Hot Topics with Hot Rod Episode 4: Maintaining Safe Water Building Systems

Hi Bob @hot_rod, I do have a question. Pipe sizing by code results in lines that are far bigger than is actually needed to deliver water. Fixture water usage has been dropping for decades yet pipe size remains the same. This slows flow in the lines, encouraging biofilm and bacterial growth. How do we bring pipe size into the modern world?

Yours, Larry

Hi @hot_rod , Yes, I've known Gary for nearly thirty years. I've gotten to watch the uphill battle, of trying to bring code into the present. I've worked directly with Gary to do flow testing of all sorts of pipe and fittings to see what really happens. Gary taught me to think in terms of "volume of water in the pipe", to understand how DHW systems will perform. A rather old fudge factor was to size the pipe one bigger, because when we used steel pipe it was known that it would in time fill with rust. The upsizing allowed more time before the pipe needed to be replaced. We then followed that sizing with modern materials...

Maybe Pete Skinner is involved in those three buildings? Pete has been doing some fun appropriate pipe sizing and solar work in New York.

Anyway, the "bugs in pipes" problem is actually making people sicker than ever and it would be wonderful to find a way to change the rules sooner than later.

Yours, Larry