Continuing Education From Plumbing Systems & Design
Do you find it difficult to obtain continuing education units (CEUs)? Through this special series, ASPE can help you accumulate the CEUs required for maintaining your Certified in Plumbing Design (CPD) status or numerous regulatory-agency CE programs.
Click on the link below to find the latest CE article and exam. Reading the article and completing the accompanying form will allow you to apply to ASPE for CEU credit. For most people, this process will require approximately one hour. If you earn a grade of 90 percent or higher on the test, you will be notified that you have logged 0.1 CEU.
Exams are posted on the first day of the issue month.
Notice for North Carolina Professional Engineers: State regulations for registered PEs in North Carolina now require you to complete ASPE’s online CEU validation form to be eligible for continuing education credits. How? After participating in an ASPE educational program (webinar, PS&D quiz, workshop, etc.) just visit ASPE’s CEU Validation Center.
January/February 2012
This chapter describes the design criteria and central piping distribution methods for various laboratory-grade specialty gas systems, including pure compressed air used for laboratory processes. Also included in the discussion are various specialty compressed air and gas systems typically used for organic and inorganic chemistry, physics, and biological laboratories and those used for research, development, and commercial purposes. This chapter concentrates on cylinder and dewer supply and the local generation of such gases.
December 2011
A threat to personnel safety often present in pharmaceutical facilities is accidental exposure and possible contact with toxic gases, liquids, and solids. This chapter describes water-based emergency drench equipment and systems commonly used as a first-aid measure to mitigate the effects of such an accident. Also described are the breathing-air systems that supply air to personnel for escape and protection when they are exposed to either a toxic environment resulting from an accident or normal working conditions that make breathing the ambient air hazardous.
November 2011
Plumbing engineers are responsible for systems that serve all types of buildings, including commercial, residential, and institutional buildings, such as hospitals, laboratories, industrial plants, jails, schools, shopping centers, housing developments, power plants, research centers, and sports complexes, and this chapter details the types and specifications of the typical fixtures found in such systems.
October 2011
Automatic sprinklers were developed to control, confine, and extinguish fires in order to prevent the loss of life and minimize the loss of property. This chapter defines the types of fixed sprinkler systems and their components, explains how sprinklers operate, details system design, installation, and maintenance procedures, and describes the associated alarms.
September 2011
This chapter covers the fundamentals of corrosion as they relate to a building’s utility systems, essentially dealing with piping materials for the conveyance of fluids, both liquid and gas. These pipes are installed either below- or aboveground, thus making the external environment of the pipe earth or air respectively. The internal environment is the fluid conveyed inside the pipe. Many environmental conditions may affect the performance of any given piping material.
July/August 2011
Self-regulating Heat Trace Systems
A hot water self-regulating heat trace system is one of several accepted methods of providing prompt delivery of hot water to fixtures. Electric heat tracing systems replace heat lost through the thermal insulation on hot water supply piping to maintain the water at desired nominal temperatures. The information in this chapter will help the designer understand electric heat tracing as it applies to hot water systems.
June 2011
Private water wells are considered a type of private water supply because they are designed to provide potable water for a single building or facility of either residential or commercial construction. A private water well system is installed, controlled, operated, and maintained by the user. Safe drinking water is the ultimate goal, and the methods described in this chapter are a means to that goal.
May 2011
The objective in designing the water supply systems for any project is to ensure an adequate water supply at adequate pressure to all fixtures and equipment at all times and to achieve the most economical sizing of the piping. This chapter discusses how to accomplish this, focusing on flow in piping, material selection, piping layouts, estimating demand, dealing with pressure problems, and sizing the system.
April 2011
On-site Wastewater Reuse and Storm Water Harvesting
Water reuse and storm water harvesting offer considerable savings of water resources and sometimes are an attractive alternative to the treatment necessary to bring groundwater to potable water standards. This chapter discusses how to design graywater reuse and storm water harvesting systems, focusing on system components, estimating supply and demand, treatment methods, and economic analysis.
March 2011
The purpose of a sanitary drainage system is to remove effluent discharged from plumbing fixtures and other equipment to an approved point of disposal. This chapter centers on the design of drain and waste systems, focusing on the components (horizontal branches, vertical stacks, a building drain, and a building sewer) and how to design a system according to the applicable code that can rapidly carry away the soiled water from individual fixtures without clogging the pipes, leaving solids in the piping, generating excessive pneumatic pressures at points where the fixture drains connect to the stack, and creating undue noise.
January/February 2011
Flow of air is the primary consideration in the design of a venting system for the ventilation of the piping and protection of the fixture trap seals of a sanitary drainage system. Since air is of such primary importance, it is essential that the plumbing engineer be familiar with certain physical characteristics that are pertinent to its behavior in a plumbing system. This chapter explains those characteristics and then discusses the different components of a vent system, sizing vent piping, and the different venting methods.
December 2010
Gasoline and Diesel Oil Systems
This chapter describes the design, selection, and installation, requirements for shop-fabricated, atmospheric storage tanks and distribution and dispensing networks for new and replacement systems for liquid petroleum-based fuels. Although mentioned several times in his chapter, rail-type tanker cars are not considered a primary method of fuel delivery. For the purposes of this chapter, trucks are considered the primary method of delivery.