Chapter 02: Definitions (Part 1)

Chapter 2: Definitions

Section 201 –

GENERAL For the purposes of this Code, the following terms shall bear the meanings indicated in this chapter. No attempt is made to define ordinary words used in accordance with their established dictionary meanings, except where a word has been used loosely to the extent that it becomes necessary to define its meaning as adopted in this Code to avoid misunderstandings. Since the primary purpose is to define terms in general rather than nouns, the definitions are arranged alphabetically according to the first word of the term, rather than the noun.

Section 202

202.1 ABS – Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene

ALLEY – any public space, public park or thoroughfare less than three (3) meters but not less than two (2) meters in width, dedicated or deeded for public use.

ALTER or ALTERATION – any change, addition or modification in construction or occupancy. 202.4 ACCESSIBLE – when applied to a fixture, connection, appliance or equipment, shall mean having access thereto, but which may require prior removal of an access panel, door, or similar obstruction. “Readily accessible” shall mean direct access without the necessity of removing any panel, door, or similar obstruction.

202.5 AIRBREAK – a physical separation, which may be a low inlet into the indirect waste receptor from the fixture, appliance, or device indirectly connected.

202.6 AIR GAP, DRAINAGE – the unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe, plumbing fixture, appliance or appurtenance conveying waste to the flood level rim of the receptor.

202.7 AIR GAP, WATER DISTRIBUTION – an unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet conveying potable water to the flood-level rim of any tank, vat, or fixture.

202.8 APPROVED – accepted or acceptable under an applicable specification or standard stated or cited in this Code or accepted as suitable for any proposed use under procedures and powers of the Administrative Authority.

202.9 APPROVED TESTING AGENCY – an organization primarily established for purposes of testing to approve standards and approved by the Administrative Authority.

202.10 AUTHORITY, ADMINISTRATIVE – the Administrative Authority, including the Building Official, the Commission, the Board, and such other department or agency established and authorized to administer and enforce the provisions of Republic Act 1378 – The Plumbing Code of the Philippines, Presidential Decree No. 223, as amended by P.D. 657 creating the Professional Regulation Commission and prescribing its powers and functions, and Letter of Instruction No. 1000 – ordering and directing the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), the former Ministry of Human Settlements, the Departments of Foreign Affairs, Education and Culture, Public Works and Highways, Tourism, Transportation and Communication, all 5001′ agencies concerned, to authorize and support PRC Accredited Bonafide Professional Organizations only, and their members to organize, host, sponsor, or represent the Filipino Professionals in national, regional, and international fora, conventions where the concerned professions are involved; and further orders and directs that all government agencies and instrumentalities shall give priority to bonafide members of the accredited professional organizations in the hiring of its employees and engagement of professional services.

Section 203

203.1 BACKFLOW – the flow of water or other liquids, mixtures, or substances into the distributing pipes of a potable supply of water from any source other than from its intended source.

203.2 BACKFLOW CONNECTION – condition or any arrangement whereby reverse flow can occur.

203.3 BACKPRESSURE BACKFLOW – occurs due to an increased reverse pressure above the supply pressure. This may be due to pumps, boilers, gravity, or other sources of pressure.

203.4 BACKFLOW PREVENTER – a device or means to prevent the flow of liquid from returning to the source of supply. Also called a vacuum breaker.

BACK-SIPHONAGE – the flowing back of used, contaminated, or polluted water from a plumbing fixture or vessel into a water supply pipe due to a negative pressure in such a pipe. See backflow.

203.6 BACKWATER VALVE – a device installed in a drainage system to prevent reverse flow.

BACKVENT PIPE – the part of a vent line that connects directly with an individual trap underneath or behind the fixture and extends to the branch or main vent pipe at any point higher than the fixture or fixture traps it serves. This is sometimes called an individual vent. See Revent pipe.

BALL COCK – a valve opened and closed by the fall and rise, respectively, of an attached ball floating on the surface of the liquid.

203.9 BALL JOINT – a type of pipe connection in which a ball-shaped end is held in a cup-like shell and allows movements in every direction.

203.10 BATHROOM – a room equipped with a shower stall or bathtub.

203.11 BATTERY OF FIXTURES – one or more similar adjacent fixtures that discharge into a common horizontal soil or waste branch.

203.12 BELL OR HUB – that portion of a pipe which, for a short distance, is sufficiently enlarged to receive the end of another pipe of the same diameter for the purpose of making a caulked or push-on joint.

• Section 5 NPC 1959
• Section 6 NPC 1959
• Section 7 NPC 1959
• Section 8 NPC 1959
• Section 9 NPC 1959
• Section 10 NPC 1959
• Section 11 NPC 1959
• Section 12 NPC 1959

203.13 BENDING PIN (or IRON) — a tool for straightening or bending lead pipe.

BIBB — synonymous with faucet, cock, tap, plug, etc. The word “faucet” is preferred.

BIDET – A plumbing fixture used for washing the genital area. Also called a “sitz” bath.

BLANK FLANGE — A pipe flange that is not drilled for bolt holes.

203.17 BLIND FLANGE — a flange that closes the end of a pipe. There is no opening for the passage of liquid or gas.

203.18 BLOW-OFF — a controlled outlet of a pipeline to discharge liquid or detritus.

203.19 BOARD – the Licensure Board for Master Plumbers.

203.20 BOILER BLOW-OFF – a valved outlet of a boiler that permits discharge of accumulated sediment.

203.21 BRANCH – any part of the piping system other than a main, riser, or stack.

203.22 BRANCH INTERVAL – a length of soil or waste stack corresponding in general to a story height, but in no case less than 2.43 meters within which the horizontal branches from one floor or story of a building are connected to the stack.

203.23 BRANCH, FIXTURE – see Fixture Branch.

203.24 BRANCH, HORIZONTAL – see Horizontal Branch.

203.25 BRANCH VENT – a horizontal vent connecting one or more individual back vents with the vent stack or stack vent.

203.26 BRAZED JOINT – any joint obtained by joining metal parts with alloys that melt at temperatures higher than 449 degrees centigrade but lower than the melting temperature of the parts to be joined. Reference:

• Section 13 NPC 1959
• Section 14 NPC 1959
• Section 15 NPC 1959
• Section 16 NPC 1959
• Section 17 NPC 1959
• Section 18 NPC 1959
• Section 19 NPC 1959
• Section 20 NPC 1959
• Section 21 NPC 1959

203.27 B & S – Brown and Sharpe (Specification) or Bell and Spigot (Ends of Pipes).

203.28 BUILDING – a structure built, erected and framed of component structural parts designed for the housing, shelter, enclosure, or support of persons, animals or property of any kind.

203.29 BUILDING DRAIN – that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer beginning 0.6 meters outside the building wall.

203.30 BUILDING SEWER – that part of the horizontal piping of a drainage system which starts from the end of the building drain and which receives the discharge of the building drain and conveys it to a public sewer, private sewer, individual sewage disposal system, or other point of disposal.

BUILDING SUBDRAIN – that portion of an underground system, which cannot drain by gravity into the building sewer.

203.32 BUILDING SUPPLY – the pipe carrying potable water from the water meter or other source of water supply to a building or other point of use or distribution on the lot. Building supply shall also mean water service connection.

CAULKING – plugging an opening with oakum, lead, or other materials that are pounded into the annular space. Also, the material pounded into the annular opening.

CAP – a fitting screwed or caulked over the end of a pipe for closing the pipe end.

CATCH BASIN – a receptacle in which liquids are retained for a sufficient period of time to allow settleable material to deposit.

204 – PLUMBING DEFINITIONS

204.1 CERTIFIED BACKFLOW ASSEMBLY TESTER – a person who has demonstrated competence to test and maintain backflow assemblies to the satisfaction of the Administrative Authority having jurisdiction.

References:

• Section 22 NPC 1959
• Section 23 NPC 1959
• Section 24 NPC 1959
• Section 25 NPC 1959
• Section 26 NPC 1959
• Section 27 NPC 1959
• Section 28 NPC 1959

204.5 CESSPOOL – a non-watertight lined excavation in the ground which receives the discharge of a sanitary drainage system or part thereof. It is designed to retain the organic matter and solids discharging therefrom, but permits the liquid to seep through the bottom and sides of the cesspool.

204.6 CHASE – a vertical shaft for installation of different pipe stacks.

204.7 CHECK VALVE – a valve that automatically closes to prevent the flow of liquid or gas in a direction.

204.8 CIRCUIT VENT – a group vent pipe which starts in front of the extreme fixture connection on a horizontal branch and connects to the vent stack. See loop vent, also.

204.9 CLARIFIER – See Interceptor.

204.10 CODE – The word “Code” or “this Code,” when used alone, shall mean these regulations, subsequent amendments thereto, or any emergency rule or regulation which the Administrative Authority having jurisdiction may lawfully adopt.

204.11 COMMON VENT – see unit vent and dual vent.

204.12 COMBINATION WASTE AND VENT SYSTEM – a specially designed system of waste piping embodying the horizontal wet venting of one or more sinks or floor drains by means of a common horizontal waste and vent pipe, adequately sized to provide free movement of air above the flow line of the drain.

204.13 COMBUSTIBLE CONSTRUCTION – a structure which any part of its structural framework will ignite and burn at a temperature of 756 degrees centigrade or less.

204.14 COMMISSION – The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

204.15 COMMON – that part of a plumbing system designed and installed to serve more than one (1) appliance, fixture, building or system.

204.16 CONFINED SPACE – a room or space having a volume less than 14 cu. m with 250 kilogram calorie of the aggregate input rating of all fuel-burning appliances installed in that space.

References:

• Sec. 29 NPC 1959
• Sec. 30 NPC 1959
• Sec. 31 NPC 1959
• Sec. 32 NPC 1959

204.17 CONTAMINATION — an impairment of the quality of the potable water which creates an actual hazard to the public health through poisoning or spread of disease by sewage, industrial fluids, or waste. It is also defined as a high hazard.

204.18 CONTINUOUS VENT – a vertical vent that is a continuation of the drain to which the vent connects.

204.19 CONTINUOUS WASTE – a drain that connects the compartments of a set of fixtures to a trap or connects other permitted fixtures to a common trap.

204.20 CONDUCTOR OR DOWNSPOUT – a vertical pipe used to convey rainwater.

204.21 CORPORATION COCK – a stop valve placed at the connection of the water service pipe to the water main.

204.22 COURT – an open, unoccupied space bounded on two (2) or more sides by the walls of the building. An inner court is a court entirely within the exterior walls of a building. All other courts are outer courts.

204.23 CRITICAL LEVEL – a marking on a backflow prevention device or vacuum breaker conforming to approved standards and established by the testing laboratory (usually stamped on the device by the manufacturer) that determines the minimum elevation above the flood level rim of the fixture or receptacle served where the device may be installed. When a backflow prevention device does not bear a critical level marking, the bottom of the vacuum breaker, combination valve, or any such approved device shall constitute the critical level.

204.24 CROSS-CONNECTION – any connection or arrangement, physical or otherwise, between a potable water supply system and any plumbing fixture, tank, receptacle, equipment, or device that enables non-potable, used, unclean, polluted, contaminated water, or other substances to enter into any part of such potable water system under any condition.

References:

• Sec. 33 NPC 1959
• Sec. 34 NPC 1959
• Sec. 35 NPC 1959
• Sec. 36 NPC 1959
• Sec. 37 NPC 1959

Section 205

205.1 DEAD-END — the extended portion of a pipe that is closed at one end to which no connections are made on the extended portion, thus permitting the stagnation of liquid or air therein.

205.2 DEPARTMENT HAVING JURISDICTION – the Administrative Authority and includes any other law enforcement agency concerned by any provision of this Code, whether such agency is specifically named or not.

205.3 DEVELOPED LENGTH — the length of a pipe along its centerline and fittings.

205.4 DIAMETER — unless specifically stated, the term “diameter” is the nominal diameter as designated commercially. ID denotes inside diameter of pipe, and OD denotes outside diameter of tube.

205.5 DOMESTIC SEWAGE – the liquid and water-borne wastes derived from the ordinary living processes, free from industrial wastes and of such character that permit satisfactory disposal without special treatment. It is discharged into the public sewer or into a private sewage disposal system.

205.6 DOUBLE-BEND FITTING a pipe fitting with adjacent reverse bends and shaped like the letter S.

205.7 DOUBLE OFFSET – two offsets in succession or in series such that the centerlines of the outside ends are in the same straight line.

205.8 DOWNSPOUT – the vertical portion of a rainwater conductor.

205.9 DRAIN — a pipe which carries ground and surface waters, storm water or wastewater into a building drainage system.

205.10 DRAINAGE SYSTEM — includes all the piping within public or private premises which conveys sewage or other liquid wastes to a legal point of disposal but does not include the mains of a public sewer system or a public sewage treatment or disposal plant.

205.11 DRY VENT – a vent that does not carry liquid or water-borne wastes.

205.12 DUAL VENT – see Unit Vent.

References:

• Sec. 38 NPC 1959
• Sec. 39 NPC 1959
• Sec. 40 NPC 1959
• Sec. 41 NPC 1959
• Sec. 42 NPC 1959
• Sec. 43 NPC 1959
• Sec. 44 NPC 1959
• Sec. 45 NPC 1959
• Sec. 46 NPC 1959
• Sec. 47 NPC 1959
• Sec. 48 NPC 1959

205.13 DURHAM SYSTEM a term used to describe a soil or waste system where all pipings are of threaded pipe, tubing, or other such rigid construction using recessed drainage fittings to correspond to the types of piping.

Section 206

206.1 EFFECTIVE OPENING – the minimum cross-sectional area at the point of water supply discharge measured or expressed in terms of: (1) diameter of a circle; (2) if the opening is not circular, the diameter of a circle of equivalent cross-sectional area (This is applicable also to air gap installation). 206.2 EXISTING WORK – the ongoing installation of the plumbing system or any part thereof which has been installed prior to the effectivity of this Code.