Dr.

Radwan Elzoheiry
Radwan.abdellatif@bhit.bu.edu.eg
Radwanelzoheiry@gmail.com
Radwan.elzoheiry@ejust.edu.eg
Benha University
Benha Faculty of Engineering
2023-2024

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 Water system design
The objective in designing the water supply systems for any project is to ensure
1. Adequate water supply at adequate pressure to all fixtures and equipment at all times
2. to achieve the most economical sizing of the piping

The important reasons for proper water distribution systems design

1. Health: Inadequate or improper sizing can cause decreases in pressure in portions of the
piping system, which in turn can cause contamination of the potable water supply by
backflow or siphonage.
2. Pressure: It is essential to maintain the required flow pressures at fixtures and equipment or
improper operation will result.
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 Water system design
The important reasons for proper water distribution systems design
3. Flow: Proper and adequate quantities of flow must be maintained at fixtures and equipment
for obvious reasons.
4. Water supply: Improper sizing can cause failure of the water supply due to corrosion or
scale buildup.
5. Pipe failure: Pipe failure can occur due to the relation of the rate of corrosion with excessive
velocities.
6. Noise: Velocities in excess of 10 ft/sec will cause noise and increase the danger of hydraulic
shock.

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 Water system design
Inadequate pressure
As previously noted, lack of adequate pressure is one of the most frequent complaints and could
be the cause of serious troubles.
Means of increasing the pressure
1. Gravity tank
2. Booster pump system
3. Hydropneumatics tank system

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 Water system design
Demand Types
➢ continuous demand: such as hose bibbs, lawn irrigation, air-conditioning makeup, water
cooling.
➢ intermittent demand: Plumbing fixtures draw water for a relatively short period of time and
are considered as imposing an intermittent demand.

Each fixture has its own singular loading effect on the system, which is determined by
the rate of water supply required, the duration of each use, and the frequency of use.
The water demand is related to the number of fixtures, type of fixtures, and probable
simultaneous use.

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 Water system design
Flow Definitions
➢ Maximum flow or maximum possible flow: is the
flow that will occur if the outlets on all fixtures are
opened simultaneously.
➢ Maximum probable flow: is the maximum flow that
will occur in the piping under peak conditions. It is
also called peak demand or peak flow.
➢ Average flow: is that flow likely to occur in the
piping under normal conditions.

Luckily, fixtures are used intermittently and the total time in operation is relatively
small so it is not necessary to design for the maximum potential load. Maximum flow
is therefore of no real interest to the designer.

Average flow is also of no concern, for if a system were designed to meet this
criterion it would not satisfy the conditions under peak flow.

It is therefore necessary to consider only the maximum probable demand (peak

demand) imposed by the fixtures on a system.

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 Water system design
➢ Maximum probable flow estimation
methods:
➢ The empirical method is based upon
arbitrary decisions arrived at from
experience and judgment. It is useful
only for small groups of fixtures.
➢ The method of probability is based
upon the theory of probabilities and is
most accurate for large groups of
fixtures.
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 Water system design
➢ Water Supply Fixture Units:
➢ It is a system based on weighting fixtures in accordance with their water supply load-
producing effects on the water distribution system.
➢ The method of probability should not be used for a small number of fixtures.
➢ If only one type of fixture were used in a building, the application of the theory of
probability would be very simple and straightforward.
➢ When dealing with systems composed of various types of fixtures that must be
combined, the process becomes extremely involved and too complicated to be of any
practical use.

When a system contains only a few fixtures, the additional load imposed by one
fixture more than has been calculated by the theory of probability can easily overload
the system.

When a system contains a large number of fixtures, one or several additional fixture
loadings will have an insignificant effect on the system.

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 Water system design
➢ Water Supply Fixture Units:
➢ Hunter conceived the idea of assigning “fixture loading factors” or “fixture unit weights”
to the different kinds of fixtures to represent the degree to which they loaded a system
when used at their maximum assumed frequency.
➢ A fixture unit weight of 10 was arbitrarily assigned by Hunter to a flush valve, and all
other fixtures were assigned values based on their load-producing effect in relation to the
flush valve.
➢ All fixtures have been converted, in essence, to one fixture type and the application of the
theory of probability is greatly simplified.

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 Water system design
➢ Water Supply Fixture Units:
➢ Hunter assigned water supply
fixture unit (FU) values for
different kinds of fixtures, which
are given in Table 13-3.

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 Water system design
➢ Water Supply Fixture Units:
➢ Conversion of fixture unit values
to equivalent gallons per minute,
based on the theory of
probability of usage developed
by Hunter, is given in Table 13-
4.

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 Water system design
➢ Water Supply Fixture Units:
➢ A graphic representation of this table is shown
by Figures 13-5 and 13-6 (Hunter’s Curve).
➢ An examination of the curves and tables reveals
that demand for a system utilizing flush valves
is much greater than that for flush tanks for
small quantities. The difference in demand for
each system decreases as the fixture unit load
increases until 1,000 FUs are reached. At this
loading and beyond, the demand for both types
of systems is the same. 12

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 Water system design
➢ Water Supply Fixture Units:
➢ For hot water piping and where there are no
flush valves on the cold water piping, the
demand corresponding to a given number of
fixture units is determined from the values
given for the flush tank system.
➢ If even only one flush valve exist on the pipe it
should be sized based on flush valve
➢ Otherwise it should be sized based on flush
tank

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 Water system design
➢ Water Supply Fixture Units:
➢ It should be kept in mind when calculating maximum probable demands that, except for
continuous demands, fixture unit values are always added, never gpm values.
1250 FU= 1250 FU=
240 gpm 240 gpm

240gpm +249 gpm= 1250 FU+1750FU=

1750 FU= 534 gpm 1750 FU= 3000 FU=432 gpm
249 gpm 249 gpm

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For example, if the maximum probable demand for two branches is required and one
branch has a load of 1250 FU and the other 1750 FU, it would be wrong to add 240
gpm + 294 gpm to obtain 534 gpm for the total demand. The correct procedure is to
add 1250 FU + 1750 FU to obtain a total FU value of 3000 and then from Table 13-4
determine the correct peak demand as 432 gpm.

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 Water system design
➢ Example 13-1
➢ Determine the peak demands for hot and cold and total water for an office building that
has 60 flush valve water closets, 12 wall hung urinals, 40 lavatories, and 2 hose bibbs and
requires 30 gpm for air-conditioning water makeup.

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 Water system design

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Determine the peak demands for hot and cold and total water for an office building
that has 60 flush valve water closets, 12 wall hung urinals, 40 lavatories, and 2 hose
bibbs and requires 30 gpm for air-conditioning water makeup.

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 Water system design

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Determine the peak demands for hot and cold and total water for an office building
that has 60 flush valve water closets, 12 wall hung urinals, 40 lavatories, and 2 hose
bibbs and requires 30 gpm for air-conditioning water makeup.

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 Water system design

➢ Total water demand is required for sizing the water service line for the building and also
for the cold water piping inside the building up to the point where the connection is taken
off to the hot water heater supply.
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Determine the peak demands for hot and cold and total water for an office building
that has 60 flush valve water closets, 12 wall hung urinals, 40 lavatories, and 2 hose
bibbs and requires 30 gpm for air-conditioning water makeup.

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 Water system sizing
➢ Water system sizing
➢ The water distribution system must always be designed on the basis of the minimum
pressure available.
➢ The source of pressure may be the public water main, gravity tank, hydropneumatics tank,
or booster pumps.
➢ When a gravity tank is the source of pressure, the low-water level must be used for design.
➢ . Generally, the minimum pressure to be provided at most fixtures is 8 psi and from
15 to 25 psi for water closets

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 Water system sizing
➢ Friction Head Loss
➢ Water piping must be sized to limit the friction head losses in the piping system so that the
highest and most remote water outlet will have the required minimum pressure for
adequate flow during periods of peak demand.
➢ Pipe friction head loss is directly proportional to the length of run. The longest length of
run to the highest outlet should be selected for purposes of sizing the system.
➢ The most common allowable friction losses in the water system sizing is 5ft/100 ft
➢ During the calculation of the pump head, the head losses through the valves, filters,
fittings, and all other system components should be considered.
➢ A general rule of thumb that has proven to be surprisingly accurate is to add 50% of the
developed length to allow for all fittings and valves. 20

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 Water system sizing
➢ Maximum Velocity
➢ As previously discussed, when flow approaches 10 ft/sec in piping, serious problems can
develop.
➢ High velocities produce noise in the form of whistling, the danger of hydraulic shock and
water hammer is increased, the noise of cavitation may occur, and erosion and corrosion
are increased.
➢ It is for these reasons that piping should be sized so as never to exceed a velocity of flow
of 8 ft/sec.
➢ It is common to use flow velocity less than 5 ft/sec.

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 Water system sizing
➢ Minimum Sizes
➢ Most codes establish minimum sizes for the piping
supplying the outlets for the various kinds of fixtures.
➢ Table 14-13 lists fixtures and the minimum size of
fixture supply pipe.
➢ Sizes given in the table are generally such as to
maintain velocity of flow below the maximum of 10
ft/sec.

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 Water system sizing
➢ Procedure for Sizing
➢ Step 1: Draw a schematic diagram and single line for the water distribution system.
➢ Step 2: Mark the FU value at every outlet and the sum of fixture units for every section of
the system.
➢ Step 3: Convert all FU values to gpm demand and assign the gpm values to continuous
demand outlets.
➢ Step 4: Determine the pressure available for friction head loss. Using the longest run to
the highest fixture.
➢ Step 5: Use hydraulic tables to select sizes

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