Definition (Chapter 2 of Plumbing Code of the Philippines)

ABS

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. A thermoplastic with rubber added for high toughness.

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.

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.

AIRBREAK

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

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.

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.

APPROVED

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

APPROVED TESTING AGENCY

an organization primarily established for purposes of testing to approve standards and approved by the Administrative Authority.

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.

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.

BACKFLOW CONNECTION

condition or any arrangement whereby reverse flow can occur.

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.

BACKFLOW PREVENTER

device or means to prevent flow of liquid from returning to the source of supply. Also called 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 pipe.

BACKWATER VALVE

a device installed in a drainage system to prevent reverse flow .

BACKVENT PIPE

the part of a vent line, which 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.

BALL COCK

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

BALL JOINT

a type of pipe connection in which a ball-shaped end is held in a cuplike shell and allows movements in every direction

BATHROOM

a room equipped with a shower stall or bathtub.

BATTERY OF FIXTURES

any of two or more similar adjacent fixtures which discharge into a common horizontal soil or waste branch.

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

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 fixtures used for washing the middle private part of the body, especially the genitals. Also called a "sitz" bath.

BLANK FLANGE

A pipe flange that is not drilled for bolt holes.

BLIND FLANGE

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

BLOW·OFF

a controlled outlet of a pipeline to discharge liquid or detritus

BOARD

the Licensure Board for Master Plumbers.

BOILER BLOW-OFF

a valved outlet of a boiler that permits discharge of accumulated sediment.

BRANCH

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

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.

BRANCH, FIXTURE

see Fixture Branch

BRANCH, HORIZONTAL

see Horizontal Branch

BRANCH VENT

a horizontal vent connecting one or more individual vertical back vents with the vent stack or stack vent.

BRAZED JOINT

any joint obtained by joining of metal parts with alloys which melt at temperatures higher than 449 degrees centigrade, but lower than the melting temperature of the parts to be joined.

B & S

Brown and Sharpe (Specification) or Bell and Spigot (Ends of Pipes)

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.

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 meter outside the building wall.

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

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 ~
sufficient period of time to allow settleable material to deposit.

CERTIFIED BACKFLOW ASSEMBLY TESTER

a person who has shown competence to test and maintain back-flow assemblies to the satisfaction of the Administrative Authority having jurisdiction.

CESSPOOL

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

CHASE

a vertical shaft for installation of different pipe stacks

CHECK VALVE

a valve that automatically closes to prevent the flow of liquid or gas in a reverse direction.

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.

CLARIFIER

Sec Interceptor.

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.

COMMON VENT

sec unit vent and dual vent

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 waste and vent pipe adequately sized to provide free movement of air above the flow line of the drain.

COMBUSTIBLE CONSTRUCTION

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

COMMISSION

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

COMMON

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

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.

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. Also, defined as High Hazard.

CONTINUOUS VENT

a continuous vent is vertical vent that is a continuation of the drain to which the vent connects.

CONTINUOUS WASTE

a drain connecting the compartments of a set of fixtures to a trap or connecting other permitted fixtures to a common trap

CONDUCTOR OR DOWNSPOUT

a vertical pipe to convey rainwater

CORPORATION COCK

a stop valve placed at the connection of the water service pipe to the water main.

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.CRITICAL LEVEL

CRITICAL LEVEL

C-L or C/L marking on a backflow prevention device or vacuum breaker is a point conforming to approved standards and established by the testing laboratory (usually stamped on the device by the manufacturer) which determines the minimum elevation above the flood level rim of the fixture or receptacle served where the device may be installed.

CROSS-CONNECTION

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

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.

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.

DEVELOPED LENGTH

the length of a pipe along its centerline and fittings.

DIAMETER

unless specifically stated, the term "diameter'' is the nominal diameter as designated commercially. I. D. denotes inside diameter of pipe and O.D. denotes outside diameter of tube.

DOMESTIC SEWAGE

the liquid and water-home 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 .

DOUBLE-BEND FITTING

pipe fitting with adjacent reverse bends and shaped like the letter "s"

DOUBLE OFFSET

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

DOWNSPOUT

the vertical portion of a rainwater conductor.

DRAIN

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

DRAINAGE SYSTEM

includes all the pipings within public or private premises which convey 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.

DRY VENT

A vent that does not carry liquid or water borne wastes.

DUAL VENT

sec Unit Vent.

DURHAM SYSTEM

a term used to describe 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.

EFFECTIVE OPENING

is the minimum cross-sectional area at the point of water supply discharge measured or expressed in terms of (l) 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.)

EXISTING WORK

the on-going installation of the plumbing system or any part thereof which has been installed prior to the effectivity of this Code.

FAMILY

one person living alone or a group living together, whether related to each other by birth or not.

FAUCET

a valve located at the end of a water pipe through of which water can be drawn from or held within the pipe.

FERRULE

a metallic sleeve, caulked or joined to an opening in a pipe, into which a plug is screwed that can be removed for cleaning or examining the interior of the pipe.

FIXTURE

a receptacle other than a trap attached to a plumbing system in which water or wastes may be collected or retained for ultimate discharge into the plumbing system.

FIXTURE BRANCH

the water supply pipe between the fixture supply
pipe and the water-distributing pipe.

FIXTURE DRAIN

the drainpipe from the trap of a fixture to the junction of that drain with any other drainpipe.

FIXTURE SUPPLY

a water supply pipe connecting the fixture with the fixture branch.

FIXTURE UNIT

is an arbitrary quantity in terms of which the load-producing effects or water requirements on the plumbing system of different kinds of plumbing fixtures are expressed in some arbitrary chosen scale. One fixture unit is equivalent to a rate flow at 28.3 liters per minute (1 cu ft/m).

FLOOD LEVEL

the level in a fixture at which water begins to overflow over the top or rim of the fixture.

FLOOD LEVEL RIM

is the top edge of a receptacle from where water overflows.

FLOODED

a fixture is flooded when the liquid therein rises to the flood level rim.

FLOOR AREA

The area included within the surrounding exterior walls of a building or portion thereof, exclusive of vent shafts and courts

FLUSH TANK

tank located above or integral with water closet, urinal or similar fixtures for flushing or removing excrement in the fixture.

FLUSH VALVE

is a device located at the bottom of the tank for the purpose of flushing waster closet and similar fixtures.

FLUSHOMETER TANK

is integrated within an air accumulator vessel which is designed to discharge a predetermined quantity of water into fixtures for flushing purposes.

FLUSHOMETER VALVE

is a device, which discharges a predetermined quantity of water into fixtures for flushing purposes and is actuated by direct water pressure.

GATE VALVE

a valve in which the flow of water is cut off by means
of a circular disc fitted against machine-smoothed faces, at right angles to the direction of flow. The disk is raised or lowered by means of a threaded stern connected to the handle of the valve. The opening in the valve is usually as large as the full bore of the pipe.

GLOBE VALVE

a valve in which the flow of fluid is cut off by means of
a circular disc that fits over and against the horizontal valve seat. The movement of the plane of disc is parallel to the normal direction of flow of water through the orifice resulting to a tortuous passage which offers a high pressure loss.

GOOSENECK

a return bend of small-sized pipe, one end of which is
about 30 em. long and the other end is about 7. 5 em. long. It is commonly used as a faucet for a pantry sink. Also, the term means the flexible tubing connection between a service pipe and a water main.