UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

BUILDING SERVICES
CIVE 3218(5)
CIVE 2242D

LECTURE NOTES 3

COLD WATER SERVICES

Naresh Sewdin

21 August 2013
Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

1. Scope

The scope of this section is to provide you with the basic principles for designing cold
water services which operate both under gravity and pressurised. It is applicable for cold
water services inside dwellings, commercial, institutional and industrial buildings.

2. Introduction

Every building has a requirement for public health engineering enabling those support
features so necessary in life to be achieved with the minimum of fuss and bother. The
design of cold water services is controlled by reference to the Plumbing Engineering
Services Design Guide (PESDG) and British Standards BS 6700. It is also essential to
comply with Local Authorities requirements (e.g. Central water authority, municipality,
etc).

3. Definitions

The following definitions relevant to drainage system from sanitary wares in buildings
are provided as follows:

 Backflow: A flow of water in the opposite direction to that intended. It includes

back-siphonage, which is backflow caused by siphonage.
 Duct: An enclosure designed to accommodate water pipes and fittings and other
services, if required, and constructed so that access to the interior can be obtained
either throughout its length or at specified points by removal of a cover or covers.
 Inspection access point: A position of access to a duct or chase whereby the pipe or
pipes therein can be inspected by removing a cover which is fixed by removable
fastenings but does not necessitate the removal of surface plaster, screed or
continuous surface decoration.

4. General information

4.1 Sources of water

The source of water varies dependant on which area the supply is required. The types
are:
 Upland catchment (reservoir)
 Ground water (borehole/artisan)
 River extraction.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

4.2 Water regulations

The quality of water supplied for distribution to, and for use by persons and properties is
controlled by an Act of Parliament, the Central Water Authority Act 2005, and
subsequent amendments.

The regulations govern the whole of the consumer's installation from the connection to
the water company's communication pipe and meter termination, to all the draw-off
fittings, inclusive of any alterations.

The regulations require that no water fitting shall be installed, connected, arranged or
used in such a manner, or by reason of being damaged, worn or otherwise faulty that it
causes, or is likely to cause:
1. Waste
2. Misuse
3. Undue consumption
4. Contamination
5. Erroneous measurement.

The cold water service shall be designed to provide cold water at the point of use in the
quantity required by the user. The supply of water for drinking, washing and other
purposes is critical to the health and comfort of occupants in buildings.

4.3 Water demand

The water demand for a building is dependent on a number of factors.

1. Type of building and its function.
2. Number of occupants, permanent or transitional.
3. Requirement for fire protection systems.
4. Landscape and water features.

In dwellings the resident's water consumption is divided between the many appliances. A
typical percentage break down provided by the Environment Agency is:

WC suite 32%
Washing machine 12%
Kitchen sink 15%
Bath 15%
Basin 9%
Shower 5%
Outside supply 3%
Miscellaneous 9%

Table 3.1

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4.4 Water storage

The storing of water has a number of purposes,

1. Providing for an interruption of supply
2. Accommodation peak demand
3. Providing a pressure (head) for gravity supplies.

Design Codes recommend that storage is provided to cover the interruption of an

incoming mains supply, in order to maintain a water supply to the building.

Water supply companies are empowered to insist on specific terms, including the volume
or period of storage, within the term of their supply agreement with a consumer.
However many water supply companies only recommend that storage be provided in
accordance with the BS 6700, placing the responsibility and decision firmly on the
consumers.

Table 3.2

Table 3.2 provides guidance on typical water usage within buildings over a 24 hour
period.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

In designing storage capacities, account needs to be taken of the building and its
location:
1. Period and hours of occupation.
2. Pattern of water usage.
3. Potential for an interruption of supply.
4. Available mains pressure and any inadequacies during the hours of building use.
5. Health & Safety, prevention of bacteria, including legionella.

If a building is occupied 24 hours a day, then an interruption of supply will have a

greater impact than that for say an office, which may only be occupied for eight to ten
hours. Where a building is occupied by elderly or infirmed people then avoiding any
disruption of the water supply is an important consideration as they would be unable to
easily leave the building should water become unavailable.

4.5 Water distribution

The water distribution installation requires to be able to deliver the correct flow and
volume of cold water when and where it is needed. The mains pressure can provide the
initial means of delivering water into the building. The water supply companies are
required to deliver their water to the boundary with a minimum pressure of 1.0 bar. Often
their delivery pressure can be higher, however at times of high demand; the pressure will
be closer to the minimum provision.

Design Codes recommend that storage is provided to cover the interruption of an

incoming mains supply, in order to maintain a water supply to the building.

The type and style of water distribution needed for a particular building will depend
mainly on the building height and its use.
 The building height will determine whether pumping will be required to deliver
water to the highest level.
 The building use will determine the amount of storage that will be required.

A building requiring a large water storage provision may not be able to accommodate it
at high level, in which case a low level location will be needed, in conjunction with a
pumped distribution system.

A combination of high and low storage can be considered if a gravity distribution is

preferred for all or part of the building. This has an advantage of providing some storage
in the event of an interruption of the water supply, or power supply to the pumps. A
storage ratio of 2:1 low/high level is a typical arrangement.

Storage can comprise of two compartments or cisterns/tanks in order that maintenance

can be carried out without interrupting distribution.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

For small storage quantities one piece cisterns can be used, which generally are of a low
height construction. For storage of 2500 litres or more, sectional panel tanks may be
considered more appropriate with a centre divide. Above 4000 litres storage twin
cisterns/tanks may be considered appropriate.

The type of water system will need to be one or a combination of the following:
a) Direct mains fed
b) High level storage with gravity down feed
c) Pumped from a break cistern or storage provision.

Figure 3.1

Gravity supplies

For gravity supplies to be effective, the storage requires to be at a sufficient height to

deliver the water to the draw-off point at the required flow rate and pressure. The
available head is the dimension between the bottom of the storage cistern/tank(s) and the
highest draw-off point, or draw-off point with the greatest head/pressure loss.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

The advantages of gravity supplies are:

a) Availability of water in the event of water mains or power failure.
b) No pump running costs.
c) Potentially less noise due to lower pipe flow velocities.

The disadvantages of gravity supplies are:

a) Greater structural support.
b) Larger pipe sizes due to limited available head, when compared to pumps.
c) Lower delivery pressures.

Pumped supplies

The delivery of water by pumping will provide flexibility in the positioning of the storage
cisterns/tanks. The delivery flow rate and pressure demanded by the system are met
entirely by selecting the correct duty for the pumps. The pump set is required to deliver a
constantly varying flow rate as draw-off points are randomly used by the occupants.

Generally a minimum of two pumps are used, each having 100% system duty and
controlled to enable them to be a standby to each other. To prevent high pressure overrun
when demand is less than the design demand, a pressure limiting or variable control flow
device needs to be fitted on the outlet from the pumps.

For high buildings, a combination of pumped and gravity may be appropriate. The
advantage of this is to provide a proportion of the daily water usage in a cisterns/tank(s) at
roof level, which would provide a gravity down feed service, and continue to provide
water in the event of a failure of the pump.

Figure 3.2

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5 Distribution pipe sizing

The sizing of a water distribution pipe system is achieved by establishing the anticipated
flow rates, in litres per second (l/s) taking account of the diversity of use of all the various
types and numbers of appliances, and equipment requiring a water supply connection.

5.1 Probability theory

The use of probability theory in assessing simultaneous demand is only fully applicable
where large numbers of appliances are involved, as probability theory, as the name
implies, is based on the likelihood of situations occurring and therefore its predictions
may on occasions be at variance with the actual demand.

The probability of a particular number of draw off's occurring at any one time is
determined by dividing the time for the appliance to be filled, by the time between
successive usage of the appliance to arrive at the probability factor.

An example of this application which utilises the probability graph is if 100 appliances
each take 30 seconds to be filled, and are used at 1200 seconds (20 minutes) frequency
intervals, then:

5.2 Simultaneous demand

The number of draw-off points that may be used at any one time can be estimated by the
application of probability theory.

The factors, which have to be taken into account, are:

a) Capacity of appliance in litres
b) Draw-off flow rate in litres per second
c) Draw-off period in seconds, i.e. time taken to fill appliance
d) Use frequency in seconds, i.e. time between each use of the appliance.

All of the factors listed above can vary.

5.3 Frequency of use

This is the time between each use of the appliance.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

Low use is deemed to have 1200 seconds (20 minutes) between each use, and is
appropriate for dwellings, and in other buildings where appliances are dedicated for use
by a single person, or a small group of people, as a private facility.

Medium use is deemed to have 600 seconds (10 minutes) between use, being appliances
that are available to be used by a larger group of people, as and when they require on a
random basis with no set time constraint, typically associated with 'public use' toilets.

High use is deemed to have 300 seconds (5 minutes) between each use for appliances to
be used by large numbers of persons over a short period, as would be the case within
buildings such as theatres, concert halls and fixed period sports events.

5.4 Loading units

To account for these variations, a 'loading unit' system has been devised which takes
account of the appliance type, it's capacity, flow rate, period of use, and frequency of use
characteristics, to establish a calculation method which satisfactorily reflects a 'maximum
simultaneous design flow rate,' in litres for any part of a pipework distribution system.

Table 3.3

This method of calculation should be considered as a representative of flowrates.

5.5 Pipe sizing by velocity

To account for these variations, a 'loading unit' system has been devised which takes
account of the appliance type, it's capacity, flow rate, period of use, and frequency of use
characteristics, to establish a calculation method which satisfactorily reflects a 'maximum
simultaneous design flow rate,' in litres for any part of a pipework distribution system.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

Where there is ample head available or the water supply is by a pump or pump set, then
pipe sizing can best be achieved by using an optimum pipe velocity.

In a gravity down feed system where the head available is a limiting factor, pipe
velocities are generally low, often in the range of 0.4 to 0.8 metres/second. Where
delivery is to be a pumped supply, then the pipe velocities can be allowed to increase to
1.0 to 1.5 metres/second, and possibly higher where pipes are routed in non-occupied
areas.

6 Materials

The correct selection of the component materials is of paramount importance. The

available range of water supply installation materials is extensive, and includes numerous
types of components made from metals and plastics, or a combination of both, often for
similar purposes.

For the the selection of components and materials, the main considerations are:
a) Suitability
b) Availability
c) Appearance (if to be seen)
d) Cost
e) Durability
f) Compatibility with existing
g) User choice
h) Spares.

The type of materials are listed in Table 3.4.

Table 3.4

7 Cold water services calculations procedure

The calculation procedures are as follows:

1) Calculation of cold water storage capacity and sizing of water tank.
2) Identification of the type and position of all appliances and equipment requiring a
water supply.
3) Determination of the pipe routes, location for the incoming CWA mains and the
location of pump room.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

4) Preparation of the isometric of the pipework distribution.

5) Determination of the loading units and the corresponding design flowrate for the
whole building and the identification of the index path.
6) Determination of the loading units, corresponding design flowrate and pipe size
for each length of pipe including the index path using pipe sizing charts.
7) Calculation of the residual pressure, vertical static head pressure and hydraulic
dynamic head losses due to pipe length and number or type of valves and fittings
along the index path.
8) Calculation of the total head loss along the index path.
9) Selection of pump.

7.1 Calculation of cold water storage capacity and sizing of water tank.

a) Calculation of cold water storage capacity.

An office space building without canteen can be assumed.
Daily water demand for office without canteen = 40 L per person.

The number of persons in the office spaces is calculated based on the population
occupying the building. In the absence of information regarding the population, the
number of occupants is calculated based on the floor area of the building.
From PESDG, it can be assumed for offices that one person occupies 14 m2 of the
gross building floor area.
Therefore,
No. of office occupants = Gross building floor area in m2 divided by 14

Hence,
Total daily water demand in Litres = (Daily water demand for office per
person x No. of office occupants)

According to the requirement of the C.W.A, a minimal period of water storage of 2

days has to be designed for. However, a period of storage of 3 days is selected
owing to the potential for an interruption of supply of greater than 2 days.

Therefore, the total water storage capacity in m3 = (3 x Total daily water demand in
Litres)/1000.

b) Sizing of water tank.

The size of the water tank is determined using the total water storage capacity (m3).
The type of tank selected can be either a fibreglass tank or a concrete underground
water tank.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

With respect to the position of the water tank proposed to the Architect, the length (L)
and width (W) of the water tank are known and hence the height (H) is calculated as:

Height of water in tank, H1 = Total water storage capacity in m3/ (L x W)

W
L
A net air gap of 500 mm is normally required between the maximum level of the
water and the soffit of the covering slab of the tank.

Therefore,
Height of water tank, H = H1 + 0.5 m.

7.2 Identification of the type and position of all appliances and equipment requiring a
water supply.

From the architectural drawings, approved design brief or any other information
provided, the type and position of all draw-off fittings attached to appliances and
equipment are identified and highlighted in the drawings.

7.3 Determination of the pipe routes, location for the incoming CWA mains and the
location of pump room.

a) Determination of the pipe routes

From the architectural drawings, the riser ducts reserved for cold water pipework are
firstly identified and then the pipe routes from the pump room to the different draw-
off points are determined in such a way so as to minimize the use of fittings such as
elbows and tees which may add undue losses in the system.

b) Determination of the location for the incoming CWA mains

Using the site services survey drawings, the location of the incoming CWA
mains and hence that of the CWA meter is determined.

c) Determination of the location of the pump room

From the architectural drawings, the location of the pump room is identified.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

7.4 Preparation of the isometric of the pipework distribution.

An isometric of the pipework distribution based on the pipe routes determined in section
7.3 is drawn. All valves (gate, globe, check, double check, pressure reducing) and the
water tank entry and exit arrangements are to be clearly shown in the isometric drawing.

7.5 Determination of the loading units and the corresponding design flowrate for the
whole building and the identification of the index path.

a) Determination of the overall loading units for the whole building.

From Table 3.3, medium frequency of use is normally chosen for the appliances
because of the use of the appliances by large number of persons on a random basis.

The overall loading units associated with all the appliances in the building are
calculated as detailed in the table below:

Sanitary Appliance Qty LU Total LU = Qty x LU

Basin b 4 4b
Sink s 10 10s
WC Suite w 5 5w
Urinal u 1 u
Bucket sink (Cleaner) c 1 c
Overall loading units of the whole building 4b +10s + 5w + u + c
Table 3.5

The number of each type of appliance is multiplied by the associated loading unit as
provided in Table 3.3 and the total derived for all the appliances.

b) Determination of the corresponding design flowrate for the whole building.

In accordance with Plumbing Engineering Services Design Guide (PESDG), the total
number of loading units (LU) is converted into the design flowrate for the discharge
pipe from the pump in L/s.

c) Identification of the index path.

Using the isometric diagram, the index path, i.e. the furthest draw-off point
from the pump source is identified and highlighted.

7.6 Determination of the loading units, corresponding design flowrate and pipe size for
each length of pipe including the index path using pipe sizing charts.

a) Sizing of Branches

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Lecture Notes 3 Buildding Servicess

For each branch

b not falling onn the indexx path, thee total load ding units and the
correspondiing design flowrate
f is calculated
c uusing the sam
me proceduure as abovee.

Assuming a permissibble 'head loss in metrees, per metrre run of piipe' in the ranger of
0.025 to 0.005 m/m, thee design flowrate is useed with the pipe sizingg charts (Figgure 3.3)
h the pipe size. How
to establish wever, it muust be checcked that the t velocityy in the
ppipework iss not exceedding 1.5 m/ss because off the risk off loud noises being gennerated.

Design
Pipe Size
Flowrate

0.025 0.0
05 m/m
Figure 3.3

Using the isometric

i ddiagram, thee loading units, flowraate, pipe sizze and veloocity for
each branch
h is written in the form
m of a four-qquarter fram
me.

The index path

p in eachh branch is identified. Starting froom the furth
hest draw-ooff point
in each brannch, the instantaneous flowrate off each appliaance in the index path is added
on a node-to-node basis until a node is reaached wherreby the sum m of instanntaneous
flowrate exxceeds the design flow wrate as calculated in the four-qu uarter fram
me. Then
from that particular
p noode to the start
s of the branch, thee pipe size as
a calculateed in the
four-quarter frame aboove is set onn the isomettric drawingg.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

The pipe sizes of the remaining pipe segments in each branch are then determined
using the number of loading units that they are required to carry.

b) Sizing of Index Path.

Using the total loading units and the corresponding design flowrate for the whole
building already calculated in sections above, the main pipe size is established in the
same way as described above using the pipe charts.

Starting from the furthest draw-off point in the index path, the instantaneous flowrate
of each appliance and branches on the index path is added on a node-to-node basis
until a node is reached whereby the sum of instantaneous flowrate exceeds the design
flowrate for the whole building. Then from that particular node to the pump source,
the main pipe size as established above is set on the isometric drawing.

The pipe sizes of the remaining pipe segments falling on the index path are then
determined using the number of loading units that they are required to carry.

7.7 Calculation of the residual pressure, vertical static head pressure and hydraulic
dynamic head losses due to pipe length and number or type of valves and fittings
along the index path.

Each node on the index path is consecutively numbered from the pump source. The pipe
references are defined. All calculations mentioned in the following sections for each pipe
segment on the index path are then tabulated.

a) Calculation of the residual pressure

All terminal fittings, including tap, require a residual pressure to operate efficiently.
The residual head available at each tap must be at least equal to the loss of head
through the tap at the design flowrate.
Therefore since the flowrate and the nominal pipe size at the furthest draw-off point is
known and the residual pressure is determined.

b) Calculation of the vertical static head pressure

The vertical static head pressure from the point of supply, i.e. the pump to the furthest
draw-off in the index path is measured in metres vertically.

c) Calculation of the hydraulic dynamic head losses due to pipe length and number or
type of valves and fittings along the index path.
 Calculation of the hydraulic dynamic head losses due to pipe length along the
index path.
The head loss per metre run of each pipe segment on the index path is
calculated by comparing the flow rate against the established pipe diameters

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

This head loss per metre run is then multiplied by the actual pipe length to
give the system dynamic pipe loss in metres.

 Calculation of the hydraulic dynamic head losses due to the number or type of
valves and fittings along the index path.
The loss of pressure due to valves and fittings of each pipe segment on the
index path is calculated by comparing the flow rate against the established
pipe diameters for each type of valve and fitting. This head loss per
fitting/valve is then multiplied by the actual number of that fitting/valve to
give the system dynamic fittings/valves loss in metres.

7.8 Calculation of the total head losses along the index path.

The total head loss is calculated as the sum of the residual pressure, vertical static head
pressure and the hydraulic dynamic head losses due to pipes, valves and fittings.

7.9 Selection of pump.

The pump is selected based on the required flowrate to be delivered and the total head
loss. The type of pump together with its flowrate and pressure head are specified and
annexed to the detailed calculation sheets.

Since the centerline of the pump is higher than the level of water in the underground
tank, the pump operates with a suction lift.

8. Sample Question

Determine all the pipe sizes and pump rating for a 2 storey office building in which there
are 2 WCs, 3 wash basins, 2 urinals per floor. The cold water distribution will be fully a
pressurised system. All pipework used shall be in uPVC.

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Lecture Notes 3 Building Services

ANNEX – 1

Pipework isometric and calculation sheets

Figure 3.4

Table 3.6

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ANNEX – 2

Loss of head through pipe fittings

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Table 3.7

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ANNEX – 3

Pipe sizing chart (Plastic)

Figure 3.5

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Pipe sizing chart (Copper and stainless steel)

Figure 3.6

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