The Plumbing Pipeline

Transcription

1 The Plumbing Pipeline Please copy this bulletin and distribute to your A Newsletter for licensed Plumbers and Drainlayers December 2016, Issue 30 The Plumbing Pipeline is a semi-annual information newsletter published by the City of London, Development & Compliance Services, for the plumbing and drainlaying industry. City of London Development & Compliance Services This is the 30 th bulletin provided by the City of London Building Division for the licensed plumbers and drainlayers of London. The intent of this bulletin is to keep the industry abreast of the changes in the Ontario Building Code as well as the City of London s policies, and to receive feedback from you regarding questions or concerns about your trade. We want to encourage a better line of communication between our Building Division staff and the plumbing industry. To do this, we will keep you informed of changes in the Building Code, City by-laws, common inspection problems, acceptance of new materials and Building Division changes. We request that you also keep us informed of your concerns regarding code changes or interpretations. E-SERVICES The ability to apply for building permits online! Have you registered to use E-permitting? We continue to see an uptake in the number of users using E- permitting to apply for their plumbing and drainage permits. Using e-permits can help you run your business more efficiently and save you valuable work hours. If you have not registered to use this great system, please visit our web site at click ONLINE SERVICES and register today. Please copy this bulletin and distribute to your staff.

2 Tuesday City Services As of October 8 th, the City of London Building Division will be open until 6pm on Tuesdays to serve you even better. Offering more hours will give our customers more access to our services without having to take time off work or school, take a vacation day or arrange for child care. More information at Administration/Service- Areas/Pages/Hours.aspx Reminder to Registered Testers We would like to remind the Registered Testers in our Backflow Prevention & Monitoring Program to install and update the Backflow Prevention Assembly Tag as required in Section 8.8 of our Water By-law W-8 which outlines the guidelines for our program. Failure to comply with the requirements of our Water By-law may result in the removal of the Tester from our Registered Tester List. Not attaching or updating the Backflow Prevention Assembly Tag can result in the delay of completion of permit processes and/or issuance of a business license. The tag also serves as a reminder to the owners and other City personnel of who last tested the device and when it was last tested. Water Wells If you want to drill a well for irrigation system on a private property, you will need to obtain a permit for well drilling from the MOECC (Ministry of Environment and Climate Change) and hire a well driller certified by the MOECC. However, if the property is connected to the municipal water supply, a proper backflow prevention device is to be installed on the municipal water service for premise isolation. Backflow Preventers for Residential Pools Please note that the Building Code currently does not require building permits to install residential pools. When installing a pool, only a pool fence permit is required and it is enforced by our Zoning department. A building permit is required to install a backflow prevention device if there is a direct connection for the pool water make-up. When is an Inspection Manhole Required? There is a confusion amongst the drain layers regarding requirements for installation of Inspection Manholes for new sewers. Please note that Inspection Manholes are not 2

3 Building Code requirements. Inspection Manholes may be required to be installed under our Waste Discharge By-Law. Please refer to Section 6.3 of this by-law that references requirements for an Inspection Manhole: The Engineer may require the owner or occupant of commercial, institutional or industrial premises with one or more connections to the public sewage works to install and maintain in good repair in each connection a suitable manhole having a diameter of not less than 1.2 metres to allow observation, sampling and measurement of the flow therein, provided that where installation of a manhole is not possible, an alternative device or facility may be substituted with the approval of the City Engineer. The Engineer above is the person appointed by the Council to the position of the City Engineer, and any employee of the City who acts at the direction of the City Engineer, in the enforcement of Waste Discharge By- Law. Frontage Charges and Decommissioning Septic Systems Our Wastewater and Stormwater By- Law requires frontage charges to be paid when installing a new sewer. A frontage charge is a charge the owner shall pay to the City prior to any development being connected to a fronting municipal service. Frontage charge is exempt as per Subsection 6.2 of the By- Law and it does not apply when a connection is made to a sewer: (a) which has been financed under the provisions of a local improvement, (b) which has been constructed pursuant to a registered subdivision agreement, (c) which is the subject of an area rate or special local municipality levy by-law or, (d) for which a development charge is payable in respect of a development or redevelopment if the connection is made to a project financed under the Development Charges By-law, (e) to service Land which is exempt from local improvement charges. Please note that, if none of the above exemptions apply, properties that are serviced by sewage (septic) systems are subject to frontage charges before the properties are connected to municipal sewers. Drainage By-Law Requirements for Foundation Drains (Sections 5.7 to 5.14) Section 5.7 The foundation drain flows from a lot shall be discharged in the following manner: 3

4 (i) via a sump pump to the ground surface, provided that the discharge to the ground surface does not create continually wet ground conditions and/or does not create any adverse effect upon municipal sidewalks and roads or upon adjacent properties; or (ii) via a sump pump to a storm sewer; or (iii) via a sump pump to a dry well system, provided that appropriate soil and ground water testing is completed to establish the suitability of using a dry well system, and that the dry well system is designed and certified by a qualified Ontario Professional Engineer; or (iv) by gravity water flow to the storm sewer, if capacity, as determined by the City Engineer, exists in the storm sewer; and (v) in subdivisions where the subdivision agreements are approved by Council after December 31, 1995, notwithstanding the requirements of clauses 5.7(i) to (iv) inclusive, sump pump discharges shall be connected to storm building sewers which shall be connected to storm private drain connections. Except in cases where a recommendation is made by a geotechnical engineer on a sitespecific basis that foundation drains are not required due to the nature of the soils. Section Regulations when sump pumps are discharged to ground surface. For all new subdivisions where the subdivision agreement is approved by Council after December 31, 1995, no sump pumps shall be permitted to discharge to ground and in all other cases, where the developer elects to utilize a sump pump to discharge foundation drain flows to the ground surface, the following regulations shall apply: (i) if a problem related to a lot, caused by the discharge of the sump pump to the ground surface occurs prior to the City s assumption of the street fronting that lot, the developer will be required to redirect the sump pump discharge to the storm sewer via a storm private drain connection at no cost to the City; (ii) prior to the assumption of a street by the City, the developer will be required to engage a geotechnical engineer to certify that the soil and ground water conditions on any vacant lot or lots are such that a direct connection to a storm sewer will not be required. If such certification cannot be provided, the developer shall be required to install a storm private drain connection to serve each affected lot, at no cost to the City; (iii) prior to the assumption of a street by the City, should the discharge of a sump pump on 4

5 any lot adjacent to a vacant lot be required, because of unsuitable or unfavourable soil and ground water conditions, to be connected directly to the storm sewer, the developer shall install storm private drain connections to all vacant lots as directed by the City Engineer, at no cost to the City Roof water downspouts. No person shall direct or connect a roof water downspout to the storm private drain connection Roof water downspouts - no discharge to sideyard - damage adjoining property. No person shall direct a roof water downspout towards a side yard in such a manner so as to cause damage or any other adverse-affect to adjoining property Roof water downspouts - no connection to foundation drains. No person shall connect a roof water downspout to the foundation drains Roof water downspouts - discharge distance from exterior walls. Every person shall extend all roof water downspout so that the water flow exits the downspout a minimum distance of 0.7 metre from the exterior walls of a building Lot grading security. Except for single and semi-detached dwellings in an unassumed subdivision, a lot grading security shall be provided prior to the issuance of a building permit in the form of cash or irrevocable letter of credit of $2, to ensure that the lot grading and sump pump discharges are carried out in accordance with the certified lot grading plans; and the security may be released within one year after receipt of the final lot grading certificate, provided there is no adverse impact on the City road allowance, as determined to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Environmental Services & City Engineer Roof over walkouts. No person shall connect a floor drain from a below grade walkout to a sanitary sewer system unless there is a roof covering the entire area of the walkout. Protection from Thermal Expansion Protection against thermal expansion is required when a building has a check valve, backflow preventer or pressure reducing valve installed at the water meter. OBC Appendix allows for an expansion tank or a thermal relief valve to provide this protection. The former being recommended since there is less chance of basement flooding. Expansion tanks are also required on hot water 5

6 recirculating systems. They should be installed on the hot side of the check valve at the hot water heater. Copper Water Service Pipes Upon discovering a potential for premature failure, copper water services were removed as an acceptable material from the City s Design Specifications Manual as part of the 2014 annual manual update. Only plastic piping acceptable for water service systems can be used on the road allowance. The Building Code still allows copper piping to be used for installation of underground, water service pipes. We would like to suggest to use the same material for water service pipes on private properties as the pipes on the road allowance - from the main to the property lines. This should help reduce the instances of premature water service failures. Commercial Dishwashers & Proposed Building Code Changes The Ministry is proposing a new Code change we are prepared to support based on our municipal and some provincial studies. Those studies confirm that current high temperature and chemically induced commercial dishwashers discharging into grease interceptors will render the interceptor useless in most cases unless it is a dedicated grease interceptor and sized in accordance with the dishwasher manufacturer specifications for the peak discharge. Commercial dishwashers can discharge high temperature and concentrations of emulsifying liquids (e.g., highstrength industrial-grade detergents), which can emulsify grease that has been collected from other fixtures. Studies show that emulsification is indiscriminate and has a negative effect on the grease accumulated in both small and large grease interceptors. From now on we can approve installation of a grease interceptor to serve a commercial dishwasher. It shall be a dedicated grease interceptor and to be sized in accordance with the dishwasher manufacturer specification for the peak discharge rate including the chemical agent data sheets being used. A commercial dishwasher need not discharge through a grease interceptor provided a pre-rinse sink is installed immediately upstream of the inlet side of the commercial dishwasher. Safe Access to Buildings Please note that we have seen an increase of plumbing inspections that are either Not Ready or No Access has been provided to the 6

7 construction sites. We would appreciate it if you could call the office or the area Plumbing Inspector directly and let us know if your scheduled plumbing inspection is not going to be ready for an inspection, so we do not waste our valuable time and resources. Our inspectors may not access constructions sites if no safe access has been provided. The most common issues are unsafe and unsecured ladders or stairs that do not conform to the Ontario Regulation 213/91 - Construction. Below are excerpts from the Ontario Regulation 213/91 Construction in the OH&S Act & Regulations (the Green Book ) regarding stairs, landings and ladders requirements: Stairs and Landings: 77. (1) No work shall be performed in a building or structure with stairs unless the stairs meet the requirements of this section. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 77 (1). (2) Stairs shall have, (a) a clear width of at least 500 millimeters; (b) treads and risers of uniform width, length and height; (c) subject to subsection (3), stringers with a maximum slope of 50 degrees from the horizontal; (d) landings that are less than 4.5 metres apart measured vertically; (e) a securely fastened and supported wooden handrail on the open sides of each flight; and (f) a guardrail on the open side of each landing. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 77 (2). (3) The stringers of prefabricated stairs erected inside a tower formed by scaffold frame sections shall have a maximum slope of 60 degrees from the horizontal. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 77 (3). (4) A wooden handrail shall measure thirty-eight millimeters by eighty-nine millimeters and shall be free of loose knots, sharp edges, splinters and shakes. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 77 (4). (5) Skeleton steel stairs shall have temporary wooden treads securely fastened in place that are made of suitable planking extending the full width and breadth of the stairs and landings. O. Reg. 213/91, s. 77 (5). Ladders: 81. (1) A portable ladder, (a) shall be free from defective or loose rungs; 7

8 (b) shall be placed on a firm and level footing or support surface; and (c) shall not be used in an elevator shaft or a similar hoisting area when the shaft or area is being used for hoisting. O. Reg. 345/15, s. 13. (2) A non-self-supporting portable ladder shall be situated so that its base is not less than one-quarter, and not more than one-third, of the length of the ladder from a point directly below the top of the ladder and at the same level as the base of the ladder, if the ladder is not securely fastened to prevent its movement. O. Reg. 345/15, s. 13. (3) A portable ladder or ladder section shall not be tied or fastened to another ladder or ladder section to increase its length unless the manufacturer s instructions allow for this. O. Reg. 345/15, s. 13. (4) A manufactured portable ladder shall be used in accordance with the manufacturer s instructions. O. Reg. 345/15, s (1) This section applies if a portable ladder is used as a means of access and egress between, (a) levels of a building or structure; (b) the ground or grade level to a building or structure; or (2) The ladder, (a) shall extend at the upper level at least 900 millimetres above the landing surface; (b) shall, subject to subsection (3), have a clear space of at least 150 millimetres behind every rung; (c) shall be located so that an adequate landing surface that is clear of obstructions is available at the top and bottom of the ladder for access and egress; and (d) shall be secured at the top and bottom to prevent movement of the ladder. O. Reg. 345/15, s. 13. (3) Clause (2) (b) does not apply to a ladder lying on an excavation wall that is sloped, as required by section 234. O. Reg. 345/15, s. 13. Also, we would like to remind you about winter safety in general. Especially, ensure snow is cleared for the inspectors to access the buildings and buildings are well ventilated if gas heaters are used in basements. (c) different work surface levels. O. Reg. 345/15, s

9 Letter of Authorization If you are applying for a permit on behalf of a property owner, please note that you are required to provide a Letter of Authorization from the property owner indicating that you are authorized to submit a permit application and obtain a building permit on their behalf. Please contact our office at for a sample letter if needed. City of London Contacts Mark Wilson Plumbing Inspector mwilson@london.ca Will Rounds Plumbing Inspector wrounds@london.ca Drago Macar P.Eng. Manager, Plumbing Inspection ext dmacar@london.ca Questions and Comments for Building Division Staff Please feel free to forward any questions or comments you may have and include the building code section number, if applicable. Building Division fax #: Please include your contact information, so that we can respond to you with our comments. 9