The average American/Canadian water heater is 40 gal (150 L) to 50 gal (190 L), which is larger than probably anywhere else in the world. The benefits of volume are almost entirely undone by low temperature factory settings. This is a conspiracy to prevent you from biking with your water heater.

I just learned from a grease interceptor specialist that about 10% of the US still requires large gravity grease interceptors. For example, Fort Worth, TX, Memphis, TN, Des Moines, IA require a 1000 gal gravity grease interceptor at a minimum for restaurants, including small cafes and coffee shops!

Bottle traps allow lavatories to be installed tight against the wall with limited impact to wheelchair clearances. These really need to be legalized in the US.

PEX piping for water supply is WAY less carbon-intensive than copper. The material is cheaper, it invites less theft, and it doesn't require costly soldering. Crazy that places with strict energy code requirements like Massachusetts and NYC still restrict it www.mep2040.org/download-gui... (pg. 25)

I used to do a lot of design work in San Jose and whenever a grease interceptor was needed, the building department would require a massive 1500 gallon grease interceptor at a minimum. Not only does this take up a ton of space but it also can trigger a confined space permit under OSHA.

The 5 inch (125 mm) drain is the viola of pipe diameters - niche, underutilized, and can take on the role normally assumed for a cello…or a 6 inch stack. This diameter is rare in the US and Canada and is utilized in Spain for taller buildings to avoid dedicated vent piping.

I’m at the Bershka. I’m at the Turkish Consulate. I’m at the combination Bershka Turkish Consulate.

The transformative power of a bollard

40 unit housing cooperative under construction in Barcelona’s Bordeta neighborhood with prefabricated concrete floor slabs.

Weird that these ultra shallow water seal shower traps are being sold in the same place as these single stacks with a throttled stack vents! This looks like less than 20 mm (the US requires 50 mm minimum). If single stack works here under these conditions, it will work anywhere.

These waste containers open from the bottom just like the underground containers common in Switzerland. These seem a lot more practical and scalable.

Taking the escalator down into the new cactus themed entrance to the Barcelona Metro Line 1.

Barcelona’s superblocks are even better than I imagined.

There are masses of 3 y/o children roaming the streets of Barcelona and playing on playgrounds at 10 PM. I was nearly mowed down by a girl on her little pink scooter in El Raval late this evening. Is this what a post “abolish bedtime” society looks like?

No hub cast iron may be quicker to assemble than plastic, but the material itself is much more expensive. The overall cost is at least twice as much as plastic. What isn’t listed here in this table is push-fit drainage or electrofusion welded connections (these are much more common in Europe).

Barcelona’s luxury laundromats

There's lots of great late 19th century/ early 20th century tenements in Barcelona, but having fresh new buildings patched between the historic architecture makes for a much more dynamic and interesting street.

New threat unlocked: “I’m going to break into your house and put as many 90s in the plumbing as I can”

Julius Balanco makes the case that the need for building codes are secured in the preamble to the US constitution. It’s also true that some requirements can impede efforts to “promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.

Social media is fun. You get a city walk with @pipedreaming.bsky.social ,can look at means of egress with @holz-bau.bsky.social, can try elevators with @stephenjacobsmith.com and can stop at every detail with @darrenmcleanuk.bsky.social , @jamestaite.bsky.social, @limefinishes.bsky.social One day!

The single stack drainage configuration can be seen mounted to the exterior of many late 19th century/early 20th century buildings throughout Barcelona.

8 unit housing cooperative with solar protection in Barcelona @holz-bau.bsky.social

Toronto suburbs are wild.

Mitigation strategies to prevent foaming detergents from pouring out of plumbing fixtures result in redundant piping like this. Some plumbing codes have no mitigation requirements (which is bad) but others go overboard. It’s a difficult area to study in a lab because the soap is difficult to clear.

I would like to announce that I sold my car and am now car-free for the first time in my adult life. Please clap.

Bigger sea lions are the solution.

You basically have the choice of living in a noisy apartment building with easy to replace shower valves or a quiet apartment building with hard to repair shower valves. A European style exposed shower valve allows for a quiet and easy to maintain solution.

Here’s an attempt to mimic the acoustical isolating characteristics of flexible PEX piping using metallic piping. Rather than connecting the copper piping directly to the shower valve, flexible braided stainless steel is used for the connection to the valve (not common and not recommended).

Sunset on Kits Beach

This actually becoming more common due to the city infrastructure being an entry source of waterborne pathogens (Legionella, pseudomonas, ect) into buildings. I think city managed POE filters would be novel (and I suspect cost more) but I’d be interested to see a cost analysis on this.

This is a familiar story. Climate change and poor resource management are driving up water stress and water bills. Industries may relocate or adopt more efficient methods, but the average person is subject to water austerity and forced to adapt.

Installs a bottle trap “Now you say ‘Boy that is beautiful, isn’t it? Except it’s illegal.” 💀

This is the fault of the model plumbing code-writing bodies – @pipedreaming.bsky.social has a solution here, but instead of pursuing nitrogen recovery systems, he has to spend his time trying to convince America to accept century-old European venting practices

If I ever get a Mamdani “sewer socialism” sign, I’m absolutely going to frame it.

These need to be even bigger, not only to swallow the cars that enter them whole, but to eliminate the need to build giant underground stormwater detention tanks in new construction.

Go to MacLeod's Books in Vancouver and see the horizontal wet venting.

In an Oregon high-school renovation project I was designing/spec’ing last year, I discovered science classrooms full of S-traps from the 1960s. Not a single vent in the classroom. No odor complaints or noticeable trap seal loss after running the sinks - all in perfect working order. Unfortunately…

We’ve got a nice spaceship and I love being on it with you all.

Nobody wants to live in a neighborhood with Dale Partridge.

The S-trap shown in this public messaging banner is illegal in Canada. The requirements making it illegal are literally costing Vancouver alone millions in new construction!

It’s happening!

Every community across the globe has a secret underutilized resource that can replace sulfur imports for fertilizer production.

While it was once considered rigorous and evidence based in the 1940s, it would by any definition be considered vibes-based engineering today. No flow measurements were made from buildings, just assumptions based on wake-up call logs from 2 hotels and an apartment in NYC and DC.

This means we're paying a lot for: 1-More material (bigger pipes) 2-More labor (harder to work with bigger pipes) 3-Bigger connections (cities charge by connection size) These costs are hidden even from builders and plumbers who just follow what code says without knowing it's overkill.

This is one of the best illustrations of the recklessly inaccurate flow estimations still primarily used for selecting diameters for water supply piping in multifamily buildings.

One hopes images like this, when paired with the knowledge that everything we burn ends up in that tiny slice of gasses, would help contextualize why we need to move away from energy sources we set on fire. One hopes. Climate communicators should make some hay of this.

I've had similar experiences with various Al platforms. It will literally just make up building codes for other countries with very specific sections and it will be a standard for a random industrial machine part or something. I'll never get the North Korean Plumbing Code.

HRV/ERVs are some of the best technologies in new construction for indoor air quality but I cannot overemphasize the importance of ventless dryers where these are used. Vented dryers in multifamily buildings with HRV/ERVs will typically bring in the exhaust air floating around the perimeter.

This is why the Center for Building is taking on plumbing codes next. The inefficiencies caused by codes are staggering. Tons of unnecessary vent piping, wider diameters than needed, expensive and difficult-to-join metallic materials where plastics are used elsewhere. www.wsj.com/personal-fin...