Drainage - Basic Sizing

Drainage Pipe Sizing

Foul Water Pipe Sizing
The following method is one way of sizing pipework.
1. Choose a minimum gradient for all pipes, say 1:80
2. Use the table below to calculate the total number of discharge units in pipe.

No.

Appliance

No. of
units

WC
basin
bath
shower
sink
washing machine
dish washer

14
3
7
4
6
4
4

Total units

3. Size section from pipe manufacturers graphs.

An example of a pipe-sizing graph is shown below.

Example
Size the foul water pipework for 12 houses from the DATA below in the table.
1.

Use a minimum gradient of 1:80 for all pipes.

2.

Discharge units from each house:

No.

Appliance

No. of
units

Total units

2
2
1
1

WC
basin
bath
shower

14
3
7
4

28
6
7
4

1
0
0

sink
washing machine
dish washer

6
4
4

Total

6
0
0
51

12 houses x 51 = 612 discharge units.

Flow graph gives 150mm-dia. foul drain since the convergence of the two
lines on the graph is between the pipe size 100mm diameter and 150mm
diameter.

Surface Water Pipe Sizing

The following method is one way of sizing pipework.
1. Choose a minimum gradient for all pipes, say 1:80
2. Use the table below to calculate the flow rate in each section.

SURFACE TYPE

AREA

IMPERMEABILITY
FACTOR (f)

(A) m2

TOTAL
(A x f)

Road or pavement

0.90

Roof

0.95

Path

0.75

Garden

0.25

Access road, parking

0.90

Total

3. The area of each surface is calculated from drawings.

4. The impermeability factor allows for water, which runs off each surface.
5. The flow rate (Q) for each house can be calculated from:
Q

area drained x rainfall intensity x impermeability factor

6. If Rainfall intensity = 50mm/hr, then Q becomes:

(A x f) 50

50

((litres/hour)

7. Divide Q by 3600 to get value in litres/second.

8. Multiply Q by number of houses to get Total Q.

9. Estimate pipe size from Pipe Sizing graph.

For example, size the pipework for 12 houses from the drawing

Example
Size the surface water pipework for 12 houses using the DATA below in the
table.
1.

Choose a minimum gradient for all pipes, say 1:80

2.

Surface water flow from each house.

SURFACE TYPE

AREA

IMPERMEABILITY
FACTOR (f)

(A) m2

TOTAL
(A x f)

Road or pavement

20

0.90

18.00

Roof

40

0.95

38.00

Path

15

0.75

11.25

Garden

68

0.25

17.00

Access road, parking

25

0.90

22.50

Total

192

Total

103.50

3.

Rainfall intensity 50mm/hr.

area drained x rainfall intensity x impermeability factor

(A x f)

103.50 x 50 =

50

50
5175 litres/hour

1.438 litres/second per house X 12 houses.

17.25 litres/second.

Flow graph gives 150mm dia. surface water drain since the point on the
graph lies between 100mm and 150mm