John H. Fitzgerald III was my mentor and taught me everything I know about corrosion, erosion and how they affect water piping systems. 

When metal piping is installed in plumbing systems, soil conditions and water content can affect the piping’s performance. This is especially true when different metals are connected, such as stainless steel and copper. 

Earlier this year, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion investment in our country’s declining infrastructure. 

The American Society of Sanitary Engineering’s (ASSE) 1070 Standard, Performance Requirements for Water Temperature Limiting Devices is an industry standard for a point-of-use or in-line temperature-actuated mixing valve with a maximum temperature limit feature.

In Part 1, published in this magazine’s February 2022 issue, we talked about why buildings lean, how this phenomenon affects plumbing systems and drain lines, and how low-flow fixtures compound this problem.

In nearly every building in America, tub-shower valves with integral maximum-temperature limit stops, field-adjusted to limit the maximum setting of the valve to 120 F, are code-required.

With modern buildings, leaning just a little amount can affect the flow of waste in sloping drains. Settling drains can create shear stresses and rupture pipe penetrating foundation walls; they also can cause pipe to lose slope or experience reverse slopes.

This month, I’ll be catching you up on the code activities over the last few months.

Last month, I started telling the story of how I got involved in plumbing design and how it was a matter of plumbing design choosing me. This is a continuation of that story.

I have been writing for this magazine since 1994 and I have never visited their offices. On this trip, I was able to meet the new editor, Amalia Deligiannis.