According to the American Population Survey, in California more than 6,300 housing units, residents lack proper plumbing, which means they lack a bathtub or shower, hot and cold piped water, or flush toilet. If you understand the basics of residential plumbing, you can quickly diagnose plumbing issues, fix them yourself and deal with plumbers. This blog will tell you everything you need to know about plumbing and how it works, so keep reading.
Residential Plumbing System
The installation of water supplies in a house is referred to as a residential plumbing system. The residential plumbing system consists of hot and cold water pipes, fixtures and equipment, traps, drain pipes, water storage tanks, vent pipes, etc. If you are one of those persons who wish to become a plumber, then check the whole process here at HowtobecomeaPlumber. You need to know that this is how much it can cost you to go through plumbing training as explained on this page.
It either runs unnoticed within the walls or on the walls. It is difficult and costly to build and restore this plumbing system. When it comes to plumbing, the size of your home doesn’t matter. All homes follow the same plumbing system.
Essential parts of a Residential Plumbing System
The two essential components of the residential plumbing systems are:
- Water Intake Supply System
- Drainage or Waste Water Disposal System
The water intake supply system provides drinking water to the home, and the wastewater disposal system drains the used water.
Water Intake Supply System
A system of pipes called a water supply brings fresh water to your homes. This system is hugely pressure-dependent. The water in these pipes comes from one of the two sources i.e. city water and wells. City water reaches your house from a humongous pipe, the main line, which is usually parallel to your driveway. People who don’t have access to city water typically get their freshwater sources from wells. There are two systems to deliver water in your homes:
Direct water supply
All the outlets of water in your home collect water directly from the mains. Potable water is accessible on all faucets. This is possible in areas where the water supply provides water throughout the day at a high water pressure and is adequate to deliver the water at a sufficient force to all the taps.
Indirect water supply
Water from the mains is delivered to the water storage tanks. Water is then returned from the water storage tank to the building. This method is used where the mains water supply is not accessible during the day. It is often used when the mains’ water pressure is insufficient to provide water to all taps with enough pressure. Usually, a shut-off valve can be located before and after the water meter. This setup helps you to shut down the incoming fresh water so that you or your plumber can do plumbing work.
If you have clean, instant hot and cold water in your house, the water intake system is doing its job and is running efficiently. If you encounter a plumbing problem, learning the plumbing basics will make the chat with your emergency plumber more efficient.
Drainage or Waste Water Disposal System
The drainage system extracts the used sewage from your house and dumps it into the local wastewater system. Any household may have a septic tank, which contains drainage, requiring periodic pumping to empty it. The water intake system fuels water pressure. In the meantime, gravity is used to remove wastewater from homes. Drainage pipes curve downward so that gravity can transport the greywater out of your building. The wastewater disposal system is more complicated than the water intake pipes. The drainage system contains traps, vents, and other elements that help the gravity shift the water. A quick look at the roof shows the exhaust pipes come from most of the homes over the shingles. A “trap” is like a P curved on its side, and there’s one under each sink in the kitchen.
If you drop something down the sink, the trap stops it from being washed away in the pipe. This is good news if your wedding band or other jewelry comes down the toilet. It’s not going too far. It would be best if you were on the lookout for leaks, too. Tell-tale signs of leaking include mold infestations, wet walls, and smelly rooms. Leaks also cause structural damage. It doesn’t hurt to contact a licensed plumber to check for leakage in the pipe system. Only because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there: 10% of US households lose 90 gallons of water due to leaks every day.
Supply and Drainage Subsystems
Any bridge between the supply and disposal systems is a fixture in plumbing jargon. Toilets and bathtubs are fixtures. All appliances that draw freshwater and release wastewater are fixtures and are built to keep the source and drainage systems completely separate. Separate supply shut-off valves are present in some fixtures. You can patch them without closing the main shut-off valve. It’s a good idea to make sure everyone in the family knows the main shut-off valve’s location in your house and how to use it. You may want to tag the main shut-off valve so anyone can easily find it.