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Commercial Plumbing

About Commercial Plumbing

Commercial and industrial plumbing are more expensive and complicated than residential plumbing. The codes and flow rates are different for commercial and industrial plumbing. Every plumbing system is rated at maximum flow rates.

Commercial and industrial buildings can contain by-products of manufacturing that contain grease, fats, acids, alkali, food products, waxes, ashes, salts, sand, dust, and slaughter house waste. This wastewater needs to be diluted or treated before draining into the public sewer system. There are special plumbing systems that separate waste water from foreign substances by running the drain water through a series of baffles and water dams, as the water runs below the baffles and over the dams the solids sink to the bottom and scum floats to the top. Some of the plumbing systems used in commercial and industrial plumbing would be clarifiers, separators, grease traps, dilution tanks, mixers, glass pipes, vacuum lines, dishwashing machines, washing machines, wash sinks, eye wash sinks, and decontamination showers.

Commercial buildings include restaurants, stores, museums, schools, and just about any building that houses a commercial business. Industrial plumbing would include buildings that house dentists, doctors, hospitals, factories, car washes, body shops, manufacturing, food processing and just about any industrial building. Sometimes there is little difference between commercial and industrial plumbing, and there are shared use buildings. As a general rule a residential building could be up to 1-4 units, a commercial use building could be a building that has over 4 residential units with or without commercial businesses. An industrial building would be heavy or high use commercial and industrial manufacturing or processing.

Always tell your plumber on the phone or by email what type of plumbing you have, while making your service request. Ask your plumber if they are experienced with your type of plumbing service. Commercial and industrial plumbing is more difficult and expensive, and an inexperienced plumber could cost you a lot of money and time. Ask about previous jobs and references, three major considerations would be:

1.) Experience
2.) Time of completion
3.) Price.

There are logistics, sizing, and major code considerations in larger projects. Mistakes can be very costly, pick your plumber carefully.

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