Backflow

Bill

Hi, been a member here for quite some time, even though I do not post much. I felt the need to post this so as to help other plumbers save time, money and nerves in the future.
I did the plumbing (Waste and supply) at a Moe's restaurant in Blacksburg, VA.
This job consisted of about 600 linear feet of water lines as follows
Cold, this is for hand wash sinks, toilets, urinals........
Filtered cold, for ice machine, soda machines...........
110 degree tempered, for hand wash sinks, bathroom sinks....
180 degree hot, for dish washing...........
180 degree hot water recirculated lines, for recirculating hot water through system
So as any plumber can see, with all these different lines going to different places it can get confusing. I personally oversaw the job, I was there every day. When all plumbing inspections where complete and all systems tested, I got paid and went home. I got called back because there was 180 degree water going through the urinal. I went back (3 hour drive) and yes, there was hot water in the urinal. I spent almost 3 hours tracing lines and found out that they mounted a 2 way hose adaptor on the mop sink faucet and they leave the hot and cold on all the time (They have a garden hose with a sprayer head), so when the cold water in the bathrooms ran, it sucked the 180 degree water through the mop sink faucet and sent it through the cold water pipes. A simple swing check valve fixed the problem.
So as a note to all plumbers, if you hook up any mop sink faucet, or any faucet like a pre-wash sprayer where the faucet handles can be left on and be used by compressing a lever, then add a spring (Vertical) or a swing (Horizontal) check valve. It will save a lot of BS down the road. Maybe some have already run into this, others who do not know will say they already do and I am an idiot for not knowing. I do not care, I am just trying to share with others what I have learned the hard way. Hope this will be usefull to all

__________________
Is it beer thirty yet
Virginia Department of Licensing
Virginia Plumbing Codes

KillerToiletSpider

One of the commercial manufacturers, I believe it is T&S Brass but not positive, makes a mop sink faucet with integral checks, perhaps start installing those on commercial jobs.

__________________
A flush is better than a full house.

Bill

yes they do, but I did not supply any fixtures or valves on this job, that fell on the GC and they had specs from Moe's. You know how that goes

__________________
Is it beer thirty yet
Virginia Department of Licensing
Virginia Plumbing Codes

KillerToiletSpider

I'd bill the GC for the time then.

__________________
A flush is better than a full house.

Bill

You know it, 3 hours there, 4 hours for 2 men, and 3 hours back. Already told Gc, he said fine because he found out that the architecs know that this problem existed in all the other restaurants they done, but they did not mention it in the plans. So they are going to back charge the architecs for it. maybe this will make them add a notation on the P pages then!!
OOPS, I almost forgot, architecs are NEVER wrong

__________________
Is it beer thirty yet
Virginia Department of Licensing
Virginia Plumbing Codes

Double-A

Great heads-up for any plumbers installing utility hot and cold outlets in commercial and residential.

Thanks for posting it.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

PARA1

Good post

MechanicalDVR

Learned this one a long time ago, that's why I akso add a vacuum breaker on the lines above the faucet.

__________________
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" mlk
100% Union and Proud of It

Bill

I do too, especially with hose bibs. We had to install 2 on one job, one inside and one out. The walls were cinder block so the inside one was a boiler drain so we could mount as tight to the wall as we could, screwed on a vacume breaker, tightened down the lock nut, then cut the lock nut off so no one could remove the breaker.

__________________
Is it beer thirty yet
Virginia Department of Licensing
Virginia Plumbing Codes

KillerToiletSpider

Here in Chicago hose bibbs have to have the vacuum breaker mounted at 7' 6" AFF, this includes mop sink faucets.

__________________
A flush is better than a full house.