Plumbing Design

Plumbing Design responsibilities overlap into the professional engineering areas of Fire Protection Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Process Engineering. Our Plumbing Designers performs the calculations, sizes the equipment, and prepares the plumbing design and construction documents under the supervision Fire Protection Engineer.

The Plumbing Designer plays a different role in the design of the Fire Suppression sprinkler systems for a facility. The whole building approach to the design of the building is very important when incorporating fire protection requirements into a facility. The design professionals, including the Plumbing Designer, will rely on the recommendations of the Fire Protection Engineer. The Fire Protection Engineer will develop building hazard classifications coordinating with the different fire protection requirements for a facility. For example, in some buildings the Fire Protection Engineer can highlight options where the building can be designed in a way it will not require automatic water based sprinkler systems without compromising building safety. In these cases the Fire Protection Engineer can inform the design team using the whole building approach that the building is more efficient and will cost less to the owner including a water-based automatic sprinkler system into the building design.

In these cases including automatic water-based sprinkler systems will reduce the amount of materials and construction required in a building and as a result reduces the cost of the building and meets one of the qualifications for a sustainable building. This close collaboration using the whole building approach is a benefit when the design, construction, and maintenance teams of a facility apply for permits and certifications, because they have a coordinated fire protection plan for the facility.

The plumbing designer is involved in the whole building design of a water-based fire suppression system. In a typical facility the city water main will supply water for the fire suppression system. The plumbing engineer will need to coordinate with the civil engineer, water department, and fire department the details of connecting the fire water to the city water main.

Fire hydrants, valves, alarms, and fire department connections are designed for the site. When the water main enters the building there is alarm and backflow devices designed by the plumbing designer. In larger building standpipes are installed usually in exit stairs with fire department connections for fire department personnel to connect hoses and suppress the fire in the building during a fire event.

Automatic sprinkler systems are connected to the building standpipes that will supply water to the sprinkler heads distributed throughout the building. In taller building fire pumps are required to boost the city water pressure and flow to the fire department connections and sprinkler systems. The plumbing designer plays a key role to include water demands for a sprinkler system with the water demands for a plumbing system. When the design professionals, including the plumbing designer, have developed the basic parameters of water based fire suppression systems for a building the hydraulic calculations for the fire suppression system begin. In some states the plumbing designer prepares preliminary calculations as described by NFPA 13. In other states the licensed fire protection contractor is responsible for these calculations.

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