COLD WATER SYSTEM IN BUILDINGS

Design of Internal and external components of water supply systems forms another

aspect of my professional work experience. Highlighted below are some of the major

considerations incorporated in the execution of various designs.

The Internal cold and hot water supply network are meant to permanently assure

discharge at the various consumption points at the required pressure. Hence to have an

optimal design consideration must be given to water supply from the choice of storage

capacity up to the sizing of pipes at the various location of the network.

COLD WATER STORAGE:

There are tables that give the recommended consumption of water per person per day

depending on the building purpose. Please see table 1 in the appendix. For office use, the

recommended consumption of water per person per day is given as 45 litres. It is also

obvious that at the design stage the occupancy of a building may be unknown therefore

there is need to have a guide; Table 2 (please see appendix) gives a recommendation

based on the area of the building and building purpose.

Zaki-biam Business office with an area of 319sqm (22.0m x 14.5m) as an office has an

estimated occupancy of 1person per 10sqm net floor area. This office usually will open

for 10hours; hence the estimated water storage requirement for this office is given by

the expression.

= Area of office/10 x 45litres

= 598.13litres/10hrs

While the above mathematical expression provides a basis for the determination of

required storage capacity for buildings based on the expected occupancy, statistic has

shown that the customer influx to the Zaki-biam business office is an average of 45. This

figure however, gets up to 60 during certain peak period of the month; hence for the

purpose of an effective and efficient design the occupancy of this building is put at 60 to

take care of peak periods of the months and the anticipated increase in the customer

base in the short run.

Bases on the above occupancy figure of 60; the required storage capacity of the business

office was calculated as follows;

= 60 x 45 = 2700 litres/24 hrs

= 1125 litres / 10 hrs

Making provision for a minimum of an extra day in case of system failure the storage

capacity provided for the business office is given as

= 1125 x 2 = 2250litres

Two overhead storage tanks of 1500litres capacity each were than provided.

PIPE SIZING – LOADING UNIT:

have been established based on the frequency of use of these individual appliances and

the desired water flow rate from them. Table 3 and Table 4 gives the recommended flow

rates for various sanitary appliances (litres/sec) and loading units respectively.

From tables, the loading unit for Zaki-biam business office is given as follows;

MAIN BUILDING:

WC = 2 x 2 = 4

WHB = 2 x 2.5 = 5

SINK = 1 x 5 = 5

MOPOL HOUSE

WC = 1 x 2 = 2

WHB = 1 x 2.5 = 2.5

EXTERNAL

BIB TAP =2 x 10 = 20

TOTAL LOADING UNITS = 38.5

Based on the above loading units the required flow rate from the conversion graph is

given as 0.7 litre/sec, hence the 1litre/sec was adopted as the required flow rate through

the main supply pipe from the over head tank.

d =5 √q2 x 25 x L x 105 /H

Where: d = diameter (bore) of pipe

q= flow rate (l/s)

H = head or pressure (m)

L = length (effective) of pipe (m) (actual length + allowance for bends, tees, etc)

PROCEDURE FOR PIPE SIZING:

1. Prepare the pipe work diagram, numbering from junction to junction, starting

from storage tank.

2. Calculate the fixtures fed by each pipe

3. Determine the loading units for each length of pipe

4. Convert the loading units into design flow rates in litres/sec (use probability

equation)

5. Starting from storage tank with known flow rates and velocity less than 3m/sec,

(preferably in between 1m/sec and 0.8m/sec), select a diameter of pipe. Note that

the head loss is in metre/100metre.

6. Determine the height difference between the inlet and the outlet of pipe (positive

for drop in height and negative for rise)

7. Measure actual length of pipe being considered

8. Determine an equivalent length of pipe for fittings, valves, etc.

equivalent length of pipe fittings, valves etc.

10. Determine actual head loss of pipe work considering effective length

11. Deduct actual head loss from available head.

12. If the residual head is less than the required head, for a particular outlet fitting or

if the head is negative, repeat the same process with a larger diameter.

NOTE:

(a) If the details of pipe fittings and valves are not known, add 20 to 30% of actual

head loss in pipe work, as minor head loss due to fittings and valves.

(b) The average rate of flow is to be taken for single fitting, while designing the last

pipe

STEP ONE:

A pipe work diagram as shown below numbering from junction to junction was

prepared for the design;

COMPUTATION OF FLOW IN EACH PIPE IN THE ZAKI-BIAM DESIGN

Flow rate was calculated using the below probability equation; where

Q = 0.25 x √ (Z1 + Z2 + Z3 + …….. + Zn)

This was then use to calculate the flow in each pipe starting from the single pipes then to

each branch and the entire network of pipes as follows(Z is gotten from tables);
Pipe:

Single tap; CD = 1 x 0.64 = 0.64, therefore Q = 0.25 x √0.64 = 0.2lit/sec

Single WB; NO = 1 x 0.5 = 0.5, Q = 0.25 x √0.5 = 0.17lit/sec

Single WC; NP = 1 x 0.5 = 0.5, Q = 0.25 x √0.5 = 0.17lit/sec

CN = NO + NP = 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.0 Q = 0.25 x √1 = 0.25lit/sec

BC = CD + CN = 1.0+ 0.64 = 1.64 Q = 0.25 x √1.64 = 0.32lit/sec

Single WB; KL = 1 x 0.5 = 0.5, Q = 0.25 x √0.5 = 0.17lit/sec

Single WC; KM = 1 x 0.5 = 0.5, Q = 0.25 x √0.5 = 0.17lit/sec

EK = KL + KM = 1 Q = 0.25 x √1 = 0.25lit/sec

Single WB; GH = 1 x 0.5 = 0.5 Q = 0.25 x √0.5 = 0.17lit/sec

Single Sink; GI = 1 x 1 = 1 Q = 0.25 x √1 = 0.25lit/sec

FG = GH + GI = 0.5 + 1 = 1.5 Q = 0.25 x √1.5 = 0.31lit/sec

Single WC; FJ = 1 x 0.5 = 0.5 Q = 0.25 x √0.5 = 0.17lit/sec

EF = GH + GI + FJ = 0.5 + 1 + 0.5 = 2 Q = 0.25 x √2 = 0.35lit/sec

BE = EF + EK = 1 + 2 = 3 Q = 0.25 x √3 = 0.43lit/sec

AB = BC + BE = 1.64 + 3 = 4.64 Q = 0.25 x √4.64 = 0.53lit/sec

stated and used as the basis for preliminary calculations. Using the above flow rates,

assumed pipe diameter, velocity (m/sec) and head loss (m/m) values from tables (pls

.table ? and table ? in appendix); the results gotten are then tabulated as in table below;

DETERMINATION OF EFFECTIVE LENGTH OF PIPE:

Depending on the type of fitting there is an approximate equivalent length in pipe

diameter that should be added to the Actual pipe length for the purpose determining the

head loss due to friction. The table? In the appendix gives the approximate equivalent

length of mostly used pipe fittings.

Equivalent lengths = (diameter x value given in table of fitting)mm

AB: with 1no 90° bend and 1no gate valve = 32 x 1 x 36 + 32 x 7 = 1152 + 224 = 1376mm

= 1.38m

Hence the effective length of AB = 6m+ 1.38m = 7.38m

BC: with 1no 90° bend = 25 x 36 = 900mm = 0.9m

Effective length of BC = 27.89 + 0.9 = 28.79m

CD: with 1no tee = 20 x 30 = 600mm = 0.6m

Effective length of CD = 13.44 + 0.6 = 14.04m

With the above method the effective length for all the pipe lengths are gotten.
CALCULATING HEAD LOSS Hf:

The Hazen William’s equation is used to compute the Head loss Hf and this depends on

the diameter of the length of pipe.

For length AB = 32mm diameter; Hf for 1000m = 0.029049Qk1.851851

Q = 0.5 x 60 x 60 x 24/1000 = 43.2kilolitre/day

Hf = 0.029049 x 43.21.851851 = 31.03m

Hence Hf for 1000m = 31.03m; Hf/36.07m = 31.03/1000 x 36.07 = 1.12m

For length BC = 20mm diameter; Hf for 1000m=0.286600Qk1.851851

Q = 0.25 x 60 x 60 x 24 /1000 = 21.6kilolitre/day

Hf = 0.286600 x 21.61.851851 = 84.82m

Hence Hf /14.04m = 84.82/1000 x 14.04 =1.19m

For length CD = 15mm diameter; Hf for 1000m = 1.163522Qk1.851851

Q = 0.2 x 60 x 60 x 24/1000 = 17.28kilolitre/day

Hf = 1.163522 x 17.281.851851 = 227.78m

Hence Hf /227.78m = 227.78/1000 x 10.94 = 2.49m

For length BE = 25mm diameter; Hf for 1000m = 0.096669Qk1.851851

Hf = 0.096669 x 37.1521.851851 = 78.10m

Hence Hf / 78.10m = 78.10 /1000 x 6.35 = 0.49m

For length EF = 20mm diameter; Hf for 1000m = 0.286600Qk1.851851

Q = 0.35 x 60 x 60 x 24/1000 = 30.24kilolitre/day

Hf = 0.286600 x 30.24 1.851851 = 158.15m

Hence Hf /158.15m = 158.15 /1000 x 3.88 = 0.61m

The above method was used to determine the rest values of Head loss, Hf for the

respective pipe lengths.

OTHER PIPE LOSSES

Since the details of pipe fittings and valves are not fully ascertained, 20 to 30% of actual

head loss in pipe network was added as minor head loss due to fittings and valves.

HEAD (M)

The Head at the various junction of the pipe network was calculated by taking the start

point of the network in this case “A” as having “0” (Zero) head as this is origin of the
cold water supply and the head increases as the water flows down from the overhead

tank. Subsequent head values at the various nodes of the pipe network were determined

by subtracting the preceding head losses at the various nodes from the head value at the

same node. (Please see tabulated results on table ?).

REQUIRED HEAD /AVAILABLE HEAD

The minimum required head/pressure for common appliances are given in table ?

(please see appendix) Following the determination of the available head (please refer to

table ?) ; the available head in pipe Tap CD, Water closet (WC) KM were found to be

below the minimum required head for these appliances i.e. -0.55 and 0.25 respectively

while Wash basinKL had an available head of 0.52 which is just above the minimum

required head of 0.5.

The above scenario necessitated that the pipe diameter CD and EK be changed from

15mm to 20mm diameter and the calculations process was repeated and the Available

head values gotten for tap CD, Water closet (WC) KM and Wash basin (WB) KL

improved considerably and were all above the minimum required head for the

respective fittings this was then adopted as it fulfilled all design requirements and based

on these drawings were then produced for the cold water reticulation system for the

Zaki-biam office.