Jamie Holmes
Registered User
I was introduced to this section of the code for the first time in a recent plan review. I'm still scratching my head. Our plumbing specialist and I read and re read this and the subsequent sections many times. The official stated that since we were using 1/2" NP pipe (Which was fully insulated) from the instant water heater to the check valve below the public lavatories (2 men's and 2 women's) in a park restroom building, that this tempered water supply pipe could only be 2' in length. In order to make the corrections to the plans as he indicated we ended up adding a second instant water heater, because the restrooms are divided by a 6' wide mechanical chase and there was no other way to reach all 4 lavs with 2' of pipe. Fast forward to this moment> same type of building but the state this building is going to requires tempered water supply pipe to be a minimum of 3/4" NP. According to Table C404.5.1 I have 6" of pipe to go from the water heater outlet to the angle stop for 4 public lavatories from a mechanical chase which is separated from the restrooms by a 4" thick CMU wall. If this officials interpretation is correct, I would need to install a water heater under each lavatory where it would be subject to the vandalism we all know happens in public park restrooms or install a circulation system. Customers don't choose the expensive way to meet the code when we hit a wall like this. They would rather put a 2.5 gallon storage water heater at each sink rather than pay to put in a circulation system because they can buy these little water heaters cheap. I wonder where the energy conservation is in this method.
So, my question; Is the interpretation we were given by the code official how you interpret this code? I feel like we're missing something.
So, my question; Is the interpretation we were given by the code official how you interpret this code? I feel like we're missing something.