Sanitary Drainage in Buildings

André Henrique Patrício Botica

Dissertation for obtaining the master's degree in

Military Engineering

Jury
President: Professor Doutor Jorge Manuel Caliço Lopes de Brito
Supervisor: Professor Doutor Albano Luís Rebelo da Silva Neves e Sousa
Professora Doutora Maria Cristina de Oliveira Matos Silva
Examiners: Professora Doutora Filipa Maria Santos Ferreira
Major de Engenharia Mestre João Carlos Martins Rei

October 2012
1 Introduction

Although people have started to drain sanitary wastewaters at least five thousand years ago,
the evolution of such drainage systems have been slow, mainly in buildings. The drainage
systems used nowadays are the result of developments occurred between the beginning of the
19th century and the middle of the 20th century. Since then, quality has been assured by building
codes and standards, which often offer simplified design methods to be used by technicians.
Unfortunately, as often happens, these simplifications, which, in the short term, are useful to
ensure that most building drainage systems are properly designed and installed, at the long
term may contribute to hide theoretical fundamentals, and eventually to an inadequate technical
and scientific background of technicians having to deal with more complex buildings. Actually,
adequate design of building drainage systems of sanitary wastewaters requires a
comprehensive knowledge not only of technical requirements but also of the available
technologies and design methodologies.
This work aims to gather the information required for designing sanitary wastewater drainage
systems in buildings. Building codes, regulations and technical standards will be considered, as
well as other general quality recommendations. Design methods considered in Portuguese
regulations will be compared with methods considered in other codes, such as:
• the European standard, which must be adopted by countries in the European Union
although adapted to specific national legislation and standards;
• the Brazilian standard, which is based in the American model, thus causing some
difficulties to Portuguese professionals who need to practise in Brazil.

2 Sanitary wastewater drainage systems in buildings

The drainage network of sanitary wastewater is used to gather sewage and then conduct it to
the public drainage system, where sewage will flow towards its final destination, i.e., a
wastewater treatment plant.
The process of designing wastewater drainage systems can be divided into four phases. The
first phase aims to gather information about the building, such as architectural or structural
restrictions, and then to identify optimal locations for vertical pipes, which are those where
conflicts with other building services are avoided. At this stage, also the need for elevation
systems of wastewater collected at lower levels should be assessed. In the second phase, the
main route of the drainage system is preliminarily defined. The system will be optimized during
subsequent stages of the project as occurs in the third stage, where diameters and inclination of
pipes are set. Finally, in the fourth stage, after installation of the system, actualized plans should
be produced in order to ease future maintenance and inspection works.
2.1 System components
Building sanitary drainage systems include several components:
• Accessories: devices, such as connections, fittings, or valves, which ensure the
adequate functioning of the drainage system and allow maintenance and repairing
works.
• Branch discharge pipe: pipe that links the appliance producer of wastewater or the
water trap to the discharge stack or drain.
• Branch ventilating pipe: pipe that ensures the water seal of traps when it is not
guaranteed by primary ventilation.
• Discharge stack: ventilated pipe that aims the vertical downward transport of
wastewater, gathering the effluents of various near horizontal discharge pipes.
• Ventilating stacks: pipes that complement the primary ventilation system in discharge
stacks when this is insufficient.
• Drain: nearly horizontal pipe aimed to gather itself the effluent from discharge stacks
and branch discharge pipes and then to conduct sewage to a new stack or the outside
chamber.
• Building inspection chamber: manhole located within the property limits aimed to gather
the sewage of connecting drains and then to conduct it to the building drain.
• Building drain: pipeline aimed to conduct all wastewaters produced in the building to the
public sewer. Although this pipe is part of the public network it must be installed by the
building owner. For large buildings, there can be multiple drains connected to the public
sewer, but building drains gathering sewage from different buildings are not allowed.
• Public sewer: pipe system which receives the effluents of different buildings and
conduct them to their final destination.

2.2 Building sanitary drainage systems

The public sanitary drainage systems can be divided into four types:
• Combined system, in which sanitary wastewater and rainwater drainage are provided by
the same pipe;
• Separated system, in which sanitary wastewater and rainwater drainage are provided by
different pipes;
• Mixed system, which includes the two previous systems;
• Pseudo-separated system, which is a actually a separated system with exception to
rainwater collected on indoor terraces and conducted to the sanitary wastewater public
sewer.

Regardless the existing or projected public sanitary drainage system, sanitary wastewater and
rainwater drainage in the building must be separated and flow from the building inspection
chamber to the public sewer through the building drain must be driven by gravity. Inside the
building, three systems for conducting waste water can be adopted:
• Gravity system, where all wastewaters are collected at a level higher than that of the
building drain;
• Pumped system, where all wastewaters are collected at a level lower than that of the
building drain thus requiring pumping to elevate them to a higher level;
• Mixed system, which combines the above systems.

2.3 Installation and quality rules

In Portugal, installation of sanitary wastewater drainage systems must comply with Portuguese
regulations. However, there are other quality rules which are stated in standards and books on
the subject. In this work, the main rules and recommendations were gathered and then
summarized into tables for each component of the drainage system.

2.3.1 Comfort
Smelling and noise must be avoided in order to assure comfort of the building occupants.
Noise from drainage networks in buildings is essentially impact noise transmitted mainly by
vibration of construction elements. To reduce or prevent such noise transmission, pipes and
accessories must be isolated from the building structure by appropriate materials such as
rubber or mineral wool. Also flexible materials such as elastic joints should be used to absorb
impacts and vibration generated by sewage falling down in stacks or by direction changes in
branch discharge pipes and drains. Pumps are another noise source which should be base-
isolated.
Gases originated in the pipes must not enter dwellings. A depth of water seal is used in traps
installed in sanitary appliances or on the floor in order to comply with this requirement.

3 Designing methods

Designing of a building sanitary drainage system must take into account compliance with legal
requirements, adequate performance both in terms of flow capacity and self-cleaning, and
coordination with other building services, always looking for the lowest combined cost of
implementation, maintenance and operation.
Adequate sizing of building sanitary wastewater drainage systems is obtained after a correct
definition of both the network and accessories to be installed followed by:
• Calculation of flow rates;
• Determination of pipe diameters and corresponding inclination, in the case of nearly
horizontal pipes;
• Verification of the need for ventilation auxiliary systems in order to keep water seal in
traps.
• Sizing of inspection chambers as well as pump groups when needed.
In this work, the design methods given in Portuguese Regulations and in the European
Standard and Brazilian Standard will be analysed and compared (see section 5).
4 Materials

The importance of adequate building sanitary drainage systems is directly related to the
maintenance of public health and environmental quality. Both requirements are met through
appropriate drainage and its proper sizing. However, the materials used also play an important
role, and should ensure:
• Resistance to internal and external stresses;
• Resistance to the action of ice and temperature variations;
• Drainage conditions (roughness of the pipe as smooth as possible);
• Resistance to abrasion;
• Resistance to chemical aggression;
• Dimensional reliability (reduced in diameter tolerance provided by manufacturers);
• Ease of transport, installation and maintenance;
• Reduced costs (material, transportation and maintenance).

The quality of the pipes and accessories used in the drainage system should be guaranteed
with quality certificates of accredited entities. In general, materials used are divided into
concrete, ceramic, metal or plastic. Each of these groups has subgroups according to their
suitability for use in each situation.
Although any material can be used, the material most often used in building sanitary wastewater
drainage systems is plastic, namely PVC.

5 Case study

In order to illustrate the application of the design methods considered in Portuguese

Regulations and in the applicable standards used in the European Union and Brazil, a building
sanitary wastewater drainage system was designed considering a fictional building.
The building, with 4 floors above the ground and 1 underground floor for parking and
storerooms, is assumed to be located in a region served by a public sewer.

5.1 Solution adopted

In Figures 5.1 and 5.2 building plants are shown respectively for ground floor and for the above
floors. The plants are simplified, being presented just the toilets and kitchens, which are the
relevant facilities for the present work. In Figure 5.3, the drainage system of each room
(kitchens at left and centre and sanitary facilities at right) is detailed. For simplicity, it is assumed
that the basement level is higher than the level of the public sewer in order to allow gravity flow
directly from a building inspection chamber installed in the basement.
Figure 5.3 - Kitchen (left and middle image) and WC (image from the right) pipe distribution.

Figure 5.1 – Ground floor plan. Figure 5.2 – Plan of floor 1 to 3.

Although kitchens exhibit different layouts, their vertical alignment allows the use of only three
discharge stacks as shown in Figure 5.3. Drains and building drain with respective building
inspection chamber are shown in Figure 5.4.

D2

D1
D3

Figure 5.3 - Location of discharge stacks.

 Figure 5.4 – Location of drains and building drain.

Figures 5.1 to 5.4 are in a simplified form not complying with standard scales and symbolic
representation.

5.2 Sizing
PVC pipes were considered with a slope of 10 mm/m in the case of near horizontal pipes. For
application of the European standard, systems I and II were considered. Results obtained for
each component of the system are shown in the following Tables.

Table 5.1 - Flow for individual equipments

EN
Portuguese EN NBR NBR 8160
12056
Appliance regulation 12056 II 8160
I
Calculation of flow rate (l/s) UHC
Toilet Bowl (Br) 1.50 2.00 1.80 0.96 6
Bath (Ba) 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.90 2
Washbasin (Lv) 0.50 0.50 0.30 0.15 1
Bidet (Bd) 0.50 0.50 0.30 0.40 1
Sink (LL) 0.50 0.80 0.60 0.25 3
Dish machine (ML) 1.00 0.80 0.60 0.30 2
Washing machine
1.00 0.80 0.60 0.30 3
(MR)
 Table 5.2 - Discharge diameter of individual branches
NBR
EN EN NBR
Portuguese regulation 8160
Appliance 12056 I 12056 II 8160
(UHC)
DN (mm)
Toilet Bowl (Br) 90 90 80 100 100
Bath (Ba) 40 50 40 40 40
Washbasin (Lv) 40 40 30 40 40
Bidet (Bd) 40 40 30 40 40
Sink (LL) 50 50 50 50 50
Dish machine (ML) 50 50 50 50 50
Washing machine
50 50 50 50 50
(MR)

Table 5.3 – Group discharge branch diameters

Portuguese
EN 12056 (SI) EN 12056 (SII) NBR 8160 NBR 8160
Appliances regulation
served DN DN DN DN DN
UHC
l/s l/s mm l/s l/s mm l/s l/s mm l/s l/s mm mm
1Ba+1Bd+
2.00 1.59 75 1.20 1.20 75 1.45 1.45 63 1.45 1.45 50 4 50
1Lv

Table 5.4 - Ventilating branches

Portuguese Portuguese
regulation regulation EN 12056 EN 12056
NBR 8160
Secondary Analytical Graphical (SI) (SII)
ventilating branch method method
DN DN DN DN DN
UHC
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
V1 75 75 50 50 80 75
V2 40 40 50 50 32 75
V3 40 40 50 50 32 75
 Table 5.5 – Discharge stacks without secondary ventilation
Portuguese Portuguese
regulation regulation EN 12056
EN 12056 (SI) NBR 8160 NBR 8160
Analytical Graphical (SII)
Stack method method

DN DN DN DN DN DN
UHC
(l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (mm)

D1 391.25 140 301.74 125 337.64 125 312.25 125 Does not Does not
check only check only
D2/D3 263.03 110 241.21 110 189.74 110 164.32 90 primary primary
ventilation ventilation

Table 5.6 – Discharge stacks considering secondary ventilation.

Portuguese Portuguese
regulation regulation EN 12056
EN 12056 (SI) NBR 8160 NBR 8160
Analytical Graphical (SII)
Stack
method method
DN DN DN DN DN DN
UHC
(l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (mm)
D1 391.63 90 301.74 90 337.64 110 312.25 110 289.20 110 80 110
D2/D3 263.03 75 241.21 75 189.74 90 164.72 75 102.00 75 32 75

Table 5.7 - Secondary ventilating stack.

Portuguese Portuguese
regulation regulation EN 12056
EN 12056 (SI) NBR 8160 NBR 8160
Vent Analytical Graphical (SII)
Stack method method
DN DN DN DN DN DN
UHC
(l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (l/min) (mm) (mm)
V1 391.63 63 301.74 63 337.64 50 312.25 50 289.20 50 80 75
V2/V3 263.03 50 241.21 50 189.74 50 164.72 50 102.00 50 32 75

Table 5.8 - Drains and building drain

Drains in Portuguese Portuguese
buildings regulation regulation EN 12056 EN 12056
NBR 8160 NBR 8160
and Analytical Graphical (SI) (SII)
connecting method method
branch DN DN DN DN DN DN
 l/min mm l/min mm l/min mm l/min mm l/min mm l/min mm
C1 391.25 140 301.73 125 337.64 160 337.64 125 289.20 160 80 110
C2 263.03 110 241.20 110 189.74 125 189.74 110 51.00 110 112 110
C3 559.71 140 500.19 140 431.28 160 431.28 125 391.20 200 144 110
RL 559.71 140 500.19 140 431.28 160 493.20 160 391.20 200 144 110

6 Conclusions

Despite the design methods recommended in the rules and regulations considered in this work
are based on identical assumptions, simplifications can be made in order to develop quick
design methods based on tables. The European standard EN 12056-2 and the Brazilian
standard NBR 8160 offer such methods, although the use of alternative analytical methods is
always possible. The later is used as the main calculation method in Portugal.
The case study showed that design results rely heavily on discharge flow rates considered, with
some differences between standards and regulations considered. Pipe sections also can exhibit
significant differences according to the occupancy rates allowed.
An important conclusion of this study is that Portuguese regulations lack information and detail
on assuring the depth of water seal in traps.
Another important conclusion is that simplified methods, such as the one presented in the
Brazilian standard NBR8160, are not always conservative when compared with more detailed
methods.
This work has a monographic nature aimed to gathering and selecting available information on
the subject of building sanitary drainage systems.