Posting thoughts on plumbing/building codes, engineering design guides, water and nutrient cycles, often with regional and historical insights (personal account)
Director of Plumbing Standards Research and Development
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John Lansing
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TIL there are Gaudi Truthers with prophetic details on what the completion of La Sagrada will summon.
John Lansing
Downspout nozzles are still used today, though in a less whimsical way. I was making the case on here for eliminating them entirely a while back, which I plan to propose in the upcoming plumbing code cycle.
Having worked in a building where the transformer exploded in the basement, I’d feel a lot safer if a utility were encouraging these to be placed in the sidewalk rather than inside the building with me.
Since the topping out ceremony is today, you should be aware that the storm drainage systems of La Sagrada Família rely on a series of snail gargoyles which serve as downspout nozzles.
Lizard gargoyle downspout nozzles on the other side.
It wasn’t just the electrical engineers I worked with that were annoyed by having to design for basement transformers, I also had to design for floor drains in the transformer vault which required a trap primer to prevent evaporation of the water seal in addition to dedicated vent piping.
Floor drains to account for water intrusion might sound like a good idea ‘just in case’ but few recognize the risk of a sewage backing up into the transformer vault through the floor drain. A small sump pit with a simple leak detector signal to the utility would be a much better safety measure.
Too dangerous to put the transformer below the sidewalk so let’s put it inside. 👍
The building this occurred in is served by PGE.
100 years ago, the first international plumbing congress was held in Paris. This was a first effort to standardize plumbing regulations and product manufacturing. Standardization around the 2 inch (50 mm) water seal for traps was one outcome, which effectively established a uniform pressure limit.
