Page 43 - Facility Piping Systems Handbook for Industrial, Commercial, and Healthcare Facilities

CHAPTER 1

CODES AND STANDARDS

This chapter describes the codes and standards used and referenced most often that affect
the materials, design, and installation of the service and utility systems described in this
handbook.

GENERAL

Codes relating to piping provide specific design criteria such as allowable materials, working
stresses, seismic loads, thermal expansion, and other imposed internal or external loads as
well as fabrication, installation, and testing for many aspects of a total piping system. Code
compliance is mandated by various federal, state, and local agencies that have jurisdiction
and enforcement authority. Each code has precisely defined limitations on its jurisdiction.
Familiarity with these limitations can be obtained only after a thorough reading of the code.
These codes often refer to standards prepared by nationally recognized organizations.
The term nationally recognized is defined as a group or organization composed of a nation-
wide membership representative of its members’ views. To achieve nationally recognized
status, an association must have been in existence for a reasonable period of time, be active
in research and other issues relating to its area of interest, and be generally regarded by its
peers to be scientifically accurate.
Standards provide specific design criteria and rules for specific components or classes
of components such as valves, joints, and fittings. Dimensional standards provide con-
trol for components to ensure that components supplied by different manufacturers are
physically interchangeable. Pressure integrity standards provide performance criteria so
that components supplied by different manufacturers will function and be service rated
(pressure and temperature) in a similar manner. Standards compliance is usually required
by construction or building codes or purchaser specifications.
In any piping system design, if different code requirements are discovered, the most
stringent requirements must be followed.
The applicability of various codes and standards must be ascertained before the start of
a project, because submission of plans is often required for approval prior to construction
and installation of the piping systems. This requires a code search and consultation with the
various authorities having jurisdiction.
Fire insurance carriers are another consideration in the area of standards. They very
often have more restrictive requirements than the building and construction codes that are
normally applicable to every project, particularly in the area of water supply storage and
distribution for fire protection purposes, which may be combined with the domestic water
system.

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