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Article Date 02/25/2008

PROTECTING "SENSITIVE" AREAS FROM DRAIN LEAKS

 

 

 

A leak from drainage piping is never a welcome event and can be unacceptable when it occurs above "sensitive" areas or equipment.

 

Various codes and regulatory agencies address this issue by limiting or prohibiting the installation of drains above locations where health and safety may be jeopardized. However, most authorities are not always clear on identifying all the areas that they consider as being "sensitive", nor are they always clear on specifying acceptable methods for protecting these areas when it is unavoidable or impractical to meet this requirement.

 

This article attempts to address the lack of clarity in existing published regulations and provide recommendations for meeting their “intent” by providing safe and practical plumbing installations.

 

 

 

Regulations

 

 

 

 

 

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Below are various regulations regarding this issue. Please note that the list is merely a sampling and is not all inclusive.

It should also be noted that piping installations over transformer vaults, switchboards, panel boards, and motor control centers are subject to restrictions within applicable electrical codes and by local authorities.

 

 

 

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS

(AIA - 2006 guidelines for the Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities)

"Insofar as possible, drainage piping shall not be installed within the ceiling or exposed in operating and delivery rooms, nurseries, food preparation centers, food serving facilities, food storage areas, central services, electronic data processing areas, electric closets, and other sensitive areas. Where exposed, overhead drain piping in these areas is unavoidable, special provisions shall be made to protect the space below from leakage, condensation, or dust particles."

 

 

 

CALIFORNIA  (Section 311.9, 2001 California Plumbing Code)

 

"Drainage piping over operating and delivery rooms, nurseries, food preparation centers, food-serving facilities, food storage areas, and other sensitive areas shall be kept to a minimum and shall not be exposed. Special precautions shall be taken to protect these areas from possible leakage from necessary overhead drainage piping systems."

 

 

 

MISSOURI  (Department of Health and Senior Services, Division 30 - Division of Regulation and Licensure, Chapter 20 – Hospitals)

 

"Drainage piping shall not be installed in an exposed location in operating and delivery rooms, recovery rooms, nurseries, food preparation centers, food service facilities, food storage areas and other critical areas; special precautions shall be taken to protect any of these areas from possible leakage or condensation from necessary overhead drainage piping systems. These special precautions include requiring non-corrosive semi-circular drip troughs with a minimum four inch (4") outside diameter to be installed under the drainage pipe in the direction of slope to a point where the pipe leaves the protected space and terminates at that point - usually at a wall. The trough shall be supported with non-corrosive strap hangers and screws from the pipe above. Trough joints and hanging screw penetrations shall be sealed to maintain watertight integrity throughout."

 

 

 

OREGON  (The Oregon Administrative Rules - Department of Human Services, Public Health Division, Building Requirements for General Hospitals, Division 535)

 

"Insofar as possible, drainage piping shall not be installed overhead whether within the ceiling or exposed, in operating and C-section rooms, pharmacy IV admixture clean rooms, intensive care nurseries, food storage areas, central sterile supply areas, and other sensitive areas. Where overhead drain piping is unavoidable in these areas, as may occur in existing facilities, special provisions shall be made to protect the space below from possible leakage, condensation or dust particles. If drain pans are installed for protection, the pans shall be drained to an open site, air-gap drain and shall be labeled."

 

 

 

TEXAS  (Texas Department of Health, Chapter 133, Hospital Licensing)

 

"Insofar as possible, drainage piping shall not be installed within the ceiling nor installed in an exposed location in food preparation areas, food serving facilities, food storage areas, and other critical areas (i.e., caesarean operating rooms, delivery rooms, nurseries, special procedures rooms, sterile processing rooms, operating rooms, sterile processing rooms). Special precautions shall be taken to protect these areas from possible leakage or condensation from overhead piping systems when such piping is unavoidable."

 

 

 

Identifying Sensitive Areas

 

 

Upon reading the excerpts above, it is obvious that the regulations allow an Authority to consider other areas as “sensitive” even though they are not specifically named. This can make it difficult to determine where to avoid locating drain piping. The list below includes those areas generally mentioned by Regulatory Authorities and recommends additional spaces that have been considered “sensitive” or “critical” by various infection control professionals, patient care staff and facility operation managers.

 

 

A.              Designated Areas Where Food Will Be Prepared, Stored or Served

 

B.              Operating Rooms

 

C.             Bone Marrow Transplant Rooms

Piping installations over transformer vaults, switchboards, panel boards, and motor control centers are subject to restrictions within applicable electrical codes and by local authorities.
 

D.             Intravenous Procedure Rooms (Chemotherapy, Blood Transfusion, Etc.)

E.              Any Room Where Invasive Procedures May Be Performed

F.              Intensive Care Areas (ICU)

G.             Inpatient Recovery Rooms

H.             Sterile Processing Areas

I.                Sterile Supply Storage Areas

J.               Pharmacy Drug Preparation Areas

K.              Pharmacy I V Admixture Areas

L.              Pharmacy Drug Storage Areas

M.             Laboratory Clean Rooms

N.             Electrical Equipment Rooms (Switchgear, UPS, Distribution Panels)

 

O.             Telecommunication Rooms

 

P.              Transformer Vaults

 

Q.             Data Centers

 

R.             Rooms Containing Critical Imaging Equipment (MRI, CAT scan, etc.)

 

S.              Potable Water Storage Tanks

 

 

*The Architect and Plumbing Engineer should closely coordinate with the facility owner and the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) to determine addition areas that may require omission of drain lines for a particular project.

 

 

 

Special Precautions

 

 

GENERAL

 

Where it is impractical to relocate existing or unavoidable to install new drainage piping above sensitive areas, regulations require that “special provisions” be provided to protect these spaces from leakage or condensation that may be introduced by the piping.

 

Some Authorities do not specify the type of “special provisions” that they deem acceptable and must be contacting to determine how to address this issue.

 

 

EMERGENCY LEAK PANS

 

Non-corrosive drip troughs (aka drain pans, leak pans) have been considered an acceptable leak protection method by various authorities for many years.  However, drain pans can introduce infection control concerns, present installation challenges and are inherently limited in regard to the amount of protection that they actually provide.

 

 

Infection Control Concerns - Whenever a drain pan located above a ceiling receives liquid discharge, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and will introduce airborne pathogens into the building environment unless remediation is immediate.

 

 

A common design which attempts to address this concern incorporates routing a drain line from the pan and discharging it into a visible indirect waste receptor. The intent of this design assumes that someone will observe the effluent draining into the indirect waste receptor and promptly notify the facility maintenance personnel so that the leaking drain line can be repaired.

 

 

This approach is obviously dependent upon a building having observant occupants and will be successful only within a facility that maintains an operational education program for its staff.

 

 

One method to insure that leaks are detected expediently is to install an electronic water sensor in the drain pipe from each pan and connect them to the building automation system. This would immediately alert building operations personnel of when and where a leak occurs.

 

 

 

The details below illustrate a method of monitoring the accumulation of water within an emergency leak pan.

 

 

 

 

EMERGENCY LEAK PAN ILLUSTRATIONS

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The following are example details for the fabrication, installation and monitoring of emergency leak pans. These details are available for download in the AutoCAD® 2000 dwg format and should be reviewed, edited as required and approved prior to inclusion into any contract document.

 

Download Details (zipped file, 37kb)

 

 

 

 

 

Drain pans can introduce infection control concerns, present installation challenges and are inherently limited in regard to the amount of protection that they can actually provide.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
ELEVATION OF WATER LEAK SENSOR MONITORING PANEL

 

 

 

 

LEAK PAN DRAIN DISCHARGE INTO FLOOR DRAIN

 

 

 

 
LEAK PAN DRAIN DISCHARGE INTO MOP SINK

 

 

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LEAK PAN DRAIN DISCHARGE INTO SINK TAILPIECE

 

 

Download Details (zipped AutoCad® 2000 file, 37kb)

 

 

 

 

EXISTING CONDITIONS

Renovation projects will sometimes require that new “sensitive” areas be located beneath existing drainage piping that would be impractical to remove. Consider including the following requirements within the project contract documents when this occurs:

All existing waste/drainage piping within the boundaries of a Project that is located above sensitive areas should be re-fitted with heavy-duty no-hub joint connections having a minimum 15 psi pressure rating and meeting the performance criteria of Factory Mutual 1680.3.

 

All existing piping within the boundaries of a Project that is located above sensitive areas receiving cooling coil condensate, ice machine drainage or conveying contents having temperatures below 55 degrees F shall be insulated and vapor sealed to prevent condensation.

 

All new and existing penetrations through floor slabs within the project boundary shall be sealed watertight.

 

 

Summary

 

It is imperative that the Architect and Plumbing Engineer identify all areas requiring protection during the Schematic Design Phase of a project to avoid redesign and cost impacts.

 

 

 

When developing floor plans, the location of plumbing fixtures should be coordinated with areas on lower floor levels to prevent the need to route drain piping within the ceilings of or exposed above sensitive areas.

 

 

 

Obviously, there are enumerable conditions that can be encountered within various facilities and enumerable interpretations that can be held by various authorities related to this issue. Therefore, it is very important to coordinate with all authorities that will be policing this requirement as early as possible during the design of a project.

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