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Plumbing Testing

Basic Plumbing Specifications

Plumbing Testing

  1. Responsibility – The equipment material and labor necessary for inspection or tests shall be furnished by the person to whom the permit is issued or by whom the inspection is requested.
  2. Media -The piping of the plumbing, drainage and venting systems shall be tested with water or air. The Administration Authority may require the removal of any cleanouts, etc., to ascertain if the pressure has reached all parts of the system. After the plumbing fixtures have been set and their traps filled with water, they shall be submitted to a final test.
  3. Water test -The water test shall be applied to the drainage and vent systems either in its entirety or in sections. If applied to the entire system, all openings in the piping shall be tightly closed, except the highest opening, and the system filled with water to a point of overflow. If the system is tested in sections, each opening shall be tightly plugged except the highest opening of the section under test, and each section shall be filled with water, but no section shall be tested with less than a ten (10) foot (3m) head of water. In testing successive sections, at least the upper ten (10) feet (3m) of the next proceeding section shall be tested, so that no joint or pipe in the building (except the uppermost ten (10) foot (3m) of the system) shall have been submitted to a test of less then a ten.(10) foot (3m) head of water. The water shall be kept in the system, or the portion under test, for at east fifteen (15) minutes before inspection starts. The system shall then be tight at all points.
  4. Air test -The air test shall be made by attaching an air compressor testing apparatus to any suitable opening, and after closing all other inlets and outlets to the system, forcing air into the system until there is a uniform gage pressure of five (5) pounds per square inch (34.5 kPa) or sufficient to balance a column of mercury ten (10) inches (254mm) in height. The pressure shall be held without introduction of additional air for a period of at least fifteen (15) minutes.
  5. Building sewer test -Building sewers shall be tested by plugging the end of the building sewer at its point of connection with the public sewer or private sewer disposal system and completely filling the building sewer with water from the lowest to the highest point thereof, or by approved equivalent low pressure air test, or by another test as may be prescribed by the Administration Authority. The building sewer shall be watertight at all points.
  6. Water piping – Upon completion of a section or of the entire hot and cold water supply system, it shall be tested and proved tight under a water pressure not less than the working pressure in which it is to be used. The water used for tests shall be obtained from a potable source of supply. A fifty (50) pound per square inch (344.5 kPa) air pressure may be substituted for the water test. In either method of test, the piping shall withstand the test without leaking for a period of not less than fifteen (15) minutes.