Architectural Paper (Plumbing System Paper 5000 Words)

Introduction: Based on years of practical engineering design experience and in accordance with national standard requirements, this paper discusses some characteristics of plumbing system design in newly developed residential buildings.

Keywords: Residential Plumbing Design, Water Meter Installation, Pipeline Layout

1. Water Meter Installation and Water Supply Branch Pipe Layout:

1. Regarding water meter installation. For a long time, unit residential water meters were generally installed indoors in concentrated water use areas such as kitchens or bathrooms. For residences with numerous and dispersed water points, multiple water meters might be installed per household. However, increasing attention is being paid to the many problems caused by indoor water meters, including disruptions to normal life due to meter reading visits and potential risks like home invasion, compromising residential privacy and security; the difficulty and high labor intensity for management personnel reading meters; and instances of water theft where the meter reading does not match actual usage, which management departments cannot effectively stop or penalize. Due to these issues, moving water meters outdoors has become an inevitable choice. The newly revised national standard (“Code for Design of Building Water Supply and Drainage” GB50015—2003, Article 3.4.17) stipulates: water meters for residential units should be relatively centralized for reading and preferably installed outdoors; for water meters installed indoors, remote transmission water meters or IC card smart water meters should be used. Outdoor water meter installation generally adopts the following methods:

a. Centralized installation of household water meters in outdoor water meter wells: This method is commonly used in multi-story unit apartments. Generally, one centralized water meter well is set up per unit, with branch water pipes introduced into households along indoor pipe shafts, and the water company is directly responsible to the users. The advent of new water supply pipe materials—reduced-path single-pipe (internal) multi-channel water supply pipes—has solved the inconvenience caused by laying multiple water supply pipes simultaneously for projects and users, making this metering method an energy-saving and user-friendly excellent design.

b. Water meters installed on staircase rest platforms. The water supply riser is set on the platform, with one water meter box per household; the water meter box is embedded into the walls on both sides of the rest platform. The advantages are: short branch pipes for each household, saving pipe material, and relatively small pipeline head loss. The disadvantages are: dispersed water meters, increasing the labor intensity for reading personnel; indoor fire hydrant boxes are also often明设 on the rest platform, making the already crowded space even more cramped and inconvenient for residents passing through.

c. Water meters are集中 set per floor in water meter rooms, with household water meters neatly arranged against the wall. The advantages are the same as method b. The disadvantage is: branch pipes must be introduced into the室内 along the public corridor ceiling, requiring a suspended ceiling in the corridor.

d. Replacing traditional mechanical water meters with remote transmission water meters or IC card smart water meters. Remote transmission water meters calculate accurately and eliminate the need for manual reading. IC card meters require users to prepay a certain amount of water fee; inserting the recharged IC card into the meter’s reader allows water use. Because remote transmission water meters and IC card meters are relatively expensive and still have some technical issues, they have not been widely used in practical projects yet.

Each of the above methods for outdoor water meter installation has its own advantages and disadvantages. The specific method adopted in practical engineering design should be determined by the designer based on the nature and grade of the residence and the requirements of local industry management departments.

2. Water Supply Branch Pipe Arrangement and Layout. As it has become common for new residences to have one kitchen and two bathrooms, some even equipped with one kitchen and three or four bathrooms, and the positions of water points in the kitchen, bathroom, and balcony are relatively dispersed, the pipeline from the branch pipe to the water point is generally laid within the floor’s screed layer. The outer diameter of the water supply pipe in the screed should not exceed 25mm; when handing over the property, clear marks should be made at the locations where water supply pipes are laid to avoid damage during decoration.

2. Drainage Pipeline Layout:

Article 4.3.8 of the “Residential Design Code” GB500155—2003 stipulates; drainage pipes for sanitary fixtures in residential bathrooms should not pass through the floor slab into other households. Although the code has this regulation, truly achieving this in residential design is still rare. Consequently, in daily life, disputes between upper and lower floor residents due to drainage pipeline leaks are common, affecting neighborly relations. To solve this difficult problem, the following practices are proposed.

1. Kitchen drainage pipeline setup. No floor drain is installed in the kitchen. The drain pipe from the sink is directly connected to the drainage riser on the household’s own floor slab. Because kitchen floors are generally rarely flushed with water anymore—small splashes can be cleaned with a cloth—the installation of a floor drain in the kitchen has lost its practical meaning and can be counterproductive: as the floor drain long lacks water replenishment, the water in the water seal evaporates, allowing odors to enter the kitchen through the drain. Therefore, canceling the kitchen floor drain can avoid the drainage branch pipe entering the lower floor’s space.

2. Bathroom drainage pipeline setup. To prevent bathroom sewage horizontal pipes from entering the lower floor’s space, drainage pipelines are generally laid using the following methods:

a. Lowering the bathroom floor slab, with the sewage horizontal pipe installed within the household above the lowered slab. This method is relatively convenient for drainage pipeline construction but makes pipeline inspection and repair very difficult. This requires strict waterproofing treatment of the bathroom floor and the surroundings of the lowered chamber during actual construction. All water supply and drainage pipelines in the bathroom must undergo strict pressure testing and water holding tests before the pipes are concealed to尽量避免 leaks from sanitary fixtures affecting lower floor users.

b. Using side discharge. The bathroom uses a rear-outlet toilet and a side-discharge floor drain. The bathtub or shower stall is raised, and the drainage branch pipes from various sanitary fixtures are led along the wall corners of the bathroom floor to a cavity wall. The fixture traps and drainage horizontal pipes are set within the floor screed. This method can avoid the situation of积水 in lowered floors but requires close coordination with the architectural discipline.

3. Indoor Fire Hydrant System:

Installation of indoor fire hydrant boxes: For unit apartments, due to平面 position limitations, fire hydrants can generally only be明设 on staircase rest platforms. According to Article 8.3.1.5 of the “Code for Fire Protection Design of Buildings” GB50016-2006: Residential buildings over 7 stories should be equipped with an indoor fire hydrant system. When确实困难, only a dry fire riser and an indoor hydrant without a hydrant box (DN65) may be installed… The diameter of the fire riser should not be less than DN65. Therefore, for multi-story residences, the fire hydrant may only have the outlet, without a box, water gun, or hose, etc., to save actual space on the rest platform.

4. Summary

The design of residential water supply and drainage systems is increasingly valued by users. Engineering designers should adhere to the principles of technology, safety, and economy, strive for innovation in practice, seek the best water supply and drainage design solutions, adapt to the new requirements of residential design development, and meet the continuously improving living standards.

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