I don't like using public restrooms when I travel for work. You never know what condition they'll be in. I choose a stall away from other people. Others feel the same, according to Bradley Corp.'s Healthy Handwashing Survey.
A design engineer invited me to a school building for a challenging project. I found an old boiler with several leaks and a tight budget. The system was a two-pipe system that circulated heated water during winter and chilled water during summer. The owner wanted lower fuel costs and a quicker changeover between heating and cooling.
Plumbing systems in buildings require careful selection of vertical or horizontal piping distribution. The building type is a key factor in this decision, and relevant codes and standards must be followed.
The author reflects on a recent trip to South America and Antarctica and discusses the topic of identifying back-feed potentials within domestic hot water risers, drawing from an article by Miles Ryan, PE, about typical issues found in high-rise residential buildings.
While exploring International Code Council's first report of proposals for modifications to the Group A Codes, I became curious about which codes are being discussed the most. I decided to take a deeper look and get answers to three questions.
Last month, we discussed how solid thermal energy storage, combined with an air-to-water heat pump and an electric boiler, provides a platform to leverage time-of-use electrical rates in ways that can benefit customers as well as the utility providing the electricity.
I graduated during the Great Recession and worked multiple jobs before my first journalism job at Patch. My colleagues and manager provided invaluable guidance, particularly on handling difficult situations. Mentorship is critical for MEP engineers, providing practical insights not covered in academic programs.
AHR in Chicago was hectic. With 1,875 exhibitors across 527,520 square feet, it was impossible to visit everyone in the 20 hours open to the public over three days. Preparing ahead of time with a schedule is vital. AHR makes it easy with their app, and we had ours in print with highlighted booths.
A reader asked if the process for water heater selection could be used for selecting a faucet. This column provides the process steps for selecting faucets, without discussing the findings in detail, as several resources are available for comparing faucet types.
When a plumbing engineer receives the design of a health care building — our minds gravitate to designing the system to optimize all the different considerations I mentioned above — with the fixture layout the architect has developed. But what if the layout changed? What if the amount of fixtures were reduced?