatic 

sprinkler for the specific application. 

This also extends to the protection of 

these devices that are not fragile, but 

need to be treated as if they are, so 

they are functional and can operate 

when you need them — not when you 

don’t. 

The building owner and/or occupants 

should be consulted when 

selecting the sprinklers and the proper 

method of protection prior to the 

design and installation of the sprinkler 

system. 

This only touches on types of protection 

and instances where protection 

of the automatic sprinklers 

should be considered. Each room or 

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Input from the building owner, 

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considered when evaluating 

how and where the human 

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protection requirements. 

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The hinged front and roof provide 

instant unobstructed access for 

equipment testing and 

maintenance after installation. 

area of the building should be 

reviewed to help determine where 

and what type of protection could be 

utilized. Input from the building 

owner, occupants or users should be 

considered when evaluating how and 

where the human element will affect 

the sprinkler protection requirements. 

Although the final decisions may not 

be perfect (if someone really wants to 

damage a sprinkler head, they will), 

prudent choices will minimize accidental 

or intentional damage to these 

devices. ■ 

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Philip M. Awker, Jr., S.E.T., is the 

design director for Futrell Fire 

Consult & Design, Inc., in Osseo, 

Minn., and has more than 35 years 

experience in system design, sales, 

project management and negotiation 

of projects and issues. Awker is an 

alternate on the Minnesota 

Governor’s Council on Fire 

Prevention & Control, has served as 

chapter president of the 

SFPE/MFPC, and is a juvenile fire 

setter intervention education commissioner 

for the city of Maple 

Grove, Minn. Awker can be reached 

by email at phila@ffcdi.com; or by 

visiting www.ffcdi.com. 

The views and opinions expressed in this 

column are those of the author and do 

not reflect those of Plumbing Engineer 

nor its publisher, TMB Publishing. 


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Modern Hydronics 

By Paul Rohrs, Radiant Expert, Biggerstaff Radiant Solutions, Lincoln, Neb. 

Doin’ the math 

Ask me what my least favorite class was in school 

and without hesitation I would answer math! (Yet, 

here I am 25 years later doing math.) At the onset 

of any hydronic job I always do the math. I start with the 

heat loss, boiler sizing with minimum and maximum radiant 

loads, what my labor and materials costs are and what 

to charge for the project. Math, pure and simple. It would 

be hard to complete a successful boiler change out, let 

alone a new install without some form of math being successfully 

completed. Okay, let me modify that last statement 

a bit: It would be tough to be profitable without 

doing the math. 

So, what now Paul? I can hear the snickering, “That 

Rohrs guy is on his soapbox about math. Big whoop.” I 

couldn’t agree more; but what if we can add a couple of 

components that will save us time and money? Bear with 

me and let’s do the math together. 

I hate air in hydronic systems. My disdain for air-bound 

systems ranks right up there with, well, math. I know several 

articles from multiple authors have discussed airremoval 

and air-separators, but let’s talk about components 

that we can incorporate that will give us an immediate payback. 

Before I get to the math, let me pose a scenario to you. 

Have you ever been in an apartment complex with fintube 

baseboard heat-emitters? You finish the install, repipe, 

or change out and then need to bleed air from each 

apartment zone. You get your empty plastic Folgers coffee 

container and your radiator keys and head up to start the 

bleeding. With no apartment manager on-site, you knock 

on the first apartment door. Grandma Jones answers and 

welcomes you in and offers you cookies, tells you about 

her arthritic knees and tells you that her kids never call. 

Before she gets to the grandkid stories, you politely kneel 

down at the first fin-tube access cover to NOT find the 

radiator 90 with integral bleeder, or the radiator vent. On 

to the next room in search of the elusive bleeders. Right 

behind Grandma Jones’ stash of Elvis Presley albums, you 

find the first bleeder and you are well on your way to finishing 

the first apartment. Twenty minutes — not bad — 

and three more apartments to go. 

Apartment 2, I knock. “Who’s there?” comes from 

behind the door. 

“Orange,” I say. 

“Orange who?” 

“Orange you going to let me in so I can bleed your 

baseboard emitters and get you heat!” After exchanging 

pleasantries with the tenants, I knock out units 2 and 3. 

One more apartment to go. No one home in unit 4. Now 

what? Call the apartment owner/manager again to get 

access or come back later when they are home. You get 

the picture, and after one hour of bleeding apartments 1- 

3, you are unable to finish your task and get on to the 

next service call. 

I have spent an hour bleeding fin-tube and I am still not 

done. Why not consider changing the game plan? Let’s 

add some ball valves, fittings and boiler drains so that we 

will never again have to enter a tenants apartment and we 

can purge all air from the mechanical room. Figure 1 

shows some essential fittings that can be easily incorporated 

into most hydronic heating systems. 

NIBCO makes a C✕C✕FIP Tee that will make it very 

easy to solder in and then screw in a boiler drain. If you 

are a ProPress shop, Viega and others make a 

Press✕Press✕FIP tee that installs even quicker. We are not 

going to look at cost savings of ProPress versus sweat fittings 

in this article 

because that could 

be an article unto 

itself. So responsibly 

adding these fittings 

can enhance a 

system so that you 

can purge very easily. 

In a very basic 

zone valve system, 

with the zone valve 

on the supply and a 

drain and ball valve 

Figure 1. A few fittings can ultimately 

save time and money. 

on the return, you can purge each apartment from the 

mechanical room. Manually close the zone valve, close 

the ball valve on the return, and open the boiler drain to 

successfully purge each unit. 

Okay, let’s look at the math for our 4 unit apartment 

complex. For a baseline, I am going to use $100.00 an 

hour for labor. This was on a service call so we also bill 

for our trip charge. 

4- 3 /4" C✕C ball valves @ $7.00 each = $28.00 

4- 3 /4 ✕ 3 /4✕ 1 /2 

(NIBCO #712 Tee C✕C✕FIP) @$6.50 = $26.00 

4- 1 /2" boiler drains @ $4.90 = $19.60 

Material Total = $73.60 

Labor Total at 30 minutes 

($100.00 hr as rate)= $50.00 

Total for Labor & Materials = $123.60 

(add for trip charge) 

Now with three of the four units purged in one hour and 

still one more unit to go, this set up is starting to look more 

and more attractive. Now factor in the next service call at 

this location when a zone valve goes bad or we have an 

issue in an individual unit. This has now more than paid 



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Figure 2 shows an example of purge valves on the supply and 

return, supporting air bleeding on radiant floor heat systems. 

for itself in reduced labor costs in the eyes of the owner, 

and they will be thanking you. 

We can look at this from another angle, as well. You 

will note that properly designed floor heat systems do not 

have bleeders on individual loops like radiators or fin-tube 

baseboard emitters. What to do? We incorporate our purge 

drains on the supply and return with isolation flanges on 

our zone pumps and ball valves on each return as illus- 

trated in Figure 2. In addition to providing a positive form 

of air removal in individual zones, the added bonus is that 

we have isolated the boiler loop with its typical 30psi 

relief valve. This means that we can use line pressure to 

fill and purge our floor heat zones, which takes a lot less 

time. This was new construction so it was easy for me to 

include this in my proposal. 

Before any hydronic system is commissioned on startup, 

it is air-bound. It is hard to put a price tag on frustration, 

but the hours of trying to purge a system can easily 

be calculated as labor rates dictate. Do the math for your 

own company in adding a few extra purge fittings, factoring 

in your specific labor rate and trip charge, material 

costs and the amount of time you estimate for bleeding air 

from systems. I suspect you will find that the math will be 

justifiable and your end users will appreciate the extra 

attention to detail that has enhanced their systems. ■ 

Paul Rohrs welcomes your comments. Contact Paul 

at paul@biggerstaffradiantsolutions.com. 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are 

those of the author and do not reflect those of Plumbing 

Engineer nor its publisher, TMB Publishing. 

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Model RHY2 

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2009 

Plumbing Engineer 

Plumbing 

Innovation 

Technology and Innovation of Low Flow Bathroom Fixtures 

The urgent need to conserve water has been the catalyst 

for bathroom fixture manufacturers to create 

products that minimize water usage while maintaining 

performance standards. The technology advances 

have led to virtually unblockable high efficiency toilets 

(HETs) averaging less than one gallon per flush and 

improved high efficiency urinals (HEUs) and waterless 

urinals. With more than 400 million toilets and urinals in 

the United States and Canada and the need to conserve 

water, how can technology and innovation help? 

Improving drainline carry 

Plumbing system design has remained nearly 

unchanged since the 1930s. The introduction of low flow 

fixtures has reduced drainline flow, but there are actions 

savings. The HETs are designed to work as a complete 

flushing system that takes into consideration waste 

removal as well as proper drainline carry out. The user has 

the option of a full flush that uses 1.28-1.6 gallons per 

flush (depending on model) or a half flush that uses just 

0.8 gallons per flush. 

Caroma uses “washdown” technology to deliver more 

energy from less water. Pushing waste from the bowl 

instead of siphoning allows the water to work more efficiently. 

High efficiency and waterless urinals are gaining popularity 

in North America, but some of the early experiences 

were unfavorable. Technology has advanced, however. 

For example, in 2008, Caroma launched the H 2 Zero 

waterless urinal featuring a unique patented cartridge and 

Innovative dual flush toilets save thousands of gallons of 

water per year. 

Washdown technology pushes wastes from the bowl, making 

the water work more efficiently. 

that can be taken to improve drainline carry when using 

high efficiency toilets, urinals, and waterless urinals. 

Introducing fixtures upstream from low flow fixtures 

helps remove uric salt build-up which could eventually 

block the line. Using a 45-degree junction instead of the 

commonly used 90-degree sweep provides better drainline 

carry. Finally, horizontal drainline junctions cause a 

reduction in drainline transportation because water is lost 

through waste backflow. The design of systems and fitting 

configurations must be adapted to take advantage of water 

efficient fixtures. 

Technology advances for water conservation 

Caroma, the first company to develop two button dual 

flush technology in the early 1980s, has been designing 

and developing HETs and HEUs for more than two 

decades to deliver the ultimate of design, water savings, 

and performance in bathroom fixtures. 

With Caroma’s high efficiency dual flush toilet technology, 

you don’t trade flushing performance for water 

Circle 21 on Reader Reply Card 

breakthrough technology that does not use an oil-based 

seal, as traditionally used in waterless urinals. Within the 

cartridge is a Bio Fresh deodorizing block that is activated 

during use. The Bio Seal allows urine to pass 

through the seal freely, eliminating unnecessary waste 

build-up within the cartridge. The Bio Seal also acts as a 

one-way airtight valve to seal the cartridge from the 

drainage system. 

Caroma also offers the Cube 3 Ultra urinal featuring 

Smart Demand, a liquid-sensing automatic flushing 

mechanism that detects usage rather than motion to activate 

the electronic flush valve, eliminating accidental 

flushing. The smart controller automatically reduces 

flushing frequency during periods of high use. 

The need to continue investing in technology for water 

conservation is more important than ever before. Caroma is 

continually expanding the boundaries of low flow bathroom 

fixtures while working with government and regulatory 

authorities to promote water conservation and efficiencies 

in plumbing systems. Visit www.caromausa.com. ■ 


High Efficiency Bathroom Fixtures 

Saving water at the touch of a button 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Solar Solutions 

Bristol Stickney, technical director, Cedar Mountain Solar Systems, Santa Fe, N.M. 

Bristol’s six principles of good solar hydronic design 

Solar overheat protection 

Solar overheat can be problematic. Even a fully functional 

closed-loop glycol solar heating system can overheat. 

This is most likely to happen when there is plenty of sun, 

but the heat is not being used. This can happen for many reasons, 

but most commonly when the heat is not needed because 

all the heating loads are satisfied, or because of a pump failure 

(or power failure) in the heat storage or distribution system. 

Heat begins to build up in the solar collector loop when 

it is not carried away to a useful heating job. Flat plate collector 

temperatures exceed normal design limits and then eventually 

reach maximum stagnation conditions unless overheating 

can be controlled or at least slowed down. The conditions 

that can initiate overheating may happen only once a year or 

even less often, but when it does happen, the results can range 

from annoying inconvenience at best to major heating system 

failure at worst. 

Minor overheating 

A minor episode of overheating is often accompanied by 

the sound of steam hammering in the solar heat collector, the 

propylene glycol starts to cook and may begin to turn brown 

in color, a plume of steam may appear at any open float vent 

and the pressure relief valve may begin to drip or spurt glycol 

and the temperature and pressure (T&P) valve on the water 

storage tanks may begin to dribble. The volume of liquid glycol 

that is displaced by the steam in the collector will try to 

seek refuge in the glycol expansion tank. If the expansion tank 

is large enough and was installed with the proper air pressure, 

this may prevent much of the glycol from leaking out the pressure 

relief valve. After sunset when the steam condenses, and 

the air pressure forces the glycol back into the solar loop, the 

system may actually continue to run normally, so long as the 

electric power, pumps, valves and controls are not damaged 

and the glycol pressure has not dropped to zero. 

This type of overheating is not uncommon behavior for 

older solar water heaters when their owners are on vacation. 

When nobody is using the solar hot water from day to 

day, there is no cold makeup water provided to cool the 

In this series of articles, I have been making the case that the key 

ingredients for solar/hydronic design and installation can be divided 

into six categories, listed below, roughly in order of their importance. 

1. RELIABILITY 

2. EFFECTIVENESS 

3. COMPATIBILITY 

4. ELEGANCE 

5. SERVICEABILITY 

6. EFFICIENCY 

The success of any solar hydronic home heating installation 

depends on the often-conflicting balance between any of these six 

principles. Finding the balance between them defines the art of solar 

heating design. 

water storage tank, which can overheat after a few days of 

clear, sunny weather. 

Major meltdown 

It is important to design solar heating systems to prevent 

these small overheating events because it only takes a few 

minor events to add up to a major failure. Every time the 

glycol cooks at stagnation temperatures it becomes a little 

more acidic. If it is allowed to cook thoroughly, it can turn 

to the consistency of brown molasses, which can clog the 

collector tubing. Steam and extremely hot glycol will tend to 

ruin the rubber seals in the air vents, relief valves, pump gaskets 

and expansion tanks, resulting in the inevitable glycol 

leak. If cheap plastic foam pipe insulation is used anywhere 

near the overheated solar pipes, it will melt and flow off like 

candle wax. Nearby electrical wires and sensors often are 

ruined by the high temperatures, and gauges can be ruined 

as well. If the overheating episodes are allowed to continue 

(even intermittently), it is only a matter of time before the 

glycol leaks out, the circulator pumps seize and the catastrophic 

failure is complete. 

The glycol fluid in this system is just as critical as the Freon 

in a refrigerator. Systems must be designed and installed ideally 

so that the fluid never leaks out and the flow is never 

blocked by steam or air. If we make our solar water heaters as 

reliable as a typical refrigerator, we are doing a good job. 

Reliability, in my opinion, is the most important feature 

required for market acceptance and customer satisfaction, 

which is why it is listed as “Principle #1.” 

Past approaches 

In the early days of active solar water heaters, the focus was 

on producing solar heat, not cooling issues. So, when cooling 

problems were encountered, the reactionary response was an 

afterthought rather than part of the original design: 

• The solar pump shuts off when there is no need for heat 

and bigger and bigger expansion tanks are added to try to contain 

the stagnation pressure. 

• When the solar water tank gets too hot, the T&P blowoff 

is used to cool it with make-up water. Cross your fingers and 

hope the T&P valve stops leaking later. 

• Seasonal covers are fabricated to shade the collectors during 

the hot season. These must be manually installed and 

removed along with the screens and storm windows, and the 

annual swamp cooler or air conditioner covers. 

• Manual valves or controls are added for night siphoning 

or heat dumping which must be activated by hand whenever 

overheating is expected. 

While all of these approaches can be made to work, none 

of these are acceptable under the principles that guide us here, 

especially Principles 1, 3, & 4. None of these cooling strate- 



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The Benefits of Using a Siphonic 

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The air baffle on the roof drain promotes full-bore flow. 

Full-bore flow within the piping reduces pipe diameter as 

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Siphonic action is independent of pipe pitch or gradient. Horizontal piping is not 

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Solar Solutions 


gies is ultimately Reliable enough, Compatible with customer 

expectations, or Elegant enough to be widely accepted in 

today’s market. 

Improving what you already have 

To improve the overheat protection on an existing glycol 

(flat plate) solar water heater you might first consider using 

what you have to better effect. If you already have an instant 

hot water circulator pump, make sure it turns on before the hot 

water storage tank gets too hot. A thermal snap disk control or 

set-point thermostat can be used to do this automatically. This 

can dissipate excess heat from the tank remarkably well. This 

type of control can also be used to run the flat plate solar collector 

coolant pump at night automatically. 

It is not a bad idea to install an oversized expansion tank to 

help prevent glycol loss if and when the collector experiences 

minor stagnation. The liquid acceptance volume in the tank 

should be at least equal to the fluid volume of the solar collectors 

themselves. Keep in mind that repeated stagnation will 

always result in premature system component failures. 

Some newer solar DHW controllers (differential thermostats) 

have night cooling capability (vacation mode) so 

make sure yours is programmed to take advantage of this, or 

consider upgrading your older controller. Keep in mind that 

night coolant pumping is not effective with most evacuated 

tube collectors since they are not designed to work in reverse. 

The solar coolant pump is the most critical component 

needed to provide overheat protection to the collectors, so 

consider making it non-interruptible. We do this by using PV 

(solar powered) solar circulators, but battery backup systems 

also could be used like those made for computers. If the solar 

pump continues to circulate even when the other heat storage 

and distribution pumps have temporarily stopped, you can 

gain a vital time delay before the system stagnates. 

Our most common strategies 

In the past decade I have designed and installed hundreds 

of solar water heaters and “combi” solar home heating systems. 

Most of these were installed in recent years by my company, 

Cedar Mountain Solar Systems. All of these systems use 

closed loop propylene glycol piping systems employing photovoltaic 

(PV) coolant pumps and flat plate solar heat collectors. 

The combi systems typically include a solar domestic hot 

water tank and some radiant heated mass floor zones all heated 

with the same solar collectors (and the same backup 

hydronic boiler. See previous articles for diagrams). Many of 

the combi systems also include hydronic baseboard radiator 

zones, hot tub or heated pools, ice melt zones and other heating 

loads all connected to the same solar heat collectors. 

1. Night collector cooling is used on nearly every glycol 

water heater, sometimes augmented with instant hot water circulator 

heat dissipation control. A small DC power supply is 

switched on to power the PV pump for night circulation. If 

you lose 20 degrees (e.g. dropping from 170F down to 150F) 

overnight, you are not likely to overheat the next sunny day. 

Temperature set points and differentials can be adjusted to fit 

the user’s situation. 

2. Collector tilt is considered on every combi solar home 

heating installation, sometimes augmented by a carefully

designed roof overhang for summer shading of vertical wall 

mounts. Seventy-five degrees is a typical south-facing solar 

collector tilt for a full combi home system (with no heated 

pool) in northern New Mexico. This steep tilt favors winter 

collection and rejects much of the mid-summer heat. 

3. Heat banking controls are included on every combi solar 

heating system, as well as heat dissipation (a.k.a. dumping, 

shedding) controls. Heat banking controls allow extra solar 

heat to be stored in the mass floors, water tanks or heated 

pools only as long as a high-limit comfort temperature is not 

exceeded. Heat dissipation controls maintain the collectors at 

a safe high temperature even when the heat is not needed for 

any useful heating job. Garage floors or ice melt zones are 

often used for heat dissipation. 

Other survival strategies 

In addition to our three most common strategies described 

above, there are other approaches to overheat protection. 

Most of these issues are not inherent to drain-back systems 

since drain-back collectors fill with liquid only when the solar 

pump is running. The use of a drain-back system is a valid 

solution for the installer who wishes to avoid most overheat 

protection problems altogether. (See previous articles for my 

reasons for choosing closed loop glycol systems exclusively.) 

Ask your preferred solar equipment supplier what is new in 

cooling. Solar manufacturers have been thinking about this for 

awhile now, and along with new controls, some have come up 

with other interesting products. For instance, Apricus, Butler 

Sun Solutions and Zomeworks each manufacture passive heat 

dissipation equipment that works by thermal expansion fluid 

diversion into a cooling fin system. They are each very differ- 

ent from one another. The Zomeworks product, called the 

“Tide Tank,” has a long successful track record for use in 

home water heaters, and a new stainless steel version is now 

available. 

Also, collector manufacturers are beginning to think about 

cooling. Some vacuum tube collectors (e.g. Thermomax) 

have a high limit temperature shut-off built into each tube and 

EnerWorks provides a flat plate collector model that includes 

a heat activated ventilation system built into the frame. 

In general, when choosing critical components for the 

solar loop like float vents, pressure relief valves and expansion 

tanks, use only “solar” components rated for high temperature 

glycol and high pressure survival. Some common 

hydronic components may leak after the first exposure to 

solar stagnation. 

Choose cooling methods that can be adjusted to keep all 

valves, seals, pumps and fluids below their maximum operating 

temperatures. Do not assume what those temperatures are. 

Look them up in the manufacturer’s literature. Use only high 

temperature resistant brands of propylene glycol manufactured 

specifically for solar heating systems. Not all glycol is 

created equal. ■ 

Bristol Stickney, partner and technical director at Cedar 

Mountain Solar Systems in Santa Fe, N.M., has been in the 

solar heating industry in a variety of roles for more than 30 

years. His new start-up, SolarLogic LLC, is developing the 

next generation of solar heating controls. 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of 

the author and do not reflect those of Plumbing Engineer nor its 



Solar Cooling 

By Bob “Hot Rod” Rohr 

Cool it, sunshine 

Solar-powered A/C 

What a great way to put solar energy to work, 

keeping people and places cool. Think about 

when we need cooling the most. Generally the 

hottest, sunniest days present the highest cooling loads to 

our buildings. What a great match-up for solar energy: 

leverage the energy for heating in the winter months, and 

cooling during the summer. The buzz is in the air and products 

are showing up on the market to accomplish this on 

commercial and residential levels. 

But thinking about it, we actually do solar cooling on a 

very large scale now. Most of our largest solar power generation 

sites are located in the sunniest and warmest locations. 

Solar power plants, Nevada #1 & # 2 , supply the Las 

Vegas area with electrical power via CPS (concentrated 

power solar.) A new thermal solar power plant is coming 

on-line in Arizona. Nellis Air Force base in Nevada has one 

of the largest pv arrays in North America. Individual businesses 

are adding large solar arrays to help power lighting 

and cooling loads. So in an indirect way, solar cooling 

already is in place. In fact some of our solar power generation 

stations have been running non-stop since the 1980s. 

New technology is being implemented to store the 

super heated fluids from CPS. One way to do this is to 

park the thermal energy in brine solution or a salt bed. 

This would allow the thermal energy to be used in the 

evening hours. Six-hour storage is already on-line, sevenhour 

is on-line in Europe and 12-hour storage is in the 

design stages for North America generation stations. 

Wind-powered energy is coming on-line at a strong rate in 

the United States, too. Large wind farms are up and running 

in the sunbelt states. Canada, with about the same 

land mass as the United States, is looking into wind energy 

to provide power to their 32 million people and export 

excess wind energy to American consumers. 

Solar roofing and facades could supply on-site energy 

to power small cooling loads. Check out this “solar tree” 

from Italy. It powers a ground source heat pump housed 

inside the structure. (see picture, below.) 

If this technology excites you, consider subscribing to 

Sun & Wind Energy magazine. Check it out at www.sun 

windenergy.com. It is now a monthly subscription and 

they keep a finger on the pulse of these technologies 

worldwide. 

Solar heating and cooling was installed in 2006 at 

Cochise College in Arizona. Parabolic trough collectors, 

6,800 square feet of them, collect and store the thermal 

energy at 260° - 280°F in a 7500-gallon tank. Abengoa 

Solar, a Spanish company, built and installed the system. 

The system heats and cools the building winter and summer. 

Energy Concepts provided a 60-ton ammonia cycle 

absorption chiller. 

Abengoa Solar will build the world’s largest solar power 

system near Gila Bend Arizona, able to supply 70,000 

homes. (www.abengoasolar.es/en/our_projects/usa/ari 

zona/index.html) 

Other schools are looking at solar as a means to provide 

energy. Los Angeles Community College is planning to 

have all nine campuses off the grid and produce its own 

power. More and more building owners are looking at 

alternate energy. 

Cooling homes with equipment powered by solar thermal 

panels is getting a lot of attention. Three technologies 

are being developed. Many of us are familiar with absorption 

cooling. Absorption chillers use a thermal compressor 

instead of a mechanical one. This is the technology used 

in RV refrigerators, for example. Small LP bottles typically 

power refrigerators on the RV. Large-scale absorption 

has been around for many years. Cities like New York — 

with district steam — actually run large commercial cooling 

projects with their district steam infrastructure. 

Thermafrost of Canada is working on a small two kw 

cooling unit, based on an ammonia salt solution. 

Adsorption chillers (AdCh) are also being studied. 

Adsorption uses water as the cooling medium, and silica 

gel, in some cases, as the adsorbent. Germany and Japan 

seem to be taking the lead on developing these products. 

On the residential side, InvenSor of Germany has adsorption 

cooling units in the 5- 50kw range currently available. 

These are said to work with a fluid temperature in the 

range of 113°F, well within the reach of solar thermal flat 

panels. (www.invensor.com) 

Climate Well of Sweden has 150 or so cooling units 

installed on single-family residences in Spain. They are 

expected to double their installations this year. 

Open sorption is yet another technology being developed. 

This method cools the air, not fluid. One advantage 

of dec (desiccant and evaporation) is the low 120°- 210°F 

driving temperature requirements. Www.ecn.nl has some 

good reading on this principle of cooling. 

The Australian research institute csrio also is looking at 

dec and expects to have a system for single-family homes 

to provide heating, cooling and SDHW. 


On the home front, Solargenix has two parabolic trough 

systems providing cooling to homes in North and South 

Carolina. (www.solargenix.com) 

You may recall the Servel gas- and kerosene-powered 

refrigerators, dating back to 1923. Incorporated in Indiana 

their slogan, “Serving Electric,” was shortened to Servel. 

For more than 30 years, Servel designed and built refrigerators. 

At the 1939 World’s Fair, it displayed the “All Year.” 

This was a residential gas air conditioner. In 1941, the two 

millionth Servel refrigerator was produced. During WWII, 

Servel built wings for the P-47 Thunderbolt. In the mid- 

60s, Servel introduced an air-cooled ammonia/gas fired 

chiller that could be used for ac or process cooling. The 

Robur Group of Italy took over the Servel gas air conditioning 

division in 1991. Robur Corporation was born in 

the United States with the purchase of the product line and 

manufacturing facility. In 1999, Robur introduced Servel 

chillers with a 30% performance increase due to their gas 

absorption technology. Watch for this company to be a 

player in solar-powered chillers and cooling equipment. 

(So we Americans are no strangers to this technology.) 

Solar Panels Plus and a handful of other companies had 

some solar cooling equipment on display at 

ASHRAE/AHR earlier this year in Chicago. Nice! 

Solar cooling is still a bit more expensive than current 

methods. I think we will see this price drop as more man- 

ufacturers work to develop the equipment. Solar absorption 

cooling has been researched for 20 plus years now. It 

has been proven to be workable, but economics thus far 

have prohibited large-scale acceptance and use. I feel the 

new administration will do a lot to drive this technology to 

the mainstream over the next few years. 

There is a huge advantage to being able to leverage 

solar thermal arrays for a year around load. The economics 

pencil out so much better when a consistent load is 

available. Maybe it’s time to breakout the old Servel 

refrigerators and power them with solar. These are interesting 

times for the solar cooling technologies. HVAC and 

hydronic contractors (roofers? electricians?) would be 

well served to stay abreast of solar cooling technology. 

This is the growth industry, my friend. ■ 

Bob “hot rod” Rohr has been a plumbing, radiant heat 

and solar contractor and installer for 30 years. Hot rod 

also is a columnist for Phc News and Mechanical 

Business magazines, and has been a longtime RPA member. 

Rohr has since joined Caleffi North America as manager 

of training and eduction. 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are 

those of the author and do not reflect those of Plumbing 

Engineer nor its publisher, TMB Publishing. 

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09-01621 



OWP/P: Th 

By John Mesenbrink 

The June edition of Plumbing Engineer’s “Engineering 

Spotlight” features OWP/P, Chicago. What started as an 

architectural firm in 1958 by three of the four name partners 

— Larry O’Donnell, Len Wicklund and Ray Pigozzi — 

OWP/P is now a full service architectural/engineering firm, 

offering architectural and interior design, real estate strategy 

consultation, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and 

fire protection engineering, telecommunications, low voltage 

and lighting design, energy modeling and energy audits, commissioning 

and sustainability consulting, with offices in 

Chicago and Phoenix. The fourth partner, Len Peterson, 

Peterson joined the firm in 1965 after having provided structural 

engineering as a consultant for several years prior. 

Of the 275 employees, the firm’s personnel includes 108 

architects, nine structural engineers, and 56 MEP/FP engineers. 

The firm was originally located in Evanston, Illinois, and moved 

to several locations in Chicago’s north suburbs before finally 

moving to downtown Chicago in 1997. Based on a desire to be 

able to provide a full range of architectural and engineering services, 

MEP/FP engineering was added in 1996. And, a decade 

ago, the firm expanded and opened its Phoenix office. 

OWP/P operates in multiple target markets, offering specialization 

in healthcare and hospitals, K-12 education, higher education 

and laboratories, commercial architecture, commercial 

interiors and retail. Additional specializations include data center/critical 

facility design and sustainability consulting. 

The following is an exclusive Q&A with Daniel Fagan, principal, 

director of mechanical engineering, OWP/P. 

What are your initiatives for the company? 

Fagan: OWP/P’s mission statement is: “We approach architecture 

and engineering as an inclusive art that serves the needs and 

responses to the visions of our clients broadly through a range of 

disciplines and deeply with the goal of achieving significance and 

value in the built environment.” 

In support of this mission, we are pursuing an effective design 

process that incorporates the participation of all consulting disciplines 

and trades from the very start of a project. We recognize that 

the biggest impact on the success of a design can be made when 

all the elements receive proper representation and the effect of 

decisions is weighed against all resulting implications. As part of 

this pursuit, we have the following initiatives under development: 

• Energy modeling on all projects, from the very start of design; 

• BIM (Building Information Modeling) for all projects where 

it will provide value to the owner and/or the design; 

• CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamic) modeling of critical 

spaces and non-standard installations; 

• Commissioning and/or retro-commissioning of facilities 

where appropriate and desired by the owner; and 

• Sustainability review of all projects to ensure the appropriate 

conscientious design features and systems are included. 

Let’s talk piping. What types of piping do you normally 

spec? Or does vary job to job? 

Fagan: The piping we specify varies from project to project 

depending on services to be installed. While most projects include 

standard piping materials such as schedule 40 black and galvanized 

steel, copper tubing, service weight cast iron in either hubless or 

hub and spigot varieties, PVC and CPVC, brazed, soldered, welded, 

threaded or grooved couplings, there are some projects that 

require more sophisticated materials. These can include stainless 

steel with welded or hydraulic fittings, polypropylene, polyethylene, 

PVDF, brass, or higher schedule steel (80-180). The decision 

on what material to specify can be as varied as the application. 

What is your pipe of preference? Why? 

Fagan: Determination of a pipe of preference is dependent on 

the system under consideration and intended use. It is not possible 

to have a particular piping material or joining method as a 

preference for all uses. Some materials, such as copper tube, are 

versatile and can be used for pressure applications, open and 

closed systems, drainage and gases. Other materials, such as 

PVC, are slightly less versatile, but can still be used for pressure 

applications as well as drainage. 

Most unique piping project? 

Fagan: Projects are somewhat like children, in that it is diffi- 


e design pipeline 

Chicago-based OWP/P is a leader in providing integrated architecture, interior design, 

engineering and consulting services to clients worldwide. 

cult to choose one as more unique than another. The surest way 

to select a project as unique would be if it was unusual to the 

point of being very rare. On a number of recent projects for an 

undisclosed client, we have utilized a water mist suppression 

system in lieu of automatic sprinklers for fire suppression. Water 

mist is a system designed to deliver water at a very high pressure 

(1,200 psi or more), through small diameter stainless steel tubing, 

where it is atomized upon discharge. Water mist systems are 

generally utilized in areas where reduced water discharge for fire 

suppression is desired. The systems have been in use in maritime 

applications for decades, and are often the system of choice for 

fire suppression in data centers in Europe. NFPA Standard 750 

covering water mist systems was first published in 2000; however 

there has been relatively little use of the systems for data 

centers in the United States. Our most recent project (one of 

three in which we have used water mist), involves a data center 

of more than 300,000 square feet, and forty water mist zones. 

What project (piping or otherwise) are you most proud? 

Fagan: Obviously there are more difficult projects and less 

difficult projects, and that would tend to alter anyone’s opinion. 

The more difficult projects tend to be the ones that generate the 

most pride. Difficulty can be a factor of the sheer size of a project, 

or the technical complexity, or the schedule for execution. 

The project that comes to mind for me is one that we did for 

Digital Realty Trust in Chicago that involved all three of these 

factors. This project was for a Tier 3+ data center in an existing 

technology center, which occupied 29,000 square feet of space 

on the sixth floor of the building. The data center design incorporated 

6 Megawatts of power, including UPS power and standby 

generation, 1,200 tons of cooling in a prefabricated plant that 

was assembled offsite and lifted to the roof of the building by 

crane, dual chilled water loops for redundancy, and a minimum 

of N+1 redundancy for all components. The $28 million dollar 

project was designed and built (from concept to completed commissioning 

and occupancy) in less than 12 months. 

What are some obstacles when designing a piping system? 

(codes, builders/contractors, building configuration, product, etc.) 

Fagan: The major obstacle for design of a unique or complex 

piping system could be the coordination of all of the items listed, 

but the most insurmountable issues are related to building 

codes. It is often difficult to address a complex issue utilizing 

available products that meet the code for the installation. The 

process can involve research into materials or methods that 

might be unfamiliar to the engineer, conferences with the contractors 

to develop consensus on the installation, and multiple 

meetings with code officials to explain a particular application or 

unique usage. In the case of the water mist system described, in 

one instance we were able to obtain approval for the use of the 

system in lieu of automatic sprinklers in the City of Chicago, yet 

were unable to obtain similar approval in a Chicago suburb. 

Any new piping technology the company prefers? 

Fagan: New piping technology is generally related to some system 

that provides labor savings on installation or lower material 

cost. The issue with these types of improvements is that in many 

cases the new system is usually less robust than the system it is 

replacing. One newer system that we have had some success with 

is press fitting for copper tubing. Press fittings utilize the same tubing 

as a soldered or brazed system, but incorporate a proprietary 

manufactured fitting that is installed using a tool supplied by the 

manufacturer. While the fittings cost significantly more than solder 

fittings, the installation is much quicker, and the joint is equally as 

strong or stronger. One side benefit to this joining method is the 

ability to make a joint without a torch, which is useful in renovation 

of occupied facilities such as hospitals. The speed of installation 

is also beneficial where a limited time window is available to 

perform the work. We have specified these fittings for domestic 

water, hydronic and gas systems, with equal success. 

Talk briefly of how your firm is entrenched in sustainable design. 

Fagan: OWP/P believes that the best design will always be sustainable, 

and because of that belief we have tailored our project 

process to highlight the issues most often attributed with sustainability, 

so that the right decisions are made for the right reasons at 



Engineering Spotlight — OWP/P 


the right time in the project. True sustainability cannot be executed 

as window dressing, inserted at the end of the design effort to 

improve the reputation of a building. True sustainability looks at 

all aspects of a buildings performance according to the buildings 

intended use, and integrates those ideas that are best suited to the 

needs of that particular building. The current popularity of “green” 

trends and the LEED certification process for buildings are the 

most recent incarnations of sustainability, and OWP/P fully supports 

these efforts. A member of the USGBC since 1999, OWP/P 

has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to assisting in the 

development of LEED standards through active participation on 

USGBC task forces. Roughly 50% of our technical staff are LEED 

Accredited Professionals, and we have designed more than 6 million 

square feet of projects (over $1.6 billion in construction) to 

LEED standards. But sustainability goes far beyond the LEED 

certification process. OWP/P has incorporated sustainable products, 

practices and systems into our master specifications, for use 

on all projects. We are committed to performing energy modeling 

on all of our projects, and reviewing the performance of the constructed 

buildings to understand the impact our designs have on 

improving that performance over time. The firm is also a signatory 

of the AIA 2030 Commitment, which requires annual reporting 

of our projects’ contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, 

water use and energy use. Additionally, we have hosted an 

“Environmental Awareness Week” annually for the past seven 

years, where we invite our clients and colleagues to participate in 

presentations by industry professionals and respected speakers on 

the latest trends in sustainable design. 

It seems that a lot of manufacturers are getting into the 

“green” trend. How do you spec products that are truly sustainable 

and are true to the application? 

Fagan: The key to specifying products that are truly sustainable 

is to understand the functionality and performance of those 

products and to consider sustainability from the perspective of 

operation as well as installation. Manufacturers often claim that 

particular products are “green” or can be used to obtain LEED 

credits. Some go as far as to claim that their products can garner 

a certain number of LEED points. In actual fact, it is the use of a 

product to provide a particular improvement in performance that 

is truly sustainable. As an example, consider the use of a waterless 

urinal vs. a reduced flow urinal connected to gray water. The 

result achieved could be considered to be the same; a fixture that 

reduces the use of potable water flushing. But the impact to the 

operator of the facility is dramatically different for the two products 

in terms of cost of operation and ease of maintenance. 

Please describe the “The Third Teacher.” 

Fagan: For almost two years, OWP/P has worked with VS 

Furniture (a German manufacturer) and Bruce Mau Design (a 

Canadian design firm) to develop research on the influence a 

school’s design can have on the ways kids learn and educators 

teach. We’ve launched a book (The Third Teacher) and a website 

(www.thethirdteacher.com) for policy experts, educators, architecture 

and engineering professionals, students and parents to 

learn more about the effect where we learn can have on how we 

learn. It’s a very simple, powerful idea, and we’ve had a lot of 

success in getting people to participate in a conversation about 

the design and engineering of a learning environment. 

How has the economy affected the way you conduct business? 

Fagan: The current economy has had a number of different 

effects on the way that we conduct business. The most obvious 

effect is the increase in competition for any and all work. As the 

number of projects moving forward has decreased, the number 

of firms pursuing a project opportunity has increased dramatically. 

This has forced us to search all the more diligently for 

potential opportunities, and to consider them in light of our ability 

to be successful amongst a host of hungry competitors. 

Another effect is on the type of projects that are available. The 

economic crisis is driving an increase in projects related to energy 

improvement, reuse and revitalization of facilities, as 

opposed to new buildings. Fortunately for OWP/P, facility renovation, 

equipment retrofit and performance upgrades have been 

a mainstay of our practice for years. Operationally, we think our 

integrated design approach is a real strength for us in a difficult 

economy, and we remain confident that this approach will allow 

us to succeed through any phase of the business cycle.” 

How can engineers/OWP/P better assist builders in today’s 

economic climate? 

Fagan: The engineer and the contractor have the same ultimate 

goal on any project; install the systems that meet the 

owner’s needs in the most cost effective and expeditious manner. 

In order to meet this goal, it is important that the engineer 

address constructability in his design. I have often heard it said 

that the best compliment a contractor can give to an engineer is 

to install a system the way the engineer has drawn it. This is even 

truer in the era of Building Information Modeling (BIM). The 

value of BIM is not in its ability to expedite clash detection, 

although this facilitates the coordination of an installation. The 

real value is in its ability to facilitate prefabrication of system 

components in the shop, expediting the field erection and quality 

of an installation. As more designs are performed using BIM, 

it will be important for the engineer to realize that what he is 

modeling must be built, and that prefabrication of multiple similar 

components will greatly improve the final installation. 

Final thoughts 

Fagan: After more than a year of careful consideration, 

OWP/P and Cannon Design have approved a merger of our 

firms, contingent upon favorable due diligence. This merger is 

anticipated to close in early July, and will make us one of the 

most formidable A/E practices in the world. The reasons for the 

merger are many, but most importantly an alignment of mission 

and values. We look forward to combining our experience and 

history into a firm of 1,100 individuals and 15 offices. ■ 


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Circle 26 on Reader Reply Form on Page 61

Siphonic Roof 

Drainage 

sure that this is acceptable to the architect and the roofing 

manufacturer as this may be in conflict with the roof warranty. 

Also, be aware that deflection of the roof may lead 

to ponding on the roof. If in doubt, consider a gutter or 

leave the cricketing in place. 

It is important to understand that rain seldom falls vertically. 

It is more often blown in one direction or another. 

For this reason, most codes and good engineering practice 

require that you add some catchment area for vertical 

walls above the roof. You probably know to add 50 percent 

of the vertical height for one wall and 35 percent of 

the height for two perpendicular walls. You probably also 

know that two opposing parallel walls will cancel each 

other out since rain won’t blow from opposite directions 

simultaneously. What about in a siphonic system? 

It is very important that you do not connect siphonic 

drains at the base of a vertical wall with those that are not. 

The flow rate of these drains is very unpredictable. The 

best practice is to create a catchment area equal in width 

to 50 percent of the adjacent height. Then, collect the 

drains at the base of the wall in a separate independent 

system. The drains next to the wall may be flowing at 200 

percent if the rain is blowing towards the wall. On the 

other hand, they may be completely dry if the rain is 

blowing away from the wall. Combining these with other 

drains could lead to insufficient flow rates or worse yet, 

air entering the system. 

Connecting roof drains from different elevations can 

often lead to problems as well. If the pipe connection 

occurs in an area of positive pressure, water can actually 

By Peter Kraut 

Inside Secrets 

There have been an abundance of articles and seminars 

on the topic of siphonic roof drainage. They 

have been somewhat informative, cursory and often 

promotional. What they don’t address is the question you 

all keep asking “How do I design a system?” Although 

this cannot be taught in a few pages, this article will 

endeavor to give you some insight to laying out and sizing 

systems. 

Roof slopes, cricketing and catchment areas should 

remain the responsibility of the architect. Sometimes, 

direction is needed or requested by the architect. A 

siphonic roof drain system can work with most roof layouts. 

Due to the higher flow rates in smaller pipes, siphonic 

systems adapt well to larger roof areas. Avoid small 

areas near the downpipe as these are subject to the greatest 

suction pressures and will be hard to balance without 

significant flows. Small high roofs such as stair towers 

and elevator overruns should spill to the lower roofs via 

conventional pipes or downspouts. It is easier to add these 

small flows to the flows in the main roof. 

Once the roof slope, ridges and valleys have been determined, 

the drains can be located at the low points and 

catchment areas can be determined through measurements. 

Cricketing will often redirect water in the valleys 

towards the drains. It is often preferred in siphonic roof 

drainage to eliminate the cricketing since this will allow 

several drains to share the same volume of water, thereby 

reducing the critical nature of balancing the system. Be 

discharge onto the lower roof. If it occurs in an area of 

negative pressure, air can be drawn in when rainfall is 

shielded from the lower roof. 

Multiply your catchment area by the rainfall rate in 

inches and then by 0.0104 to get gallons per minute. Use 

this value to select a drain from the manufacturer. 

Sumps around drains serve an important role in siphonic 

or conventional systems. They allow for the build up of 

a head water around the drain without ponding vast areas. 

This saves hundreds or thousands of pounds on the structure. 

Two inches is generally deep enough for most applications, 

but you will need to consult the drain manufacturer 

for more specific information. Snow melt around 

drains should be dealt with in the same fashion as a conventional 

system. Solutions include heat trace, eliminating 

roof insulation, eliminating pipe insulation or nothing 

at all. Each has their own pros and cons. Consult your 

architect or roofing manufacturer. 

Now that we’re inside the building, the pipe work needs 

to be laid out. Start with a minimum 24" long tailpiece. If 

ceiling heights require shorter lengths, some careful 

analysis needs to be made which is outside the scope of 

this article. Tailpieces should turn horizontal and run parallel 

before connecting into the horizontal collector. A few 

feet is often enough to reduce pipe sizes or otherwise balance 

the system later. All connections should be made in 

the side of the collector. If the tailpiece needs to be larger 

than the drain outlet, obtain documentation from the man- 



Circle 27 on Reader Reply Form on Page 61

Siphonic Roof Drainage 


ufacturer that it will prime. If not, specify a larger drain. 

It will be necessary to increase and even reduce pipe 

sizes to balance the system. Eccentric reducers should be 

used whenever they are available. They should be placed 

with the flat surface at the top of the pipe. Placing them in 

the conventional orientation will delay or prevent the 

siphon from forming. When used in the vertical at the top 

of a riser, they should be placed with the flat side on the 

inside of the bend. Never increase a pipe size in the vertical. 

The one exception would be if you plan on breaking the 

siphon. This is often done in high rises after a few floors to 

prevent the pressures from exceeding the pipe capacities. 

Sizing the pipework and balancing the system starts 

with a good first guess. A reducer is typically placed at the 

top of the riser, immediately after the system goes vertical. 

Siphonic systems require a level of detail in construction documents typically seen in shop 

drawings. 

This increases the velocity as discussed later. But what 

about the rest of the system? I have often heard that conventional 

sizing charts using 1 /8" per square foot can be 

cut in half for siphonic. A 6" pipe becomes a 3" pipe. This 

may be a good generalization for selling the system, but it 

will lead to hours and hours of re-balancing. Make a 

sketch of the pipe routing and try this instead: 

Take the height of your system and divide it by the 

length of the system from the downpipe to the furthest 

drain. Multiply by 100. You can then size the system using 

a constant friction loss in feet per 100 feet. I like to use 

Bell & Gossett’s System Sizer wheel, but any water pipe 

sizing chart will do. If your system is 30 feet tall and the 

furthest drain is 450 linear feet away (including a fitting 

allowance), you would select pipe sizes at 6.7 ft. of head 

(2.9 psi) per 100 feet. Use the drains flow rate to size each 

tailpiece and the combined flow rate to size each pipe segment. 

For this example, the required pipe size for 200 gallons 

per minute falls between 3" and 4". Make the segment 

with half of each pipe size. If the required pipe size 

is closer to 4", use that size for 75 percent of the segment 

length. For drains closer to the downpipe, recalculate 

available friction based on the shorter branch. In the end, 

you will notice that given similar flow rates, the drains 

closer to the downpipe will be smaller pipe sizes. 

As you work, keep an eye on velocity, especially in the 

larger of the two pipe sizes. Horizontal pipes must be flowing 

at 3 feet per second or more. In general, vertical pipes 

must be flowing at 7 feet per second or more; this varies by 

pipe size. Dimension your sketch and then input the data 

into the manufacturer’s sizing software. If you followed the 

suggestions above, there should only be a little balancing 

left. If the residual head at any 

given drain is negative, you 

need less friction. Try moving 

the reducer on that branch to 

make more 4" pipe and less 3" 

pipe. If groups of drains or the 

whole system needs adjustment, 

focus on the collector 

pipe sizes and their reducer 

placements. Your goal is to 

have +0.1 to +3.0 feet of residual 

head at each drain and the 

imbalance between them to be 

less than 1.5 feet of head. 

Buildings shorter than 15 feet 

should have a residual head no 

greater than 10% of the building 

height. 

There are plenty of resources 

for engineers. Rely on the 

advice of the experts that the 

manufacturers offer, but don’t 

give in to the temptation to 

stamp and sign their work. As 

the engineer of record, you 

should be in responsible 

charge of the work from 

beginning to end. You need to 

decide if this system is appropriate for your application 

and you need to ensure that the system is installed according 

to your design. When the installed system deviates 

from your design, you alone must determine if the system 

is still in balance and will function properly. Don’t wait 

for the 100-year storm to find out! For more information, 

refer to ASPE Technical Standard 45. ■ 

Peter A. Kraut, P.E., CPD is a licensed 

Mechanical Engineer in 22 states. He founded 

South Coast Engineering Group, near 

Los Angeles, California in 2001. In addition 

to conventional plumbing and HVAC projects, 

he has designed over 5 million square 

feet of siphonic roof drainage systems in the 

United States. He can be reached at 818/224-2700 or via 

email at pkraut@socoeng.com. 


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The German diaries 


From l to r: Jose Merino, Infiva; Frankie Jaen, Infiva; and 

Jesus Herrero, ElectroMec Corp., complete the Viega 

manufacturing & training tour. 


Deep into my conversation with Mr. Schmierer, unbeknownst 

to me, two more guys had arrived. When I look 

over, one of the guys extends his hand for a shake and displays 

an infectious smile that only makes you want to smile 

with him. This is Frankie Jaen, Viega product manager for 

Infiva, an industrial distributor of products for total flow 

management located in Puerto Rico. He is by far the most 

outgoing person on the trip, a social entrepreneur, to say the 

least. Frankie is accompanied by his good friend, Jesus 

Herrero, ElectroMec Corp., a soft-spoken, “muy inteligente” 

engineer from Puerto Rico. 

Next to the group is a gentleman who introduces himself by 

the name of Mock. Now that’s an interesting name, I thought. 

Never heard that one before. But before I knew it, I figured it 

was just his Boston accent. His name is Mark Perrone, purchasing 

manager, of JC Cannistraro LLC. A huge Boston 

sports fan, he is one of the nicest, unassuming guys, who we 

later found out was celebrating his 50th birthday on the trip. 

Following Mark are two guys from Florida, Dick Smith, 

Nagelbush Mechanical Inc., Fort Lauderdale, and Mark 

Foster, regional vice president, plumbing/hvac, HD Supply, 

Orlando. Dick, to me, seems like the patriarch of the bunch, 

and he loves to mimic Mark from Boston’s accent. You 

instantly can see a bond forming between the two. Mark 

Foster is the consummate professional in everything that he 

does. It seems he is juggling work from a half a world away, 

taking in all the sites, nonetheless. His avidness for photography 

is evident, as he shares all his pics with the group. I think 

the trip is good for Mark; he can relax and enjoy everything 

even while still conducting important business. 

Joining us on the trip is Mark Evans, director of sales — 

Viega Canada out of Alberta. With three Mark’s on the trip, 

everyone calls him “Big Mark.” But nothing could be bigger 

than his heart of gold. When he returns from the Germany trip, 

he is going to surprise his daughter with a trip to Hawaii with 

his wife. Again, cool stuff. 

The last two to arrive are flying in from Montreal. Carl 

Beaudoin, director of operations, Groupe Beaudoin, 

Quebec City, who, it seems, cherishes his time with the 

group as much as he does his lone adventures. 

Accompanying Carl is Stan Katz, president, Rojec 


Mechanical, Montreal, who with his 

slicked-back hair and his flashy necklace 

is quite debonair in his own way, 

and he is one of the brightest contractors 

I have met, explicating on any 

topic. We have great conversations 

revolving around recruitment of the 

plumbing trades to design/build contractors. 

After three hours of connecting at the 

airport, it is finally time to embark on 

our German adventure. The group proceeds 

to the tour bus, which is waiting 

in front of the airport. It is rainy and 

chilly, but I am ready for a nice nap! The 

tour bus has everything: a restroom, 

spaciousness, good conversation, and 

best of all, German beer! 

The start of the tour has us heading to 

Weimar for the night — about a threehour 

drive — with a great chance to 

catch up on some shut-eye. I fall asleep 

immediately, but about an hour and a 

half into the bus ride, I awake to the 

Autobahn in gridlock. An accident a 

couple of miles ahead has traffic 

stopped. As I look to the front and center 

of the bus, here comes that smile, it’s 

Frankie, “John, you want a beer?” he 

asks. And the next thing you know we 

are enjoying good German beer, some 

bockwurst — that Heinz the bus driver 

ing lot, allowing German travelers in to 

use the restroom, and cracking jokes 

along the way. 

We finally check into our hotel in 

Weimar and have a few hours to relax. 

When I come down to meet for dinner, 

more people have joined the tour. There 

is Katrin Wichert, a Viega employee 

from nearby Attendorn, the woman who 

makes it all happen. She makes sure we 

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are up on time (and believe me, with 

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sure that we are where we are supposed 

to be. And it is reassuring to know that 

there is somebody on the bus who 

speaks English well enough for the 

group to feel comfortable. 


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had handy — and again, great conversation. 

Jesus Herrero is in the seat right 

behind me and we talk about wind energy 

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The German diaries 


Also, I notice a familiar face, 

Christian Geisthoff, vice president, marketing 

and business development, Viega 

North America. Christian, a German 

native working in Wichita to help head 

marketing, is by far the tallest member 

of the group. He, too, speaks English 

well, and it is nice to have him part of 

the group. 

And then there is Jose Merino, president 

and owner, Infiva, an industrial distributor 

in Puerto Rico. You can’t help 

but be gravitated to him, and by the end 

of the trip he had offered me a job and 

had me moving to Puerto Rico. Perhaps 

in another life. He is part of the group, 

although he never joins us on the bus. 

You see, he owns a nice little red 

Porsche and keeps it in Germany for the 

few times he travels there. Tell him 

where our next destination is and he 

inputs it into his GPS. Needless to say, 

he is always miles ahead of us. 

Traveling the German countryside in a 

Porsche. How cool is that? 

The last one to join the group is 

Richard Lacey, Canadian Aqualine 

Sales, and manufacturer’s rep for Viega 

in British Columbia and Alberta. After 

the Germany trip, Richard, his son and 

Dave Garlow are heading to Poland and 

Eastern Europe for a vacation. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 — 

This is where the meat of the trip 

begins! With wake-up calls every morning 

at 7:00 a.m., Katrin has us on the 

bus by 8:00 a.m. heading to 

Grossheringen to visit the Viega manufacturing 

plant and training center. Can 

you say impressive? The Viega facility 

— which manufactures the highly-touted 

ProPress fittings — are state of the 

art. The size and scale of Viega’s production 

capabilities and the amount of 

production automation is impressive. 

Quality control is imperative, insomuch 

that every fitting is hand inspected. The 

plant was immaculate and the process 

was “structured clean.” 

After the facility tour we head toward 

Attendorn, the headquarters of Viega. 

The group was treated to a great night. 

We stop at the Atta Hohle, or Atta Cave, 

to tour this underground marvel of limestone 

stalactites. Upon finishing the 

cave tour, we check into our hotel, the 

Castle Burg Schnellenberg, a large, renovated 

17th-century castle, which is 


Since 1987 



now a hotel. It still features a 

Renaissance chapel and a castle museum. 

If you are ever in Germany and in 

the area, I highly recommend it! 

Thursday, March 12, 2009 — Rise 

and shine! Back on the bus, heading to 

Ennest to visit another Viega production 

and logistics facility. Three words kept 

permeating through me while touring 

the site: size, scale and automation. “I 

was surprised at the amount of quality 

control that they do and that every fitting 

is hand inspected. The logistics portion 

of the trip also was impressive. The 

mechanisms employed for storing product 

and picking orders for shipping are 

amazing. The breadth of their assortment 

and the products they provide is 

far greater than we have visibility to 

here in the States,” said Mark Foster, 

HD Supply. 

“The robotics impressed me the 

most! The machinery that made and distributed 

fittings was cool to see. What I 

thought was the most interesting in the 

whole plant was the 70 ft. high by 200 

ft. robotic storage facilities that stores 

more than 10,000 products,” said Sean 

McGinnis, J.J.M. Plumbing, Co., Inc. 

“The fact that Viega is a 110-year-old 

company, the two facilities that were 

shown to us were ultra-modern in every 

aspect, and what impressed me the most 

was the robotics and the cleanliness 

within the plants, as well as the efficiency 

in which these plants seem to work,” 

said Stan Katz, Rojec Mechanical. 

After the facility tour, it was off to 

Cologne to do some sightseeing and 

partake in a German “pub crawl.” 

The beauty of Germany is that you 

are steeped in history. Visiting the 

Cologne Cathedral is awe-inspiring. 

The cathedral is the seat of the 

Archbishop of Cologne, under the 

Roman Catholic Church and is 

renowned as a monument of 

Christianity and of Gothic architecture. 

The cathedral was affected by aerial 

bombing during World War II. 

However, it did not collapse, but stood 

tall while the city lay in ruins. “The 

Cathedral and Roman ruins are impressive 

and leave you thinking about the 

history of the city and the people who 

have lived there,” said Mark Foster. 

The visit of the Cologne Cathedral 

was followed by a pub crawl, administered 

by our personal Cologne tour 

guide named Uta. The group enjoys 

many kölsch libations, a local beer specially 

brewed in Cologne. A relatively 

early night for me, for tomorrow is a big 

day — ISH Frankfurt. 


Standing in the heart of the Heidelberg castle at sunset, members of the group include, from l to r: Richard Lacey, Carl 

Beaudoin, Dan Schmierer, Anna (a Heidelberg native), Frankie Jaen, Katrin Wichert, Dave Garlow, Anita Pilka, Stan Katz, 

Sean McGinnis, Mark Perrone, Jesus Herrero and John Mesenbrink. 

Friday, March 13, 2009 — Heading to ISH! I’ve heard so 

much about this show — the size, the scale and the crowds! It 

did not disappoint. Where in the States can you find 10 separate 

buildings — three-floors high — with everything to 

plumbing, kitchen and bath, HVAC, intelligent building 

automation and energy efficiency — with beer to boot? 

“The ISH show is more impactful than the one in the states. 

It is bigger, the displays and booths are grand in scale, and the 

show is organized in a way for people to find specific categories 

they want to explore. There was a large area dedicated 

to energy technology and I thought that was interesting. I also 

was amazed at the number of brands I had not heard of before. 

Plumbing is bigger than any of us really knew. Even people in 

the industry for 30 years were impressed with all that was 

available to see,” said Mark Foster. 

“I discovered new processes and technologies at the ISH 

show: a number of new suppliers who are actually available 

in North America; how far behind we are in North America; 

and how we are limited with the number of suppliers and 

manufacturers as compared to what is available in Europe. 

They are so much more advanced than we are in energy and 

technology, in architectural design and look, in manufacturing 

processes, in quality of product at reasonable cost, etc. North 

America has got some catching up to do and we’ve got a long 

way to go to get to where Europe is now, let alone surpass 

them,” said Stan Katz. 

To end a busy day at the ISH Show, we head to a nice 

Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Frankfurt. We enjoy great 

food, wine and conversation. What is a good night turns into 

a great night when we head to Heidelberg, check into our 

hotel, and the entire group settles in a great pub to burn off 

some of the day’s toils. (By far, that Friday night in Heidelberg 

was my favorite night. The entire group bonded, I thought, 

and maybe, just maybe, we became a family that night.) 

Saturday, March 14, 2009 — Today is a day to relax in 

Heidelberg. A beautiful day! Mark Perrone, Sean McGinnis 

and I take in the culture of this beautiful area. A walkable city, 

we have breakfast in the town square, which gives me a 

chance to shop for souvenirs for my family back home. 

Later in the day we tour the Heidelberg Schloss, or castle, 

around sunset and it is quite beautiful. The view of the city is 

breathtaking. 

Interestingly enough, Heidelberg was not bombed by 

Allied forces during World War II. Rumor has it that General 

Eisenhower had distant relatives from Heidelberg, and 

because the city was a university town and a cultural mecca, 

he ordered it not to be destroyed. 

The last night together, we all share dinner at a lovely brew 

pub, with a tour of the brewery. We enjoy each other’s company 

and conversation one last night, as we indulge in the 

German fare. 

Viega went above and beyond for me, and for that I am 

thankful. I learned a lot about the company, its employees and 

the German culture. It was really a trip of a lifetime! But don’t 

take my word for it, listen to what others had to say: 

“My favorite moments of the trip were getting to know the 

Viega employees outside and inside the workplace. Knowing 

that they actually tried to get to know who we are as people, 

not just employers, was important. I liked that they asked for 

my feedback on the pros and cons of their products. And the 

tours that Viega set up — the castle, the Cologne Cathedral, 

the exquisite German restaurants — it really opened my eyes 

to German culture,” said Sean McGinnis. 

And, from the poignant words of Frankie Jaen, “Viega 

knows how to take care of its customers.” ■ 

I would like to thank Dan Schmierer, Dave Garlow and the 

rest of the Viega employees that made this trip happen for me. 

I truly appreciate it! I also would like to think that I had two 

angels watching over me: Adina Barnes and Tricia Musgrave 

of Viega North America. Thank You! 


FIELD REPORT 

Taco design software and LoadMatch® 

single pipe system win project for design-build firm 

Anew medical building outside downtown Buffalo 

includes a Taco LoadMatch® heating and cooling 

system that allowed an area design-build firm, MJ 

Mechanical, to win the project by providing a cost-effective 

alternative to a conventional 4-pipe fan coil system 

that proved too expensive for the owner’s budget. 

The three-story, 65,000-sq.-ft. Maxim Medical Center 

is an outpatient clinic facility focusing on cancer care, 

urology and imaging. It features state-of-the-art linear 

accelerators for advanced cancer treatment. 

The original proposed HVAC system came in over budget 

by some $1 million, which prompted MJ Mechanical’s 

design-project coordinator, Drew Nowak, to propose a 

simpler, less expensive alternative that he had been first 

introduced to in 2007. His proposal centered on Taco’s 

single pipe LoadMatch system, which requires less pipe, 

eliminates control valves and reduces balancing valves to 

a minimum. 

The LoadMatch system is centered around small, low 

kW LoadMatch circulators. All loads in a LoadMatch system 

operate separately from one another, and the secondary 

flow that circulates through each terminal unit is 

Drew Nowak, MJ Mechanical’s design-project coordinator 

proposed Taco’s single pipe LoadMatch system for the 

Maxim Medical Center project. LoadMatch requires less 

pipe, eliminates control valves and reduces balancing 

valves to a minimum. 

independent of the system’s primary distribution pumps. 

Because it eliminates all control valves and up to 40 percent 

of piping, first costs are reduced with a LoadMatch 

system. Lower pump head and operation of the circulators 

to match the load reduce operating and maintenance costs. 

Nowak first encountered the LoadMatch system at a 

Taco-sponsored gathering of design and project engineers 

held in Montana. At the work sessions the LoadMatch concept 

was introduced and LoadMatch system design was 

explored using the proprietary HSS software platform, 

The three-story, 65,000-sq.-ft. Maxim Medical Center is an 

outpatient clinic facility focusing on cancer care, urology 

and imaging. 

which enables engineers to quickly lay out a complete 

hydronic system, making equipment selections and positioning/sizing 

everything from boilers and air separators to 

circulators and valves. Load calculations and schedules are 

automatically calculated by the software, saving engineers 

hours of design time over the same design accomplished 

by more traditional cad drawing means. 

The Maxim Medical project, Nowak felt, would be an 

ideal LoadMatch application that would still include fan 

coils but cut out a lot of the installation costs of a conventional 

4-pipe system. Plus, it would help qualify for energy 

grants under New York State’s Energy Research & 

Development Authority (nyserda) utility program. 

Taco LoadMatch specialist Jeff Pitcairn prepared an initial 

system design for Nowak using the HSS software; 

Nowak then finalized the design, employing just over 100 

LoadMatch circulators and McQuay fan coils, and added 

a thermal ice storage system to save additional energy. 

Nowak reports that the HSS design tool saved him almost 

80 work hours or the equivalent of 2-3 weeks of design 

time on the Maxim Medical building project alone. 

“Design-build projects typically go back and forth 

between the owners and the design firm, with multiple additions 

and deletions to account and adjust for. With HSS making 

those changes and recalculations is quick and easy. HSS 

is a lot more than just rendering parts and pieces on paper — 

the system demonstrates what the designer is thinking, 

where he wants to go with his design,” said Nowak. 

The Maxim Medical HVAC system consists of a primary 

(LoadMatch) loop and multiple secondary loops for the 

chillers, thermal storage banks and a fluid cooler. The 

main mechanical room is adjacent to the medical building 

and consists of two non-condensing Teledyne Laars gas 

boilers (million Btu each), a Liqui Chill liquid chiller and 

Taco-supplied FI and KV pumps, 4900 Air Separators and 


Nowak then finalized the design, employing just over 100 

LoadMatch circulators and McQuay fan coils, and added a 

thermal ice storage system to save additional energy. 

two expansion tanks — one tank for heating and the other 

for cooling. 

Outside the mechanical room are five Calmac thermal 

ice storage tanks holding a 40-60 percent glycol/water mix 

that is cooled down to freezing temperatures by the chiller 

overnight when electric rates are lowest. This eliminates 

the need to run the chiller during the day. The building’s 

chilled water system is supplied during the day exclusively 

by the stored Btus in the storage tanks. Nowak says that 

the thermal ice storage systems pairs well with the 

LoadMatch pumping system. 

Considering Buffalo winter weather there is a snowmelt 

radiant system in the immediate front entrance area, and 

the building’s main lobby flooring is also radiant heated. 

A separate mechanical room inside the main building 

houses Munchkin boilers and related Taco equipment for 

the Watts-supplied radiant system. 

Building construction, managed by Burgio Campo & 

Felice of Cheektowaga, N.Y., commenced in January 

2008 and construction and mechanical crews worked 

straight through the winter to bring the building online and 

ready for occupancy last June. Nowak says that his firm’s 

installers were putting up Victaulic pipe when the building 

was little more than a steel shell. The chilled water side of 

the HVAC system was commissioned last June and the 

heating side in October. 

Nowak is sold on the LoadMatch system for future project 

applications. Being a young engineer he did not have 

to jettison a mindset averse to trying an unconventional 

system like LoadMatch. “Everything’s new to me,” said 

Nowak. “There’s always a degree of skepticism, for sure, 

with something you haven’t used before, he added, “but if 

it works, and LoadMatch does, then why not use it?” ■ 



PRODUCT APPLICATION 

Thinking green can save you green — save time, water and money 

The use of pressure relief valves (PRVs) in sprinkler 

systems has grown over the years. Not only are they 

being used as code dictates — downstream of pressure 

reducing valves and on gridded systems — they also 

are used to deal effectively with the extra pressure buildup 

jockey pumps may introduce into a system. The installation 

of a pressure relief valve at the floor control assembly, 

or more specifically as part of the inspector’s test and 

drain assembly, 

has developed 

into the most 

common installation 

location. 

In fact, products 

like the 

AGF Models 

1011, 2511, 

3011 and 8011, 

the Victaulic® 

TestmasterII Style 720 and Guardian 9225 & 9230 

assemblies were developed specifically to provide a convenient 

location for the installation of a pressure relief 

valve and the drain line coming from that valve. 

As we all know, it is impossible to accurately perform a 

200psi system integrity test with 175psi rated pressure 

relief valves correctly installed. It’s a violation to put a 

shut-off valve immediately upstream of a pressure relief 

valve because it could allow the valve to be isolated from 

the system, thereby putting the system at risk. And since 

UL and FM both frown on field adjustable relief valves 

because the potential exists that shutting them down 

would also put the system at risk, users are left with 

installing the pressure relief valves after the integrity testing. 

Typically, this involves the draining of the system to 

accommodate the installation of the PRV valves and any 

necessary drain piping. 

Some products — like the AGF TESTANDRAIN line 

— allow the installation of PRVs after integrity testing 

without a complete drain down. But some water is still lost 

since users must open the valve to the drain position in 

order to isolate the pressure relief valve installation port. 

Now, however, it has been learned from Jim Lowery of 

Frontier Fire Protection, Dallas, of a simple, efficient, 

time and water saving method of installing pressure relief 

valves in AGF TESTANDRAIN valves: 

1. Install the system normally; however, at the exit location 

of your drain riser, utilize a nipple with threads on 

both ends. 

2. Test the system as you normally would without the 

pressure relief valves installed. 

3. Put a ball valve on the outlet of the drain riser in 

order to cap it. 

4. Turn off any pumps. 

5. Now go to any TESTANDRAIN valve and rotate the 

handle to the “drain” position, allowing water to start to fill 

the drain riser. In the “drain” position, the pressure relief 

valve installation port is isolated so the PRVs can now be 

installed and the 

water being drained 

is filling the drain 

riser. Install only the 

pressure relief valves 

you will be coming 

back to do — the 

bypass drain piping. 

6. Return the TES- 

TANDRAIN valve 

to the “off” position. 

7. Continue the installation 

of all of the 


(only) in the same manner as described above. Water being 

drained through any one TESTANDRAIN valve will come 

up against water already in the drain riser, thereby minimizing 

the amount of water exiting the system to the volume 

limit of the drain riser. 

8. After completing the installation of all of the pressure 

relief valves, and returning all of the TESTANDRAIN 

valves to their “off” position, open the ball valve used to 

cap the drain riser and then remove the valve. 

9. Now with the TESTANDRAIN valves in the “off” position, 

the PRV bypass drain piping can be installed to all of the 


because the TES- 

TANDRAIN valves 

and pressure relief 

valves are holding 

back the system 

water. 

The volume of water 

in a pipe can be calculated 

by the equation 

π ✕ r² ✕ h where r is 

the radius and h is the 

length and π is 3.14. 

So, as an example, if we have a two- inch drain riser, which 

is 120 feet tall, we can determine that it would contain 

approximately 4521.6 cubic inches of water, or approximately 

16.3 gallons. So the next time you have to include pressure 

relief valves in a 

10-story building, 

think about 

Jim’s method; it 

will save you 

time and probably 

500 gallons 

of water, putting 

some “green” 

back in your 

pocket. ■ 


Literature News 

Caroma products brochure 

Providing high efficiency dual flush 

toilets, high efficiency and waterless 

urinals and stylish bathroom sinks, 

the Caroma multifold brochure contains 

all products available, water 

savings potential compared to other 

toilets and an explanation of siphonic 

versus washdown technology. 

Caroma. 

Circle 120 on Reader Reply 

Form on page 61 

Commercial products catalog 

Moen’s Commercial Division 

announces the availability of its 2009 

commercial products catalog, featuring 

products that are “Built for the 

Real World.” The comprehensive, 

easy-to-use guide provides a detailed 

look at Moen Commercial products 

that offer durability, vandal resistance 

and energy efficiency. Moen. 



Sync condensing boiler brochure 

Available for the new SYNC condensing 

boiler, which is equipped with an 

advanced touchscreen control system 

(SMART TOUCH). SYNC combines 

stainless steel heat exchanger technology 

with modulating/condensing combustion 

to deliver thermal efficiency as 

high as 98% in low water temp operations. 

With models producing 1.0, 1.3 

and 1.5 million BTU/hr inputs, low 

NOx operation and 10:1 turndown, it's 

easy to see that SYNC serves a wide 

range of commercial applications. 

Lochinvar. 



Medical industry piping brochure 

“Providing Safe, Reliable and Cost- 

Effective Piping Solutions for the 

Medical Industry,” is a fully illustrated 

brochure that provides an overview of 

the company’s BlazeMaster CPVC fire 

sprinkler system, combination 

FlowGuard Gold/Corzan CPVC plumbing 

system and Corzan CPVC chemical 

waste drainage system. Lubrizol. 



Brochure on TMVs & controls 

Revised 16-page color brochure 

describing the company’s extensive line 

of thermostatic water mixing valves and 

water temperature controls is available. 

Brochure highlights the revisions to the 

Megatron system, photo mixing systems, 

remote shower control systems 

and thermostatic shower valves. 

Leonard Valve Co. 



Fire sprinkler piping guide 

Company has published a new comprehensive 

72-page CPVC Fire 

Sprinkler Piping Installation Guide to 

provide the fire sprinkler industry with 

its most comprehensive printed 

resource for technical data on 

installing CPVC fire sprinkler systems. 

Harvel Plastics, Inc. 




Product News 

7000 Flow Sensor 

The 7000 flow control module in its 

single or five unit configurations can 

provide 24/7 storm drainage overflow 

notification. With the design 

versatility of the 7000, it also can be 

used in rainwater harvesting systems 

for a first flush control. It also can 

provide valve actuator control for 

emergency water flow shut down. If 

you need to know when water is present 

and you want something to be 

done about it, this is the unit that can 

do that at a very low cost. Froet 

Industries. 



FreeHand High Efficiency flush valves 

Valves promote water and energy savings 

by using an infrared sensor beam 

to activate a flush cycle when a user is 

in range, ensuring efficient water use 

and the ultimate in sanitary protection. 

Valves also help to promote water savings 

with new low flow rates. Water 

closet flush valves feature a flow rate 

SloanStone® solid surface lav system 

Lavatory styles match water-efficient 

and durable electronic faucets with 

vandal-resistant sinks that stand up to 

any high-use commercial restroom 

application. Drain Deck styles feature 

concave basins with slightly pitched 

counter space between each basin to 

keep water from pooling on the countertop. 

The sloped, one-piece molded 

surface provides a sleek, clean and 

level appearance. New Bio-Deck 

lavatory styles are made from biomaterial: 

Ground-up corn cobs 

replace the petroleum-based material 

that is typically used in solid-surface 

systems. Bio-Line lavatories come 

with either oval-shaped, drop-in 

stainless-steel bowls or undermount 

porcelain bowls. Sloan Valve Co. 



Seismic bracing attachment 

Fast Clamp offers 12" of overall adjustment, 

allowing a rough-in style installation 

and taking the guess work out of 

cut lengths. The “Fast Attach” yoke 

SMART Tap® procedure 

SMART Tap® procedure for medical 

and process piping eliminates long, 

expensive shut downs of gas and vacuum 

systems. Shape Memory Alloy 

(SMA) couplings are designed specifically 

for use on medical gas piping 

systems. These couplings have been 

approved by the National Fire 

Protection Association for use in medical 

gas piping since 1987. Plus, they 

exceed the standard for a brazed joint 

and do not generate any contamination 

during installation. What’s more, the 

couplings are applied without the use 

of an open flame — reducing the risk 

of fire in a confined space and eliminating 

carbon build up on the interior 

of the piping system. SMART Tap. 



Master tempering valve series 

Series N170-M3, the next generation of 

master tempering valves for hot water 

distribution in commercial and institutional 

facilities, includes five valves 

of 1.28 gallons per minute (gpm), a 20 

percent savings from the industry standard 

of 1.6 gpm. FreeHand High 

Efficiency Urinal flush valves feature a 

flow rate of 0.5 gpm, a 50 percent savings 

from the industry standard of 1.0 

gpm. Moen Incorporated’s 

Commercial Division. 



design provides for easy installation to 

multiple hanger rod sizes. The Fast 

Clamp is available in two options: 

Figure 985 and Figure 986. The FIG 

985 fits either trapeze-style hangers or 

single pipe hangers and is available in 

two sizes: (1) 3 /8" - 5 /8" hanger rod size 

and (2) 3 /4" - 7 /8" hanger rod size. The 

FIG 986 comes in a standard 1 /2" rod 

size (consult factory for other sizes), 

and is designed to be the upper or structural 

attachment. TOLCO, a division 

of NIBCO Inc. 



( 3 /4", 1", 1 1 /4", 1 1 /2" and 2"), and is listed 

to ASSE 1017 and replaces the current 

Series N170-M2. The N170-M3 

has also earned CSA B125.3 compliance 

through IAPMO and carries the 

cUPC seal. Although the N170-M3 has 

been re-engineered, it maintains the 

exact roughing-in dimensions of its’ 

Series M2 predecessor, making direct 

replacement trouble-free. Watts. 




Product News 

Spec line fabricated sinks 

The “FS” SPEC-LINE Series fabricated 

sinks have been to company’s 

already comprehensive product offering. 

“FS” series sinks are constructed 

from 14 Ga, 304 material, feature a 

one piece front skirt and are NSF 

approved. Stainless steel legs, gussets 

and cross-bracing are all standard. 

Advance Tabco. 



UltraPress ball valves 

Milwaukee Valve has introduced the 

UltraPress full port brass ball valves 

for use in press-connection systems. 

The valve is available in both Press-to- 

Press (BA-480B) and Threaded-to- 

Press (BA-490B) 

ends. Designed for 

potable water, mechanical 

HVAC and process 

water apps, UltraPress 

offers a faster installation 

alternative to traditional solder or 

threaded joints. The UltraPress ends are 

designed to work with compression 

tools and equipment commonly used in 

the plumbing and HVAC contractor 

communities. Milwaukee Valve. 



Dual Test Kit 

Gives users an easy, safe and reliable 

way to fill, test and drain DWV systems. 

No more climbing on the roof to 

fill the system; fewer test failures; 

and no more wasted test 

plugs. Easily repair 

leaks at any level without 

draining the entire 

system. Kit works for 

testing with air or 

water. The basic Water Testing Kit 

includes a valve body, hose coupling 

and a 2" test cap. The Air & Water 

Testing Kit also includes a Schreader 

valve for pressurizing the system and an 

air pressure gauge. RectorSeal. 



ADA under lav insulator/protectors 

The new Handy-Shield MAXX offers 

advanced fire safety at no additional 

cost. Made with superior PVC insulation 

material that meets ASTM E-84 

25 Flame & 

450 smoke 

testing, complying 

with 

IBC standards. 

This 

presents a 

safer and better 

solution 

than PVC 

m a t e r i a l s 

which have 

no smoke 

testing. Features a more Universal fit 

design for brass and plastic P-traps, 

including fitting 1 1 /2" Sch. 40 traps 

and a new longer tail piece design. 

ADA and IBC compliant. Plum berex 

Specialty Products Inc. 



Hand washing sink 

The WS-1100 is an all-in-one hand 

washing sink solution that offers easy 

installation. Under one model number, 

the kit comes equipped with an 

integrated back-splash, single-hole 

faucet mount, drain assembly kit and 

wall-mount bracket. The hand washing 

sink is engineered for use with the 

ChekPoint EC-3101 electronic faucet 

and may qualify towards credits for 

LEED certification through water 

conservation. It is ideal for a variety 

of locations, such as restaurants, hospitals, 

schools and institutions where 

hand washing is required or heavily 

promoted. T&S Brass. 



Programmable monitor 

The Sidewinder EXM allows the 

Elkhart Brass customer to configure 

and program the right monitor for 

every need. 

T r a v e l 

speeds, travel 

limits, and 

stow position 

are fully programmable. 

The monitor may 

be configured for hardwired 

controls, wireless 

controls or both. All 

configurations and programming 

can be done on 

any Windows-based PC or 

laptop and then transferred to the 

Sidewinder EXM from a USB memory 

stick. Besides being both configurable 

and programmable, the 

Sidewinder EXM is sealed to NEMA 

6, which allows for full submersion of 

the monitor and components, including: 

the motors, sensors, harnesses and 

control enclosures. The Sidewinder 

EXM has larger motors; stronger, 

more efficient, planetary gear reducers; 

and upgraded swivel joints with 

true thrust bearings. Elkhart Brass. 



Waterless urinal 

Company understands the importance 

in preserving our natural resources by 

using eco-friendly materials to meet 

the endless 

demands of 

the market 

so the company 

introduces 

the 

w a t e r l e s s 

urinal. The 

urinal is 

designed to 

c o m b i n e 

attractive 

looks, vandal 

resistance 

and versatility. Constructed out 

of 95% recycled stainless steel material, 

the urinal requires no water and 

has a removable strainer. Options 

include ADA rim height, black matte, 

white gloss or other custom powder 

coat finishes to match your environment. 

Acorn Engineering. 




PRODUCT APPLICATION 

Siphonic roof drains as a value engineering solution 

Burns Brothers Mechanical, a MCAA contractor in 

Syracuse, N.Y., has knowledge of the efficiency and 

savings that siphonic roof drains can provide on 

large commercial projects, especially jobs with large flat 

roofs. As these types of installations work well with an 

engineered siphonic roof drain system. The building owner 

also knew about siphonic roof drains and wanted Burns 

Brothers to use them on the Carousel Center Mall project 

based on the value engineering benefits of the system*. 

The decision was made by the owner and Burns Brothers 

to use Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co.’s siphonic roof drains and to 

Carousel Center Mall addition – Syracuse, New York — 

Jay R Smith Mfg. Co. Siphonic Roof Drain, figure #1005 

install a siphonic roof drain system on the Carousel Center 

Mall shopping addition because of these benefits. The 

shopping mall addition is to be built in three phases. The 

project scope is in excess of 1.3 million square feet. 

(*Smaller Piping = Cost Savings: In a siphonic system, 

the pipe diameters on any installation can be cut in half. 

In other words, if traditional pipe sizing for horizontal 

pipe requires an 8-inch pipe, a siphonic roof drainage system 

can drain the same quantity of water with a 4- or 5- 

inch pipe. This translates to cost savings. There have been 

many cost-saving numbers posed but a conservative estimate 

is around a 40 percent savings overall compared to 

a traditional system.) 

The Carousel Center shopping addition is the first 

siphonic roof drainage system project for Burns Brothers 

Mechanical. To aid them with the design and product education, 

the Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co. representative in 

Upstate New York, Kolstad Associates, worked closely 

with the MCAA contractor during the design process. 

Mike Kolstad of Kolstad Associates knew that on a job of 

this size the siphonic roof drain system design had to be 

done correctly so that the installation went smoothly. To 

ensure the proper design of the system, the SiphoniTec® 

Siphonic Roof Drain Design software (by Rainwater 

Management Solutions and distributed by Smith) was 

used. Using the siphonic software provided many benefits 

in designing the roof drainage system for the mall addition. 

It ensured that all of the siphonic calculations were 

correct and that the installed system would work as engineered. 

At the conclusion of the design, Smith figure number 

1005, siphonic roof drains were specified and used 

with the engineered siphonic system. 

The siphonic roof drainage system is an excellent way of 

transporting rainwater from the roof to a single point of discharge 

from the building*. The full-bore flow of the siphonic 

system also reduced pipe diameter on the project and 

allowed the piping to be run horizontally. The horizontal 

piping allowed for additional open space in the mall’s 

design and did not interfere with the mechanical systems. 

(*Pipe Consolidation: The ability to run drainage pipe 

horizontally overhead gives the designer the opportunity 

to combine several drain systems into one manifold and 

one stack. So it is possible for a building's roof drain system 

to use one eight inch stack (just for example) instead 

of three eight inch stacks. 

Benefits of using a siphonic roof drainage system on 

the Carousel Center Mall 

• The smaller horizontal pipe diameters reducing material 

costs — 2", 3", and 4" pipe vs. conventional 6" and 8" pipe; 

• Labor savings due to horizontal piping — Less manpower 

to install as the pipe is hung without pitch; 

• Fewer main rain leader conductors instead of multiple 

rain leader conductors; 

• Less sleeving and coring — One main riser as 

opposed to four risers; 

• Below slab piping — Separate main conductors as 

opposed to several connection points; and 

• Maximum use of space without intrusion of piping — 

Avoid elevation conflicts with HVAC and lighting systems. 

Dan Grove, a project manager for Burns Brothers 

Mechanical, has been impressed with the installed siphonic 

roof drain system and said, “Anytime you can use 

smaller diameter pipe and less of it you really open up the 

ceiling, which creates more room for mechanical systems 

and makes the architect happy.” He also understands the 

importance of saving money for the building owner and 

stated, “We quoted the job using a traditional system versus 

a siphonic system and the savings that the siphonic 

system provided really opened the eyes of the owner.” 

The Carousel Center Mall is a massive project. It is still in 

the construction phase. However, most of the siphonic roof 

drain system has been installed and both the MCAA contractor 

and the Smith representative are pleased with the 

results. This project is a great example of how siphonic roof 

drainage can save time and money in a value engineering 

application. 

For more information about siphonic roof drains and to 

download the free SiphoniTec® Siphonic Roof Drain 

Design software, please go to www.jrsmith.com. ■ 


TAP INTO OUR 

RESOURCES 

IAPMO R&T offers 

certifi cation to every code 

and standard you need. 

® 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Letters to the Editor 

Dear Editor: 

I appreciated the strong emphasis upon “water conservation” 

in your February issue of Plumbing Engineer. 

(the cover probably should have said “water efficiency” 

rather than “water conservation,” since the content was 

clearly focused on efficient products.) I was especially 

pleased to see the excellent piece by stephanie tanner and 

sally remedios on the approach by Watersense to labeling 

showerheads. 

I needed, however, to make one point strongly contradicting 

what another author stated. In his article on 

“Energy efficient plumbing fixtures,” Jeff baldwin stated 

that electronic (sensor-activated) faucets save water 

and energy. In fact, there is no independent study that 

supports this claim. actually, four independent, realworld 

studies all show the opposite; that is, water use 

increases significantly with the replacement of a traditional 

manual faucet with the typical sensor-activated 

fixture, in no case less than 30 percent and, in some 

cases, as high as a 100 percent increase in consumption. 

Unfortunately, the message by manufacturers that these 

fixtures save water is widely accepted as a “fact,” without 

any proof whatsoever. 

Water efficiency advocates know that the motion-driven, 

sensor-activated flush valves and faucets on the market 

today are water wasters. slowly, we are convincing 

specifiers, lEED design professionals and others of this. 

sensor-activated flush valves and faucets (which are actually 

great products) should be sold on their hygienic attributes, 

not on the basis of unsubstantiated claims of water 

use reduction. nor should projects be given "credit" for 

efficiencies in green buildings when these products are 

installed. 

best regards, 

John koeller, P.E. 

technical advisor to the U.s.-Canadian alliance for 

Water Efficiency (aWE) 

www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org 

The global economy, locally — April 2009 

Dear Editor, 

I read your editor’s letter in the april 2009 edition about 

utilizing the local economy. I support the concept. 

However, I have heard from people many times that 

they are supporting the U.s. worker by purchasing a foreign 

auto that is, by your words, “manufactured” in the 

U.s. — like your Honda. 

It was not manufactured in the U.s. It was merely 

assEMblED here. Most, if not all, of the manufacturing 

was done somewhere else, and all the profit goes overseas. 

If you truly want to support the U.s., buy a U.s. product 

from a U.s. company that actually manufactures and 

builds the product here. It still may not be 100% U.s., but 

at least it supports more than a mere assembly plant. 

richard arper, PE 

stirrett Johnsen, Inc. 

Industry Movers 

Noritz America forms partnerships with The Roemer 

Agency & McKee-Nix and Associates 

FoUntaIn VallEy, CalIF. — the roemer agency and 

Mckee-nix and associates, two of the leading manufacturer’s 

reps for tankless water heaters in the United states, 

will now carry the noritz line of tankless water heaters 

exclusively, it was announced by yoshi asano, senior 

marketing manager of noritz america Corporation. the 

new alliances became effective on May 1, 2009. 

the roemer agency, which totaled sales nearly $14 

million and sold over 17,000 tankless units last year alone, 

decided to switch brands due to noritz’s unwavering loyalty 

to distribute their products solely through the nation’s 

industry wholesalers. With over 25 years experience, the 

company provides the information, training, showrooms 

and product support necessary for plumbers, homebuilders, 

contractors, architects, engineers, and designers 

who seek to continually provide their customers with the 

finest plumbing choices available. the firm’s territory 

includes all of texas (with the exception of El Paso) and 

oklahoma. 

WILO USA appoints management positions 

MElrosE Park, Ill. — amid continued growth and 

investment in highly talented team members, WIlo Usa 

llC announces two recent appointments: 

• the promotion of Mark D’agostino to the position of 

national sales manager. In his new role, he will oversee the 

sales management and selling efforts of the WIlo residential 

and commercial building services products 

throughout the United states. 

• John Fantauzzi as northwest district sales manager. 

John joins WIlo with an extensive hydronics background, 

having been in the industry for more than 25 years 

in various capacities including contractor, manufacturer, 

sales and technical manager. John most recently has been 

sales and technical manager for a hydronic manufacturer 

building pre-piped mechanical systems and was technical 

director for the radiant Panel association. He has served 

on various industry committees including asHraE tC 

6.2, naHb Green building Guidelines, and tile Council 

of america installation guidelines. 

Oventrop appoints sales manager 

East Granby, Conn. — oventrop Corp. 

announced the appointment of thomas J. 

Fullerton as sales manager. Fullerton’s 

responsibilities will include working 

with oventrop’s manufacturers’ representatives, 

as well as the coordination of 

the oventrop hydronic group. 

Fullerton has over 20 years’ experience 

in the field of hydronics. His experience Fullerton 

ranges from being a mechanical contractor 

to his most recent position as a manufacturer’s representative 

in new England. Fullerton will be based in 

raymond, new Hampshire. 


Industry News 


RIA addresses swine 

flu clean-up issues 

ColUMbIa, MD. — based on concerns 

regarding the transmission of and clean 

up from the H1n1 (swine) influenza 

virus, the restoration Industry 

association (rIa) provides recommendations 

for cleaning and restoration 

professionals, as well as building 

services personnel called in for remediation 

following an outbreak. 

the H1n1 flu is considered a type 

a influenza virus, so the normal protocols 

followed for outbreaks of 

norovirus and other types of flu 

should be utilized. according to the 

Dept. of Health & Human services 

pandemic website, survival times for 

influenza a particles on surfaces vary 

from 8-12 hours on paper or cloth to 

24-48 hours in ambient temperatures 

on non-porous surfaces such as doorknobs, 

counters, desks and the like. 

When surfaces are wet, the influenza 

a virus can survive up to 72 hours. 

Microbial contaminants should be 

removed with damp wiping, air scrubbing, 

and other methods that will 

effectively eliminate them from the 

environment. the EPa believes that 

currently registered influenza a virus 

products will be effective against the 

2009-H1n1 virus. Products should be 

used in accordance with the instructions 

on the label. 

recommended personal protective 

equipment for remediation professionals 

includes: disposable tyvek® 

suits; shoe covers/booties; non-permeable 

gloves; splash resistant goggles 

and an n-95 or higher filtering 

facepiece respirator certified by 

nIosH and appropriately fit-tested. 

a fact sheet on cleaning and remediation 

recommendations for the H1n1 

influenza is available from rIa by visiting 

www.restorationindustry.org. 

superior chlorine and UV protection 

of FlowGuard Flex PEX pipe. 

Joining these two proven products is 

the versatile FlowGuard MultiPort 

CPVC manifold system. 

the new system offers the ideal 

solution for commercial plumbers 

seeking an alternative that’s bottomline 

oriented, as well as highly reliable. 

the unique system offers the flexibility 

of PEX for lines up to 1” and 

reduces the number of joints behind 

the wall. It also offers all the benefits 

of an all-CPVC system, including fast 

and easy installation, labor savings and 

proven reliability. since the complete 

system (including mains, risers and 

branch lines) consists of non-metallic 

pipe, additional advantages include 

corrosion and scale resistance, noise 

reduction, lightweight design, uncompromised 

water quality, greater energy 

efficiency, and less condensation than 

metallic alternatives. 

the system’s unique FlowGuard 

MultiPort CPVC manifold is available 

from 1" to 2" with a variable number of 

ports to provide a highly versatile and 

efficient option for joining FlowGuard 

Gold CPVC pipe to FlowGuard Flex 


Hybrid CPVC/PEX system 

offers flexibility 


Since 1999 

ClEVElanD — an innovative hybrid 


plumbing system from FbC 

building solutions combines the reliable 

performance of FlowGuard 

Gold®/Corzan® CPVC pipe with the 



Classified Ads 

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY 

Quietside Corporation 

Application Engineers 

A leading manufacturer of 

residential/light commercial 

Ductless Mini-Split Air 

Conditioners, Unitary Air 

Conditioning, Dual Purpose 

Water Heater, Tank Less Water 

Heater and Variable refrigerant 

flow (VRF) products is seeking 

Application Engineers for its 

operations in North America. 

Those individuals that wish to 

be a part of a dynamic organization 

renowned for excellence 

should consider this an exceptional 

opportunity. 

Application Engineer: Ideally 

Requires Mechanical 

Engineering Degree, however, 

relevant experience will also be 

accepted. Responsibilities 

include support for VRF and 

other product lines, including 

application support, preparation 

of submittals and project layouts. 

RON GEORGE DESIGN & 

CONSULTING SERVICES 

Plumbing, Piping, Fire 

Protection and HVAC 

System Design; forensic 

investigations for mechanical 

system failures; litigation 

support; code and standard 

consulting; technical writing 

and training seminars; and 

CAD services. 

3525 N. Dixie Hwy., 

Monroe, MI 48162 

Phone: (734) 322-0225 

E-mail: 

rgdc@rongeorgedesign.com 

Website: 

www.rongeorgedesign.com 

Location: Carlisle, PA, Los 

Angeles CA, Fort Worth TX 

The candidate must have a minimum 

of 3 years technical experience; 

possess strong steadfast 

commitment to work as part of 

a team. Good analytical skills, 

personal and professional 

ethics, with an overwhelming 

desire to exceed the expectations 

of customers and representatives 

are prerequisites. 

Skill set must include: excellent 

interpersonal ability, communication, 

follow-up and proficiency 

with MS computer applications. 

Please send resumé with salary 

history to: 

Quietside Corporation 

8750 Pioneer Blvd., 

Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 

Attn: Helen Jang 

To place a classified ad in 

Plumbing Engineer please 

contact Debbie Newberg at 

847-564-1127 or e-mail her at 

debbie@tmbpublishing.com 


Advertiser Index 

Acorn Aqua ...........................................47 

Anvil.......................................................41 

Bradley...................................................17 

Caroma ..................................................31 

Froet ......................................................46 

Haws........................................................5 

Holby......................................................10 

Hot Box .................................................24 

Hydrotek ................................................18 

ICC .........................................................37 

IAPMO ...............................................5, 57 

Josam.............................................11, 63 

Leonard Valve .........................................7 

Liberty Pumps ......................................45 

Mifab...............................................43, 51 

Moen......................................................13 

Navien ...................................................23 

New Jersey State League 

of Master Plumbers ..........................25 

The Noble Company .............................21 

Plumberex ...............................................3 

Precision Hydronic Products ...............28 

Rockford Seperators......................34, 35 

See Water Inc.......................................14 

Sioux Chief................................4, 48, 59 

Sloan Valve Company.............................9 

Smith Mfg. Co. 

Jay R. ...............................................33 

Stiebel Eltron ........................................27 

Watts .....................................................19 

Webstone.................................................2 

Wilkins...................................................64 

Woodford Mfg. Co. ...............................29 

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I am also engaged in the following kinds of engineering work: 

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c Sprinkler/Fire Protection (e) 

I am employed by one of the following: 

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Industry News 


PEX piping. Since there are no mechanical joints involved 

with the product, contractors can quickly and effectively create 

a reliable central or remote manifold system. 

Anvil enhances sales & distribution operations 

PoRTSMoUTh, N.h. — Anvil International, a subsidiary of 

Mueller Water Products, Inc., has announced two in-state 

facility relocations. 

Anvil relocated one 

of its four major 

regional service centers 

from Grand 

Prairie to Irving, 

Texas, as well as a 

distribution facility 

located in Santa Fe 

Springs to ontario, Calif., both operational in April, 2009. 

Foundry’s cast iron pipe and fittings for the plumbing. 

Cast iron is a resilient product that has been in use, and 

in some cases still is in use, for over 100 years. It is manufactured 

from 100 percent post-consumer recycled scrap 

iron and steel, and at the end of the life of a building the 

piping can be recovered and recycled to make new cast 

iron products. 

The This Old House episode featuring Charlotte Pipe and 

Foundry shows plumbing and heating expert Richard 

Trethewey, a long-time, loyal Charlotte Pipe customer, 

meeting electrical contractor Vinny Verderosa for a look at 

how the new electrical service is set up for the three-family 

CLSE adds pressure reducing valves seminar 

dALLAS — The Center For Life Safety Education (CLSE) 

has expanded its online educational offerings for the fire 

service and other Authorities having Jurisdiction (AhJ) to 

include a new 70-minute seminar, “Pressure Reducing 

Valves.” 

Presented from an AhJ’s point of view, this pressure 

reducing valves seminar presented by Rick Matsuda, P.E., a 

fire protection engineer for the City of dallas, Building 

Inspection division, will benefit fire department and building 

code authorities who inspect or approve fire sprinkler 

systems, as well as the contractors and layout technicians 

who design and install the systems. 

This seminar will help the listener to better understand the 

background, history and characteristics of pressure-reducing 

valves (PRVs), as well as how to identify makes/models. It 

will cover NFPA Standard requirements that address PRVs, 

including NFPA 13: Standard for the Installation of 

Sprinkler Systems, NFPA14: Standard for the Installation of 

Standpipes and hose Systems, and definitions (per NFPA 

14). It will also explain direct-acting PRVs; factory set and 

field adjustable types; sprinkler floor control valves (generally 

in-line type); standpipe hose valves (generally angle 

type); and pressure control valves. 

New to the center’s training repertoire, this new online 

seminar, available at CLSE.org, is an update to a telephone 

seminar previously presented by CLSE in 2003. Attendees 

earn 0.10 CEUs or 1.0 CPds (if applicable to your skill 

level as determined by NICET) upon completion if credit is 

requested. Cost is $15 without credit, and $20 with 

CEU/CPd certificate. 

Charlotte Pipe featured on This Old House 

Charlotte, N.C. — When popular PBS home improvement 

series This Old House tackled its first-ever New York City 

project, the contractors chose Charlotte Pipe and 

brownstone in Brooklyn. Trethewey also meets local plumbing 

and heating contractor Randy Gitli for a look at their 

progress on the cast iron waste piping, and the home’s 

mechanical room, which contains two complete heating systems, 

one for the ground floor apartment, and another for the 

top three floors. For more information about this episode 

(#2824), visit the This Old House website www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/house-project/overview/0,,20238790,00.html 

and to find scheduled air dates check 

www.thisoldhouse.com/tvschedule or your local listings. 

NOTIFIER to conduct free seminars 

NoRThFoRd, CoNN. — NoTIFIER will be hosting a series 

of free, half-day seminars for anyone responsible for the 

design, selection and operation of fire and life safety systems 

in commercial, educational, industrial, retail, healthcare 

and hospitality facilities. Attendees will learn how 

changing Mass Notification codes and advancing gas 

detection technologies will impact them, their properties 

and, most importantly, occupant safety. 

There is a wide range of Mass Notification solutions 

available today, some of which are UL listed for life safety 

and others that are not — a difference that all facility 

managers and building owners should fully understand. 

In addition to Mass Notification, NoTIFIER’s 

Complete Life Safety Seminars will also demonstrate how 

gas detection can give your employees, customers, and 

tenants an added level of protection. 

Seminars will be held in New York, Chicago, 

Baltimore, Charlotte, oakland, houston, orlando, and 

Atlanta. For dates, locations and register information, visit 

www.notifier.com.

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